Product Description

Both a celebration of knitting and a source- book for practical information, this book is a collection of useful advice and emotional sup- port for the knitter. Pearl-McPhee examines essential truisms of knitting, side by side with tongue- in-cheek warnings, realities, and fantasies about the act of knitting and the people who do it. In chapters on everything from yarn needles, gauge, and knitting bag essentials to hats, socks, shawls, and sweaters, Pearl-McPhee unravels the mysteries of what it is that makes knitting click, from the inside out. She dares to question long- standing rules and uncover the true essence of what makes a hat a hat, a sock a sock, and so on. Insights into why certain techniques work encourage knitters to take control and knit in the way that works best for them. As she says, "There are no knitting police." The result is an illuminating, liberating (and hilarious!) look at knitting that will comfort the experienced knitter, surprise the mainstream one, and entice the beginner.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #236377 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the best-selling author of At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much and celebrated blogger and humorist of the knitting world, is back! Funnier than ever, Pearl-McPhee continues her running dialogue with her knitting compatriots - cheering them on to ever-greater heights in the climb to make knitting universally recognized as THE peak life experience.

Customer Reviews

Indispensable and hilarious
As all Stephanie's writings, this book is hilarious and informative. This is the first book she's written which really focuses on *technique* though so if that doesn't float your boat it might not be what you're after.

She manages to explain things in a concise, funny and accessible manner and I find it an invaluable recipe book for patterns and ideas. When I was learning sock knitting a while ago I used her pick-n-mix method to find the best way of doing things for me and thanks to this book I now have my own default sock pattern which is easily jazzed up with different stitch patterns and yarns.

I can't wait for the next one, Stephanie!

First time lucky ?
Unlike the other reviewer, I enjoyed this. I haven't read any of the other books written by the Yarn Harlot, but I do read her blog. It may be that this is similar to "At Knit's End" but if you haven't read that, give this a go. I read it on the train, while eating dinner, and even propped up on my chest while I fought sleep later that night. It's funny, but has a lot of sage advice.
Although she does go on about knitting tension squares an AWFUL lot.

What happened?
I was given 'At Knit's End' by a friend and couldn't put it down - I laughed and laughed out loud! I ordered 'Knitting Rules' and saved it for a long trip, but I couldn't have been more disappointed - it is just a watered down re-worked version of At Knit's End. My advice would be to enjoy 'At Knit's End' but leave this book on the shelf.