Feeling Guilty About Your Yarn Stash? The Yarn Harlot Can Help!

Posted on November 02nd, 2009 in Book Reviews, Fiber Arts, Joan's Travels, Knitting, Texas Travels

I used to feel guilty about my yarn stash until I picked up the hilarious knitting book, Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot’s Bag of Knitting Tricks at the library. The chapter “Yarn and How Not to Feel Guilty About It” made me laugh until the tears came.

I could identify so easily, thinking of how I recently reorganized my bedroom closet to accommodate my latest yarn purchases! I just started knitting again a few months ago after several years away from fiber arts but I can’t visit a town without first checking out the lys and coming away with a bag full of beautiful yarns to use “someday.”

For the past two months when I drag home a new bag of yarn, I’ve been telling my husband, “It’s for Christmas presents.” Since we have four daughters, 2 granddaughters, with 2 more on the way and a grandson, I can buy a lot of yarn before it starts to look like I’m knitting for everyone we know. I used to do beadwork and the nice thing about knitting and yarn is that everybody can use a hat or a scarf and it was harder to do beaded pieces as gifts year after year.

I hadn’t read any of the Yarn Harlot books by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee but after reading this one, I plan to read every one of them. I got this one at our library but it has such terrific info - for instance the chapter on hats, which I’m currently obsessed with knitting - and all of it written in such an entertaining way, that I am going to order my own copy.

Some great quotes from Knitting Rules:

One of 10 Tips for Identifying Your Own Kind (other knitters, of course!) “Randomly ask people on the street “Straight or Circular?” When you get something other than a date or a perplexed look, you’ve found a knitter.”

When someone says, “You sure have a lot of yarn.” You say, “This? No,no, This is just what I need for the week. The real collection is in my rental storage space.”

Step One for knitting a hat, “Knit a swatch. (You knew I was going to say that didn’t you?) Begin by casing on about as many stitches as it takes to cover your hand, from the to the tip of your longest finger, plus 2 inches. This is a fairly big swatch, but if you’re lucky, it’ll be your hat!”

Now that’s my kind of knitting, as I’m not much of a swatcher.

This knitting book is packed with tips for knitting hats, socks, shawls, scarves and more but it isn’t just the information that’s valuable. Reading Knitting Rules! made me feel like I was part of a special club - there are others out there like me who keep buying yarn and stashing it, even though they run out of places to put it, others who love the textures and colors of fiber and who would rather knit that do laundry or housework - or just about anything else.

I loved the chapter on knitting gauge since I am a person who often skips this step! I even look for patterns that say “gauge is not important.” So far, I’ve done mostly scarves but for the hats I’ve knitted, I did have to break down and knit a gauge swatch. I love knowing there are others like me who would rather knit a project and tear it out, rather than knit the gauge swatch! I do need to mend my ways on that score, however.

It was nice to know I’m not the only one! Thanks Stephanie for the humorous look at the obsession that is knitting.

You can also read more about knitting and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee on her Yarn Harlot blog. Here are some other books by the Yarn Harlot that I”m planning to spend some of my yarn money on:

Free-Range Knitter: The Yarn Harlot Writes Again

Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot’s Guide to the Land of Knitting