It's My Party and I'll Knit if I Want

Anybody else read this ? I know eximi has, but I'm not sure if she posts here.

I'd love to get some other opinions.

I read it on Saturday and my general feeling was one of being underwhelmed (although I got overly excited by the mentions of getcrafty.com and the interview with gadgetgirl). I was hoping for something along the lines of Hip Home Ec, but specifically focussed on knitting. The book seemed to be a book about writing the book and learning to knit. It was quite superficial in a lot of ways and I was quite saddened by the author's attitude to the older knitters, the guild members, although I can see why she felt unhappy with them. Nobody likes to have their choice of yarn looked down on (even if it is *gasp* acrylic !)

What I did find interesting was discovering just how much of the media coverage of Aussie "hip young knitters" was part of a PR campaign orchestrated by two women who were commissioned by Australian Country Spinners to keep knitting in the media and to keep sales up.

The Knitting is the New Feminism chapter seemed to have very little to say on feminism and where knitting may fit in with this, and this was probably the biggest let down. I love the fact that so many of use do see reclaiming women's traditional crafts as a feminist act and are so eloquent on the subject. I think I imagined how it could have been based on the women who post here and have written about the subject.

In short, borrow the book from somebody else.

(this is the first book review I've written in 12 years, I feel old now !)

[Craft Forums]

[pudding]

Yeah, I've read this. I inherited a copy from a family member.

The best thing about this book was it's Australian perspective - I knew all of the places the author mentioned, was familiar with the yarns and such that she talked about, and so on. Sometimes with books from the US or other places there is a sense of being very far away from 'the action' (which I am!). I found the local perspective very refreshing.

Having said that, I actually much prefered Stitch and Bitch by Debbie Stoller. Stitch and Bitch seemed to cover the same material, but in a much meatier way, if that makes sense.

"The book being about writing the book" is the same impression I got. I also got the impression that the author didn't have a long history with knitting, or rather it seemed (because there's nothing wrong with being a new knitter) she may even have taken up knitting to write the book rather than writing the book about taking up knitting. I feel a bit bad for sounding so harsh, but that was my impression.

I wish there was a 'scene' of hip, funky young knitters knitting skully sweaters and chunky scarves here! That's the impression I get of what New York is like. Here it feels a bit lonely. But there is a pretty cool knitting magazine and some wonderful online yarn shops, so that's something.