It's My Party and I'll Knit If I Want To!

Rating:
Summary: the New Knitting in an Austrailian context
Review: As a new knitter, Sharon Aris explores the history & culture of knitting in Australia. She participates in drop in knit clinics, knitting guild meetings, an engineered pub knitting event and an online knitting community. She interviews shop owners, teachers, mill employees and other knitters about their hobby. I liked the way this book set the context for the current knitting boomlet in terms of the history of the craft, third-wave feminism, and the modern reliance on marketing & trend analysis. The book is very readable & fun, including (short!) snippets from Sharon's knitting diary showing her increasing fascination with fiber. The author is australian and so is the book. American readers will have to look up or skip over words like daggy and arvo and may miss some of the cultural context like names of TV shows and stores in Australia. I thought the central ideas (craft as feminist, the upswing in creativity in knitting, finding your knitting niche) were clear despite Aussie-speak. Does anyone know of a similar book for American knitting?

Rating:
Summary: the New Knitting in an Austrailian context
Review: As a new knitter, Sharon Aris explores the history & culture of knitting in Australia. She participates in drop in knit clinics, knitting guild meetings, an engineered pub knitting event and an online knitting community. She interviews shop owners, teachers, mill employees and other knitters about their hobby. I liked the way this book set the context for the current knitting boomlet in terms of the history of the craft, third-wave feminism, and the modern reliance on marketing & trend analysis. The book is very readable & fun, including (short!) snippets from Sharon's knitting diary showing her increasing fascination with fiber. The author is australian and so is the book. American readers will have to look up or skip over words like daggy and arvo and may miss some of the cultural context like names of TV shows and stores in Australia. I thought the central ideas (craft as feminist, the upswing in creativity in knitting, finding your knitting niche) were clear despite Aussie-speak. Does anyone know of a similar book for American knitting?