The Knitter’s Life List: To Do – To Know – To Explore – To Make A Review

The Knitters Life List.

The Knitter’s Life List: To Do – To Know – To Explore – To Make

Gwen W. Steege

Storey Publishing, 2011

The Knitter’s Life List is a unique knitting book.  It is not a book of patterns or a book about knitting skills or techniques.  It is a book about the craft of knitting and all that it encompasses.  It is a book of lists, articles, biographies of designers and important knitters, technique notes, and observations about knitting.  The book is divided into chapters which are based on topics and broad subject areas such as yarns, sweaters, socks, fiber etc.  In each chapter you will find articles, photos, stories, and the lists.  The book is filled with short well written articles about the history of knitting, the role of knitting in society and fun entertaining pop culture facts about yarn and knitting but it is so much more than a compilation of articles.  The lists and articles are designed to motivate and inspire you as a knitter to take your craft to the next level.  It encourages you to learn more, push your self and be brave enough to try new things.  The book is meant to be an inspirational starting point for knitters of all levels.  A beginner can get excited about knitting and learn new skills while an experienced knitter can use the lists to delve deeper into techniques and move their craft to the next level.  I can see a book like this being popular with knitting groups or with people hoping to connect to other knitters of all levels.  I also think that the lists in this book are great for people who are feeling a little unenthusiastic about knitting.  Face it we all go into a knitting slump sometimes.  This book will get you excited to try something and sometimes that is all you need to get motivated again.

The lists are into sections such as meet, discover, do/try, and learn, go, experience, extra credit and a place to create my lists.  The items on the lists vary depending on the chapter but encourage one to take the subject to a different level.  You are encouraged to learn more, try new things and think about knitting in a new way.  These lists are fun and will get you excited about your craft.  They are not designed to be a check list of things you need to do to be a master knitter.  Your creativity, curiosity, or your competitiveness can be sparked by the lists or you can get a sense of accomplishment by what you already know.  The book itself is lovely.  It is full color and chock full of beautiful photos.  It has a casual modern layout style that makes it easy to flip through or to browse as a coffee table book.  I liked the historical information, especially sections about traditional styles of knitting and the depth of information about different fibers.  The historical photos are fun to look at.  Overall I found the book to be interesting and fun to read.  I kept picking it up and reading sections and drooling over the photos.  The only things I thought it lacked as book about knitting as a culture was that it had very little about Ravelry which is such a big component of the knitting community these days.  As a librarian I have to say I loved the reading lists at the end.  It was a nice touch.  I liked the book and think you will too.  Gwen W. Steege has a love of knitting that shows in her enthusiasm and in the depth of her knowledge.  Well done.

So if you are looking to be inspired, want to move your craft to the next level or want to learn more about fiber, techniques, or the history of knitting this book would be perfect for you.  I think this book would make a great gift for a knitter of any skill level. 

To make things even better Storey publishing has generously offered to give one book away to any reader of this review.  All you need to do is leave me a comment and at the end of the month one reader will be selected to get a brand new copy of the book!  Also Storey is having a contest called the Knitter’s Life List Sweepstakes.  Check out www.storey.com for details.