I love YARN

Well, duh. But I’m referring to the Australian knitting magazine in this particular instance. Their April issue featured my favorite review of Spin to Knit yet. Some ultra-fabulous quotes from it:

Remember having driving lessons with your parents? For a knitter taking up spinning, Shannon Okey is more like your laid-back aunt. She doesn’t bother much with telling you the right way to do it; instead, she gives you the basics, hands you the keys to her (manual-shift) car and lets you get on the road. She knows nothing will teach you like experience.

True, that. Because seriously, unless I am there in person hanging over you with an exceptionally pointy and serious-looking spindle, you are never going to learn as much as you do when you just try.

Spin to Knit is never a dry technical manual, however. Okey often uses quite
vivid language to evoke hands-on concepts that are difficult to get from print. (She describes Andean plying, for example, as ‘looking like you’re dancing the hula from the elbow down’.)

And in my case, preferable to actual hula dancing. Really.

By simply demonstrating the joy to be had in spinning, Okey will probably do
more to build a new generation of spinners than any dedicated manual could.

(I’m tearing up, YARN. I’m actually sobbing now. Thanks. Now where’s my tissues? The only other review to actually get me teary-eyed was one my friend — and Top 500 Amazon reviewer — Rob wrote about Spin to Knit. What can I say? I love that book like a human kid!)

Seriously. That YARN review made my day. And when I looked on the website, I found out it was the same issue Sivia is in, so of course I had to order one. What’s with me & Australia this month? We just got in a big order of handbag supplies from there, too.

Spinner’s Quarterly, not to be outdone, said about Spin to Knit:

Reading this 128-paged book is like having author Shannon Okey give me a cup of tea, look me in the eye, and spell spinning out for me. She uses technical vocabulary with simple definitions that I can apply to the spinning I have already done, with an eye to making progress with my future spinning. The focus of the book goes beyond basic spinning techniques, encompassing spinning tools as well as troubleshooting common problems.

I am more likely to give you a cup of tea than poke you with a Punishment Spindle, that’s true. In fact, I’m agitating for a tea shop to go in next door to mine. Quoting the handsome and wise Rupert Giles (Buffy’s Watcher, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer), who has been caught drinking coffee during a crisis: “Tea is soothing. I wish to be tense.”

So — pull up a chair, a cup of tea and a phone this afternoon for The Knitgrrl Show with Lily Chin — call in, IM a question, we’ll chat with you at 5:00 Eastern.

Tagged with: Spin To Knit, Spinning