Free-range knitter: The yarn harlot writes again

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Free-range knitter: The yarn harlot writes again

4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 · rating details · 1,353 ratings · 154 reviews

. . . a sort of David Sedaris-like take on knitting-laugh-out-loud funny most of the time and poignantly reflective when it's not cracking you up." --Library Journal on Yarn HarlotStephanie Pearl-McPhee returns to pen another hilarious and poignant collection of essays surrounding her favorite topics: knitting, knitters, and what happens when you get those two things anywh...more

Hardcover, 228 pages

Published September 23rd 2008 by Andrews McMeel Publishing (first published September 1st 2008)

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Nov 21, 2011 Lynn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle

This is another of those 99-cent deals I got on a whim. I used to knit quite a bit, but then I started a business and every spare second of my life was pretty much wiped out entirely. (And the only reason I read books now is as an act of rebellion and escape, somehow I can feel more noble about reading and can launch a better defense about why I'm not working armed with a book, instead of a ball of sock yarn.)

I have sorta of known about this writer/knitter for awhile now. Her first book came out...more This is another of those 99-cent deals I got on a whim. I used to knit quite a bit, but then I started a business and every spare second of my life was pretty much wiped out entirely. (And the only reason I read books now is as an act of rebellion and escape, somehow I can feel more noble about reading and can launch a better defense about why I'm not working armed with a book, instead of a ball of sock yarn.)

I have sorta of known about this writer/knitter for awhile now. Her first book came out when I was the midst of my yarn frenzy, and I even thought about picking it up, but the idea of short stories about knitting, seemed, even then, a bit tedious. But 99-cents is 99-cents, so I purchased it, eager to fill up my e-reader.

Overall, this feels like a lackluster effort. I have not read the first volume, so I can't really compare, but I get the impression that perhaps the first was better, and the publisher ordered a second book, so Pearl-McPhee had to take the remnants from the cutting room floor and make a second book. It just comes off half-hearted. I especially dislike when authors are self-reverential to the point that they have to talk about writing the very book in which you are reading. If you find yourself with the task of a book deadline and you write a chapter about how you have no time or quiet to write your book, well, you're doing it wrong. We don't want to hear about it, especially when you haven't impressed us so far.

There were a few charming stories, but mostly it was full of very predictable stories, including several that are supposed to have "surprise" endings, but are so conventional and thinly disguised that you get the premise from the second sentence and spend the rest of the time just waiting for the author to get to the point. Not helping this is the author's writing style. Her sentences are at times painfully long, and then she will repeat the same sentiment a few sentences later, as if she liked both phrases and couldn't decide which to use, so we have to suffer through both. How long are her sentences? There were several times, reading this on my iPhone (with the text set to "small") where an entire sentence would span the entire face of the device...something that I rarely notice happening. And rather than injecting some shorter sentences in there to give the pieces some rhythm, they just seem to get longer and longer. If it seems weird for me to remark about the length of the sentences, maybe that gives you an idea of how bored I got reading it.

I wish I could just pull myself away from books like this, which I suspect are not going to redeem themselves, but I just feel like every book should be finished. It's a disease. (less)

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Jan 11, 2010 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: knitting, essays, arc, owned, 2008, done

"I received this as an Early Reviewers copy. Free-Range Knitter is a collection of essays, split into seven parts as if it were a knitting project: casting on, knitting two together, yarn overs, left-leaning decreases, making one, continuing to knit even, and casting off. Each part begins with an essay about how a friend or family member knits, which then leads to deeper insights. Pearl-McPhee's trademark knitting humour is evident throughout the book, and some of the essays will be familiar to...more

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May 16, 2011 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: knitters

Shelves: nonfiction, knitting, 2011

Purchased because it was for sale for about $3 for Kindle the other day. Definitely worth the impulse buy. Cute, light, sweet, funny. Her books read much the same way as her 'blog and that's a good thing. I don't think that this was a strong as others of hers that I have read (perhaps just Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter) but I enjoyed particularly the story of her friend struggling with depression. (Or maybe "enjoyed" is not the word. I thought that and the story of her Aunt Helen wer...more

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Jul 17, 2009 Anita rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: female-authors, non-fiction

I just finished Free Range Knitter by Stephanie Pearl McPhee. aka The Yarn Harlot. Awesome!! I'll reread again, just for her wit, humor, pearls of wisdom and outlook on day to day life--let alone her comments on knitting. I just love the letters she sends the designers.

here's one pearl of wisdom I liked: except for good deals and good luck, you get what you pay for, and quality follows cash.

or, on kids: as she was cleaning the refrigerator, she realized that maybe, in some sort of primal challen...more

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Jan 19, 2010 Betsie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 52-books-in-52-weeks

I do so love The Yarn Harlot. She is witty and clever and funny and I so enjoy the self-deprecation. This is the fourth book by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee that I have read and I am clamoring for another. I love how much she loves yarn and knitting. I love how she messes things up and picks up her needles to begin again. You have no idea how exciting it is that she also does not swatch. I really respect her as a knitter and even though this is a book of essays and not an instructional manual, I learn...more

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Jan 07, 2009 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: other knitters, essayists

Recommended to Sarah by: the author herself (via her blog)

This is a book of essays about knitters and knitting, not a pattern book. I read the author's blog, and I enjoy her sense of humor and practicality. I especially liked the essay "All Things Being Equal". In it she discusses how people give her weird looks when she talks about going on knitting retreats, but those same people think nothing of it when a group of guys go off fishing. Also, there are more knitters in the US and Canada than golfers, and we spend way more money on our hobby than they...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I think I'm a little bit in love with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. She lives in a city not too far from me, I think sometimes frequents a yarn store in town, and I think we could be friends. I'm missing a knitting friend since leaving Edmonton, and I dream that Stephanie could come over to knit with me while we drink tea and she shows me how to properly bind off my knitting, and how to block things. We would both say funny things and laugh together. Good times.

As is probably obvious, I quite liked my...more

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Jan 22, 2012 SaraJane rated it 3 of 5 stars

Page 8 "It is my considered belief that the number one reason knitters knit is because they are so smart that they need knitting to make boring things interesting. Knitters are so compellingly clever that they simply can't tolerate boredom. It takes more to engage and entertain this kind of human, and they need an outlet or they get into trouble. Knitting probably prevents arson, prison, theft, and certainly mischief. I think knitters just can't watch TV without doing something else."

Page 22 "I...more Page 8 "It is my considered belief that the number one reason knitters knit is because they are so smart that they need knitting to make boring things interesting. Knitters are so compellingly clever that they simply can't tolerate boredom. It takes more to engage and entertain this kind of human, and they need an outlet or they get into trouble. Knitting probably prevents arson, prison, theft, and certainly mischief. I think knitters just can't watch TV without doing something else."

Page 22 "I love beginnings, when all is possible and everything could be fantastic and nothing has stepped up to the plate to disappoint me."

Page 46 "Knitting is what I do to reassure myself that I'm not an absolutely inadequate moron, and I don't have a lot of coping skills for abject knitting failure."

Page 77 "Parenting is really odd racket. It encourages a human being to become flexible, quick thinking, strong, and resilient, even under the worse or most challenging circumstances. (We will pause now and silently reflect that this is also the goal of the Navy SEALs.) Each moment could bring utter delight, a test of your patience, or an engulfing house fire."

Page 83 "At four you were a good reader and a decent knitter and frequently defeated adults with your keen intellect. By the time you were five, my little prodigy, my life with you was sort of like a game of Survivor since there was almost nobody alive, adult or child, who could outwit, outlast, or outplay you. Your teen years turned into me following you around trying to tell you all the things I had learned the hard way, desperately trying to save you an kind of pain at all, with you starting at me like I was an idiot who didn't know anything and proceeding to learn everything the hard, painful way anyway. I don't know about you but I think those years sucked. I have spent the last eighteen years being awestruck by the wonder that is you, someone I made in my spare time, and trying desperately to deal best with your epic personality and qualities. Tenacity. Intelligence. Constructive discontent. Persistence. Sensitivity. A fantastic sense of humor. Independence. Mercy. Faithfulness. Kindness. Equity. Kids who fight back and challenge you, say "no," and think for themselves are hard to raise and not thought well of at all. We all talk about how "good" an obedient child is, and it struck me at some point while I was raising you that I really couldn't have a child who did as she was told all the time and then expect you to suddenly turn into an adult who was assertive, independent, and free thinking. I realized you couldn't tell a kid, "Do what I tell you," praise her for obedience, and then turn right around when she becomes a grownup and suddenly say, "Think for yourself" and condemn adults who are still compliant. You're an adult. A beautiful legal adult who (at least on paper) doesn't need her mother. You can vote. You can move across the country. You can start a business or join the Peace Corps or - mercy, my child, you can do whatever wonderful thing you want, and you can do it all without my permission. I am scared to death. Motherhood is the only occupation I can think of where your eventual goal is to put yourself out of business and make it so your customers don't need you anymore, and I have swung back and forth these last few years, hoping one moment that you will leave and wishing the next moment that you will never leave and I will be allowed to try to keep you safe and with me forever. While I am not sure that I am entirely okay with this growing up thing, I know now that I have to at least start letting you go a little bit. I need to worry less about you and send you more out there, and I will. (Not all at once, though. The world is freakin' huge.) Please try to be patient with me; it's so hard for me to let go of my job. Try to remember that up until now if something happened to you, it was my fault, and they could put me in prison for it, and in my defense, you are my eldest and the kid I had to practice all of this on. These are terrific qualities in an adult. Boldly go, my dear heart, boldly go."

Page 102 "You would think male knitting was Brad Pitt in a thong for how much attention it gets."

Page 118 "Human beings are inherently contradictory because our big brains and intellectual selves are in constant conflict with our hearts and emotional selves."

Page 127 "Stereotypes are usually born of a common belief, and common beliefs come about because a majority (or at least a bunch) of the people that you're forming an idea about fit within your concept."

Page 135 "My inner self is, like most inner selves, a very harsh person who I am not always convinced is on my side. I have no idea why I can find something likable about almost everyone I meet, how I can usually find a way to come to them with compassion and understanding when they fail me, but I have the voice inside me be so critical when turned inward."(less)

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Dec 18, 2011 Betty rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, funny, non-fiction

This fine book is about knitting, yes, but really not so much about knitting as about what happens when knitting is part of life. The stories and essays glide and ripple and twist, carrying the reader pellmell into intimate contact with men, women, children, animals, ideas, and humor - and always the light of knitting is leaking through, shining its innocence, tough love, and grace onto stumbling humanity.

Stephanie is a master at fostering reflection through story-telling. The first story, about...more

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Mar 15, 2009 Justy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, knitting, review-copy

The Yarn Harlot strikes again! I loved this book, it was a real page turner. This book isn't so much about knitting but is a collection of stories which show how knitting affects knitters and those around them. I think one of my favourite stories is of a small child who was sitting knitting and looking angelic. Of course this was only a reprieve because normally this child would be looking for something creative to do, like painting a mural on the walls or playing dress up with the dog. I loved...more

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Jun 14, 2011 Jen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

So, here's the thing-other than the Kinnearing story, which I read on her blog and is, indeed, hilarious, I've never read any of Stephanie's work before. I guess "kniting philosophy" just isn't for me. I found much of the book shallow and pedantic, particularly the section in which she whines repeatedly about how knitting doesn't receive the respect it deserves. Who the heck cares?

I did enjoy one story, re: Abby, a 40-year-old who decides to reclaim the joy of snow. I felt Pearl-McPhee finally g...more

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Aug 27, 2010 karen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: unfinished

I give up. I dutifully read through page 150 of Free-Range Knitter and just did not want to pick it up again. It's an ARC so I felt I should slog through to the end but I can't make myself do it.

Pearl-McPhee's writing is fine -- words are put together nicely, and it's funny in spots, touching in others, but there's no SNAP, no connection; I am uninterested in this essay collection and reading it was like homework.

The essays with "surprise endings" are predictable, the description of knitting sty...more

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Jan 18, 2010 kingshearte rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, knitting-crochet

Some of the essays in this book were cute, but many of them just started to feel repetetive. Yes, you are obsessed with knitting. Yes, you have a massively huge stash. And yes, you are completely weak and powerless when it comes to buying yarn. So the ones dealing with those topics bored me.

Some of them really were nice, though. The tributes to various knitting friends/relatives were really sweet, and I quite enjoyed the one about the fascinating and beautiful dance one's fingers do when knittin...more

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Sep 11, 2010 Gregory rated it 4 of 5 stars

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, philosopher extraordinaire, turns in a very satisfying book of essays centered around the basic theme of the usage of sticks and strings, not only to make objects but to stir our souls.

Multiple essays about knitting, life, children, love, pain and grief in a format that takes us from casting on to binding off.

By turns hilarious and heart rending this is a great book. If you don't knit then at least check this book out at the library and read the very last essay titled "H...more

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May 16, 2010 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: essays

I loved this book. On the back there is a quote from the author that says:
This book is about the things we have in common, we knitters, no matter where we live, whom we love, or what we are knitting...This book, though it appears to be about knitting, is actually about knitters.

That pretty much describes the book, although I would add that the book is about mothers too, and mothers who do not knit will probably find something here that resonates. I laughed a lot, I cried a little bit, and was de...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Meagan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really like Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's blog, and this reads a lot like it. The stories are more complete, since they're in the past rather than an in-the-moment recounting, and there are a few really poignant bits interspersed with the anecdotes and funny bits. It might be better read in a one story a day fashion, but I have (self imposed) deadlines to meet, and read quite a few in a sitting. A few of them got a little too beyond the scope of knitting for me, instead venturing into the depths of...more

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Mar 04, 2009 Janelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

I got this book for Christmas and read it slowly. If you like the Yarn Harlot's mini-essays on her blog, you'll love this book. She really comes into her own with the full essay format. Some stories are touching, some hilarious. Just wait until you read the one about when her ball of sock yarn went up in the elevator while she (and her sock, with ball of sock yarn attached) were stuck in the lobby. Can these things really happen to her? Gosh, I hope so, because they generate such spirited writin...more

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Jun 06, 2012 Kerry rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, everything

Free Range Knitter is yet another great collection of essays about life, love and knitting by Stephanie Pearl McPhee (a.k.a. The Yarn Halot). By now, it should go without saying that Stephanie’s writing is witty and funny and thoroughly enjoyable and this book is no exception.

I was fascinated by a running series of essays that reflected on the way several people in Stephanie’s life knit, their motions and the way they approached it, and how it reflected something about their lives or personalit...more

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Dec 16, 2012 Haley rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: crafts, nonfiction, read-in-2012

This was my least favorite of the three. By this point, the material felt hackneyed. The first book was so funny and touching. I read the third after that and was less than charmed but it had good points. This one was a rehashing of the same concepts -people's negative feelings about knitting, buying yarn, etc. the unique addition to this book was the stories about people in the authors life. Most felt boring. I didn't really care how these random people knit. What saved the third book (in my op...more

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Oct 05, 2010 Cupcakencorset rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is my favorite Harlot book to date. I loved her essays, which cover funny, touching, practical and personal topics. While many of the characters/people she writes about are unique to her world, they are tenderly captured in such a way that I wish they were in my world too. Thanks, Stephanie, for such a good book. It was a Christmas gift I bought myself a few months ago, so I made myself wait until this week to read it. It will be one of my favorite Christmas presents for a long time.

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Mar 29, 2009 Lara rated it 5 of 5 stars

Another book of essays from the Yarn Harlot, Free Range Knitter returns to the format that best showcases the author's talents. As always, her essays are funny, poignant, and most of all real. I have found that some of her writing can wear thin after you've read as much as I have, but this book stands out as having more meat and less fat. These new essays touch the heart and amuse in a way that repeated jokes cannot, no matter how funny they may have been the first time.

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Aug 28, 2009 Libby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Just like the first Yarn Harlot book, this one contained some essays that were so familiar to me I'd actually gotten tired of re-reading them. I think it's an even better collection of essays, though. My favorite section -- and the one I saved for last, because I knew anything by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee on women and/or politics would be good -- was Chapter 4: "Left-leaning Decreases: Stories about Women, Politics, Knitters, and Looking at Things in a Different Way."

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Jan 05, 2012 Zoe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comedy, knitting

Unlike Knitting Rules, there are no patterns here, just essays about the life of a knitter. Many are, even when the author strays from the knitting topic, laugh out loud funny. But sometimes, she ruminates on things that are very big picture, such as why so many who don't knit seem to be under the impression that knitters are dim witted, simply because they follow a 'domestic pursuit'?

All in all, good fun, but probably only if you are a knitter.

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Dec 02, 2011 Rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars

I follow the yarn harlot's blog religiously but have yet to read one of her books. This was an impulse buy when amazon had it for $3 for the kindle and I quickly downloaded it. Needed a light, no-brainer and that's what I got. Enjoyable but not as funny as I was expecting. I've heard her other books are 'better' (that is, funnier) so will try another one the next time I need a light read.

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Jan 28, 2010 Julie Davis rated it 3 of 5 stars

#1 - 2010.

Picked up in a last-minute splurge before beginning my 2010 resolution of not buying new books (aside from book club requirements) for a year. Which makes it all the sweeter ...

An assortment of alternately interesting, insightful essays with goofy ones. I wound being largely unamused by the pieces clearly intended to amuse such as letters to a sweater and I was generally uninterested in the pieces about McPhee's children which analyzed them as knitters and took that into musings on the...more

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Oct 16, 2008 Donna rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

If you've read any of Pearl-Mcphee's other books, this one is most similar to Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter. That's still my favorite of her books.

Some of the chapters in Free-Range Knitter are full of her great blend of humor and insight. Sadly, it feels like she missed the mark in others, and there were a few that felt like pure filler.

I didn't really care for the chapters where she talked about her friends and their knitting, because they mostly seemed like personal stories and re...more

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Jun 30, 2011 Helena rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: knitters, those enjoy essays

Shelves: crafts

These essays more about knitters than knitting, but even so, if you don't knit--or at least do some kind of crafting--this book might not be your thing. I've never read Pearl-McPhee's blog, so I have no idea if there's overlap between blog and book. Coming to her writing fresh, I very much enjoyed the book and plan to read more of her work.

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Apr 04, 2009 Snorkle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, knitting, read-2008, review-on-blog

Ah, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee has done it again. She has written a hilarious account of what Knitters (yes, that is in fact, a capital K) must go through in their efforts of finding the perfect yarn, making socks and other trials. Stephanie has seen it all, and just when you've thought that you've got a story she couldn't possibly beat, you turn the page and are laughing so hard you drop your sock yarn. Something else that I thought was intriguing was that Stephanie had written a couple stories tha...more

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Jul 05, 2009 Jessi rated it 4 of 5 stars

some of the material here is getting kind of old -- even more so if you follow the blog -- but on the whole this collection seems very fresh compared to the last few harlot books, as well as generally more polished and thoughtful. like the first harlot book, i'd probably even recommend this one to non-knitters.

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Jan 01, 2013 Marija rated it 3 of 5 stars

Some of these essays were laugh-out-loud funny (the essay about her washing machine had me in stitches), others more sobering. Some weren't about knitting at all, which was fine. This is the first Pearl-McPhee book I've read, and I liked her personality enough that I will seek out more of her books.

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