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13th out of 54 books
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54 voters
All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin
“ . . . 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 HarloInside All Wound Up, New York Times best-selling author and self-proclaimed Yarn Harlot Stephanie Pearl-McPhee spins her third yarn on knitting for the 60 million knitters in North Ameri...more
Hardcover, 240 pages
Published
October 18th 2011
by Andrews McMeel Publishing
(first published September 21st 2010)
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All Wound Up is a collection of essays about a variety of things. Of course, having being written by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (a.k.a. The Yarn Harlot) there is lots of witty, funny things about yarn, knitting and knitters. Personal favorites include: Knit Junkie” in which the Harlot turns to the DSM-IV’s definition of addiction to see if she does have a knitting problem, “Personal Filters” in which she reveals all the wonderfully snarky things she would like to say in response to the questions non...more
It happens to everyone who knits socks. You end the final row after a particularly stressful yet spectacular "stunt" (heel turn) and you're one stitch short of the number of stitches you were expecting. You count again and again but you can't make the row add up.
*Fast Forward* Watching the sock unravel in a reverse tide back into a ball of yarn nothingness/everythingness, I experienced an all time low ebb, that felt a lot like not breathing. I quit holding my breath and accepted the disaster fo...more
*Fast Forward* Watching the sock unravel in a reverse tide back into a ball of yarn nothingness/everythingness, I experienced an all time low ebb, that felt a lot like not breathing. I quit holding my breath and accepted the disaster fo...more
Comfy bedtime reading, a chapter or two at a time (which is all I can fit in during the schoolyear). Pearl-McPhee is very good at her admittedly particular genre--knitting humor. For people who knit, she's got the attachment, the frustrations, and the obsessions nailed. It's also nice to read someone copping up to all the inevitable disappointments of projects gone wrong, particularly as Ravelry (wonderful resource though it is) tends toward perfect pictures of perfect projects on perfect bodies...more
First of all, this is not a book about knitting. It does have a lot of knitting references in it, so it is probably best appreciated by fellow knitters. But in reality the essays in this collection cover a lot of ground with humor and insight: parenting, social issues, mental health, chaos theory, problem solving, fair trade, craftsmanship, self esteem. The yarn harlot herself presents the term "adoxography," meaning "skilled writing about an unimportant subject," to describe her work, and that...more
All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot involves many an essay, covering the topics of yarn, work and family (among other things). As Pearl-McPhee's book is my first real exposure to yarn humour, I appreciated its novelty. If you have any experience as a knitter, then it's easy to identify with the tidbits picked out in her writing. Tolerating the ignorance of non-knitters, justifying your stash, delighting in Knit Night, working stubbornly at a hopeless project, and finding solace in those quiet "knit" m...more
It's been a while since I've read Stephanie Pearl-McPhee or her blog, so I had forgotten how jealous I am of her knitting skills. Having tucked my bitterness away, I proceeded on with her latest.
Having said that, I have to say I enjoyed this collection much more than her last effort because it was, gasp, a bit "darker" - and it's not as if she has gone serial yarn killer or anything - than her other works. In this volume her musings are more about the darker side of her personality: she is "All...more
Having said that, I have to say I enjoyed this collection much more than her last effort because it was, gasp, a bit "darker" - and it's not as if she has gone serial yarn killer or anything - than her other works. In this volume her musings are more about the darker side of her personality: she is "All...more
This was laugh-out-loud hilarious in parts of the book -- I kept bothering my husband by bursting into raucous guffaws (don't you love the word "guffaw"?). However, it is a book of essays, and therefore not my usual cup of tea. I like stories. But each essay was, in itself, a little story, of some of the frustrations of life, family, self-esteem, etc. There was one near the end of the book that gave the clearest picture of grief I've every read. It was called "Not Knitting," and describes how th...more
This is a kindle download.
I was intrigued by the title and the cover of this book having recently took up knitting after a very,very long break. I read a couple of sample pages and it had me grinning away to myself.
Firstly it's not a book about knitting, Stephanie is a knitter but this book is full of short essays more or less about everyday life and happenings told with humour, with knitting thrown in.
Those with craft hobbies will be able to identify with the stories, i could particularly relat...more
I was intrigued by the title and the cover of this book having recently took up knitting after a very,very long break. I read a couple of sample pages and it had me grinning away to myself.
Firstly it's not a book about knitting, Stephanie is a knitter but this book is full of short essays more or less about everyday life and happenings told with humour, with knitting thrown in.
Those with craft hobbies will be able to identify with the stories, i could particularly relat...more
I went to the Baltimore reading and booksigning for this book. That was great, because it was literally 5 minutes from where I live.
I really like memoirs, and I really like short stories, and I like reading the Yarn Harlot's blog, so I liked reading this book. I was a little disappointed that some of the stories were recognizable blog posts - I remembered reading them previously.
Many of the stories were more about life as a knitter/person with a giant stash of yarn than about knitting itself....more
I really like memoirs, and I really like short stories, and I like reading the Yarn Harlot's blog, so I liked reading this book. I was a little disappointed that some of the stories were recognizable blog posts - I remembered reading them previously.
Many of the stories were more about life as a knitter/person with a giant stash of yarn than about knitting itself....more
Oh my heavens, I have not laughed so hard in ages! Pearl-McPhee is knitting's Liz Lemon. She writes with humor and transparency and humility, and I wish that I could write about my life the way she writes about hers. Her story of starting ripping out a shawl a dozen times had me in tears of laughter, and her story about the phase in her life when she did not, could not knit had me in tears of sympathy. I could completely relate to her story of being unable to do that thing that is so very tied t...more
I must be a self-hating knitter because it seems wrong that the finest prose I have read in a long time was crafted by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee for this book. The essays are both erudite crytoscopophilia, anyone?) and humble (the cool table). While I get the feeling that her house is much cleaner than she claims, I certainly sympathize with dilemma in her life between cleaning and knitting. I am glad I read her essay on gauge, right after I had a sock/gauge disaster.
While someone needs to know ab...more
While someone needs to know ab...more
For some reason knitting isn’t considered a cool activity by a lot of people. It is an activity that can define who you are, however. No one spells out the life of a knitter as well as Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. All Wound Up is her newest book, and it is an absolute hoot. The essays had me giggling out loud and made family members wonder what exactly could be so funny about a knitting memoir. If you are a knitter (even a closet one who only knits on weekends), this is just about the most hilarious...more
After a while (I've read all of the author's books and enjoy her blog too), the stories start blending together, and so this book didn't seem quite as shiny to me as her first collection, The Yarn Harlot. That one remains my favorite, perhaps because it was a new genre.
That said, this is another enjoyable collection of humorous essays about knitting and life. My favorite was the story about how she is a legendary mother in her neighborhood because of what happened one hot summer day. I had to r...more
That said, this is another enjoyable collection of humorous essays about knitting and life. My favorite was the story about how she is a legendary mother in her neighborhood because of what happened one hot summer day. I had to r...more
I really really like the Yarn Harlot. I think her writing makes for blog perfection. Small doses of humor, insight, wisdom, knitting, and general warm fuzzies delivered a few times a week via my blog reader is a very good thing. It makes my life just a little bit better.
That is the Yarn Harlot at her best. And is why I think her books don't quite measure up. It's just too much at a sitting. Not quite as funny. The jokes get a bit worn and overplayed. It's a bite too much of the dessert that you...more
That is the Yarn Harlot at her best. And is why I think her books don't quite measure up. It's just too much at a sitting. Not quite as funny. The jokes get a bit worn and overplayed. It's a bite too much of the dessert that you...more
I recieved this book from First Reads. First of all, I put my name in this giveaway because my mom is an obsessive knitter and I thought she would love this book. But to be true to First Reads, I said that I would read it first then give it to her. And I'm so glad I did. I loved the humor and the craziness (sorry Steph) in these stories and events. I enjoyed the book the so much, the punchlines, the knitting, the little bits of family life (I'll never look at water balloons the same way...) and...more
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is probably Canada's most famous knitter. She writes a terrific blog with probably of followers (The Yarn Harlot), and, yes, it focuses on knitting, BUT it also offers so much more. For one thing, she's funny as all get out, but in a "life observing" versus slapstick way. Kind of a David Sedaris of knitting, but less scatological. This book of essays, focusing on life as we who knit (and do lots of other things) know it, is a pleasurable extension of her blog - longer essa...more
I love Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and have since she was only posting on the knitting lists before she started publishing. While not quite as funny as
I still laughed out loud in public while reading this book. Maybe it's only marginally less good because the Yarn Harlot was so new and refreshing and different when it came out. In this one several of the essays were quieter and more reflective. There were a couple that I had to read out loud to my non knitting sister. My sister is a spinner so she...more
I still laughed out loud in public while reading this book. Maybe it's only marginally less good because the Yarn Harlot was so new and refreshing and different when it came out. In this one several of the essays were quieter and more reflective. There were a couple that I had to read out loud to my non knitting sister. My sister is a spinner so she...more
I promised myself that I would read more non-fiction this year, but am always drawn to the amazing synopsis I read on the fiction books. This book however, caught my attention so I thought I would give it a try. I found it laugh-out-loud funny, which is unusual for me. Perhaps because I could relate to the topic, but definitely because of the way Pearl-McPhee writes. I felt that I was with her in her tiny little Toronto home sharing stories while we knit. (Yes, I did knit while reading the book!...more
Stephanie has honed and tested her writing through her blog, The Yarn Harlot, and I am among her faithful readers. When I picked up the book, the first thing I did was scan the table of contents, hoping that a certain blog entry had made it into the book. And there it was, on page 50: A Little Demoralizing. The original blog entry was one of the funniest I’ve ever read, about her husband Joe's getting his truck stuck in the snow. (You can find the original blog entry here:
http://www.yarnharlot.c...more
http://www.yarnharlot.c...more
All Wound Up is a great collection of observations of life by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. She is hilarious and while you don't have to be a knitter to enjoy her tales, it certainly helps.
Tales range from how you really want to answer people when they ask you dumb questions about knitting, to what your husband does when the new washer won't fit down in the basement.
I felt her pain as she made and remade the same rows of a project time and time again. Almost completing a project, only to discover that...more
Tales range from how you really want to answer people when they ask you dumb questions about knitting, to what your husband does when the new washer won't fit down in the basement.
I felt her pain as she made and remade the same rows of a project time and time again. Almost completing a project, only to discover that...more
I loved reading this book, and finding out that there are other people out there who are completely obsessed with knitting and yarn! This author is hilarious - I will definitely look for her blog. I will say though, that people who don't have this knitting obsession probably won't get such a kick out of this book. But I found myself showing sections of various chapters to my husband/kids as I came across very familiar situations - "Look! That's ME she is describing!"
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, also known as the Yarn Harlot, makes knitting, and the daily disasters of life, laugh out loud funny. Read her ode to her washing machine. Hilarious! And she's just as lovely in person. If you like this book check out some of her others: Free-range Knitter: the Yarn Harlot Writes Again or Things I Learned from Knitting- Whether I Wanted to or Not .
Recommended by Denise Corey, Deputy Chief Librarian
Recommended by Denise Corey, Deputy Chief Librarian
A must read for all knitters,. A great read for nonknitters. Who may find themselves looking for a knitting group. Anyone who has ever knitted a garment just because they loved the yarn will find themselves in this book. Stephanie has a way to make you feel that you were there when you read her stories. Told with good humor and compassion she is not afraid to laugh at herself and life in general. Good job Stephanie!
i purposely read this one slowly so i could savor it since pearl-mcphee's books are usually about 2 years apart on average. this one was well worth the wait and slow read. her hysterical spot-on sentiments about how the rest of the world views knitters had me constantly laughing out loud but she can also write really wonderfully about non-knitting topics. so, if you've read this far in my review and are NOT a knitter but enjoy funny, insightful essays discussing everything from beloved washing m...more
I love Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, as I have expressed before in my reviews of her work. This series of essays did not disappoint, full of her humour and insights into life and knitting (not necessarily in that order). I especially liked her essay about being dork all through school, and how she feels she's still a dork, because I too am a dork. I would like to knit with her one day.
I'm really sad to have finished up the final book of Pearl McPhee's that I had left to read. I think I must have been savouring it and holding out. I've scoured the web and then gotten annoyed that she didn't have the next one out yet - then I remembered, she doesn't answer to me!
This was the perfect tonic to a bit of reading fatigue. I read the essays one at a time - couple of pages - before bed and they were funny, and personal and intimate, and hit home more often than not. Sometimes you jus...more
This was the perfect tonic to a bit of reading fatigue. I read the essays one at a time - couple of pages - before bed and they were funny, and personal and intimate, and hit home more often than not. Sometimes you jus...more
I admire Stephanie Pearl-McPhee a lot, and I've been influenced a lot by her as a knitter. Sometimes her humor is too much of the same thing over and over--"Teenagers, AMIRITE?"--but I like her essays best when they're a little more quiet and contemplative, or when they pull from something abstract and make it experiential. There were a few of those kinds of essays in this book, mostly toward the end.
It's always nice to get back into the Yarn Harlot's world of knitting stashes and cold Toronto winters! This book was a bit more bittersweet than some of her others: her girls are growing up, and she's had some family tragedy. So many of the essays had the feel of a cozy, steady chat with a friend, which was also nice. I really liked her thoughts on Mother's Day.
And I did laugh aloud over Joe and the truck.
And I did laugh aloud over Joe and the truck.
This was one of my favorite Yarn Harlot books ever! It made me laugh in places so hard that I was only allowed to read it during waking hours. Really good, and even for those who aren't die hard knitters, it would be an enjoyable read, especially if you do know or live with a knitter!
Stephanie is a hoot. If you are a knitter she will definitely keep you in stitches (knits and purls). I truly enjoy her short stories and snipits. If you are a knitter, or if there is a knitter in your life, I hope you take the time to check out her books. She is fun to read.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| Ravelry Knitters: All Wound Up - August Group Read | 29 | 68 | Sep 24, 2012 01:20pm |
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (better known as the Yarn Harlot) is a prolific knitter, writer and blogger known for her humorous but always insightful anecdotes and stories about knitting triumphs and tragedies.
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Jun 30, 2012 02:10am