The Yarn Whisperer

In The Yarn Whisperer: My Unexpected Life in Knitting, Clara Parkes shares 22 captivating, poignant and laugh-out-loud funny stories about the role yarn and knitting play in her life. In the process, she hits upon the universal truths that drive knitters as well as the ways in which knitting can be looked at as a metaphor for so many other things. Within the foreword, she explains: "In Victorian times, people often spoke through flowers. They called it floriography. A simple acacia signified secret love, an oxeye daisy called for patience, and the pear blossom spoke of lasting friendship. But, as in Agatha Christie's Miss Marple mysteries, some were harbingers of danger, dishonesty, even death. Women 'corresponded' through flowers, able to communicate far deeper meaning through them than they could put into words. What if it turns out we do the same thing with our own knitting, creating swatches and garments that, when deciphered, tell stories of their own? Stockinette, ribbing, cables, even the humble yarn over can instantly evoke places, times, people, conversations, all those poignant moments that we've tucked away in our memory banks. Over time, those stitches form a map of our lives." And with that introduction, Parkes goes on to regale us with stories of her childhood and adulthood—of family, friends, adventure, exploration, privacy, disappointment, love and celebration--all tied together with a strand of yarn, of course.