I am loving my local library as a source of craft books lately – except that the jewelry making books are in the art section, which for some reason means I can’t check them out. So if you were wondering why I’ve been reviewing so many non-jewelry craft books…that’s why. I love reading about all kinds of crafts, and free books are a good thing, so I’m reading everything I can from the library.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot’s Guide to the Land of Knitting is a fun, lighthearted book about knitters. The entire book is based on the metaphor knitting = a place, and Stephanie is your tour guide for your visit to Knitting.

You won’t learn how to knit from this book, and you won’t find any patterns. There aren’t beautiful photos of things you wish you could make either. What you will get is a fun perspective on the knitting community. Many of the insights in this book could easily be applied to beaders, or crafters in general. Particularly the sections about stash. Part of the reason I started selling jewelry was because my bead stash was getting out of control…

Anyway – I enjoyed this book. It was a quick read, and entertaining. I bet knitters would like it even more than I did.