Knitting the Threads of Time

Every so often I get the opportunity to review a knitting book.  Even more rarely do I get the chance to review a book that uses knitting as a central theme, but doesn't focus on patterns and knitting technique, but knitting as a vehicle to discuss other topics.

Knitting the Threads of Time: Casting Back to the Heart of Our Craft is just such a book.  The author uses the knitting of a sweater for her 6 year old son during a winter in St. Paul as a vehicle to discuss fiber arts as they have developed through time and through multiple cultural traditions.  This sweater is the author's first experience knitting a sweater and as she works through the various issues she encounters with it, she finds ways to connect to cultures and traditions, some ancient, some more recent.  It's got a bit of history, a bit of cultural exploration, a bit of the personal journey to self-discovery woven into it.  Certainly the "new knitter taking a journey to self awareness via knitting her first sweater" is not a new motif, but it is a comfortable one that makes for a nice launching point for the elements Nora Murphy explores.

I like to do a little reading before bed to help calm my mind and to distract me from the days events.  This book fit nicely into that ritual.  It's not a deep book when it comes to discussing any of the history or traditions that it introduces, and it is certainly not a comprehensive knitting history, but it would certainly be a reasonable launching point for anyone interested in exploring the social history of the fiber arts more deeply -- in addition to a rather nice index, she also includes a bibliography of source material that the reader can use as a starting point to finding more information about specific subjects. 

I enjoyed reading this book and found it to have a similar tone to Victoria Finlay's
Color: A Natural History of the Palette, which I also enjoyed (Finlay's book, however goes into a good deal more detail and while a travelogue, is not focused on the author's story so much as the stories of the people involved in producing the pigments she is researching).  It's a relatively short book (less than 200 pages) that reads quickly and leaves you curious about how the textile arts (she doesn't focus on knitting exclusively)  have affected women in the past -- and how they will continue to affect us in the future.

P.S.  Speaking of books, thanks for all the encouragement to add American Gods.  Not surprisingly, I am liking that first chapter I downloaded.  I suspect it might make it into my reading rotation soon.  Assuming I can put down the weaving books that have captured my interest of late...