It's is a set of essays reflecting on classic literature.
It's a knitting pattern book.
Perhaps surprisingly, it functions beautifully as both.
It takes a special group of book-loving knitters to latch onto A Tale of Two Cities and ask, "Just what was Madame Defarge knitting? Is there a pattern? Let's make one!" What makes the book work ultimately is that editor and writer Heather Ordover pulls it all together and imbues it with the joy of curiosity, discovery, and whimsy.
Ordover is best known to book-loving knitters as the host of the CraftLit* podcast where literature and knitting gracefully combine. As much as I love the podcast, I would have thought it impossible to get it into a book. I would have been wrong.
The literature ranges from A Tale of Two Cities to The Wizard of Oz to Lysistrata to The Call of Cthulhu. The essays are thoughtful pieces divided into three groups: What I Did for Love, Song of the Sea, and Women of Valor. A variety of approaches contemplative, some are analytical, some humorous, and some are resigned to loving tentacles wherever they appear, but all mirror the same passion for story.
Is there such a thing as a book report done in knitting? The patterns which accompany each essay range from simple to complex and reflect the literature very well. Projects range from Hyde's Hooded Sweater to an Ancient Mariner Watch Cap to Not-So-Ruby Slippers to Madame Defarge's Stole (and thus we discover what Madame Defarge was knitting). If you don't knit, there are other crafts included. I especially liked the Mermaid's Lagoon shadow puppets which included the crocodile.
Food and drink are available also, albeit via links to the book's website. Tips are scattered throughout to help with such challenges as crisp stripes, cabling without a cable needle, and attaching LED neckbolts (a tip that everyone will be sure to appreciate). I also liked the appendix that showed every time Jane Eyre mentioned a shawl. (There are a surprising number of times.)
It is not a perfect book but the problems are those that most readers probably will not mind as much as I do. Yes, my crochety side is emerging. As a design professional, I found the book layout a touch problematic but I won't harp on that since it was done by a small, independent press and I'm inclined to give them a pass and salute the effort that allows books like this to see the light of day. (I do mention it because ... I'm crochety!) As a knitter, however, I do wish there was better formatting of instructions. Glancing at other knitting books or even magazines would give a hint of how to help the eye catch lines of instruction without wasting space. It also would have been nice to have the author of each essay featured after the title. I continually found myself flipping to the end of the piece to see who was speaking before I began reading.
Another problem is that many items are found online rather than included in the book. This includes food and drink recipes, photographs, and some other features. To be fair, some readers love this, or so I have read on Ravelry. Others, like me, would prefer it all in one place. The reason for the on-line portions was to keep the book affordable. However, I would have preferred to pay more and have everything included in the book. I am not going to stop reading and look online. Just ain't gonna happen. Also, I think of what happens if my girls inherit this book and thirty years from now are paging through, looking for just how the back of that Jane Eyre shawl knits up. Will formats have changed, CraftLit no longer be with us (sob), and the times have moved on past when anyone would look online? (La, dear, how archaic!) The book is incomplete without all the trimmings in my opinion.
That said, those trimmings are just that ... extra bits. We can find recipes elsewhere and the charming wood cut illustrations do give some hint of how the overall piece should look. As to the other details, well that's where creativity will reign.
In other words, don't let my carping keep you from buying this wonderful book.
What Would Madame Defarge Knit gives us a wide variety of voices all mirroring the same love of literature, crafts, friendship, and creativity. It is an unlikely combination, but it works. You'll have a long reading list and a long knitting/crafts list to work from when you're done reading it. Highly recommended.
Note: I received a review pdf so that my blurb could be on the back cover, but I bought a hold-in-my-hands copy because I needed the real thing.
Second Note: For a review which also comments thoughtfully upon the small publishing world and a nonknitter's perspective, read this one at Pink Slip.
*It is an interesting age we live in where there are communities formed around a blog or podcast. Such is the case with CraftLit, "a podcast for crafters who like books." It provides classic literature in audio form so that listeners can do crafts and get a good story at the same time. Heather Ordover took this concept and enriched it by providing excellent information about authors, writing styles, time periods, and overarching literary themes. Essentially, CraftLit is the most enjoyable literature class you ever dreamed of.
Heather also talks about the crafts she's been doing with heavy emphasis on knitting, recommends other podcasts, and includes a lot of listener comments. The unique combination of knitting and literature has formed a large, supportive community.
No comments:
Post a Comment