summer reading suggestion: Knitlandia

Summer reads for the knitter can be difficult to find. If you haven’t yet read Knitlandia by Clara Parkes, I urge you to open this slim book and be transported to fibery destinations.

Knitlandia: A Knitter Sees the World
by Clara Parkes
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Hardcover, 160 pages
Published February 2016 by STC Craft
Review copy provided by NetGalley

Drawing on her experience as a travel writer, traveller, and curious knitter intent on understanding how yarn works, Parkes has released a wonderful collections of essays about her journeys.

As an acknowledged fangirl of her writing, did I read this collection with a rosy tint to my glasses? No. Parkes is a master writer and storyteller. She crafts the right words in the right order and transports you to conference centers, TV sets, and a family vacation. The arcs of each essay are brilliant and witty, incredibly enjoyable, and lend themselves well to rereading. I can’t remember the last time that upon reading the last word of an anthology I immediately started rereading!

Parkes has found a way to describe not only the bare facts of an event but to also convey many of the subtle nuances that make places like Rhinebeck, Maryland, and TNNA memorable. Somehow she has found a way to convey the beauty of the knitting community: you gather together and end up chatting as friends.

Perhaps you aren’t a knitter and want to understand why places such as Rhinebeck, Maryland, Squam, and Iceland evoke excitement and desire, I believe this collection can provide insight. Maybe you are a knitter and want to experience places you haven’t or meet people or events that have passed, this collection will take you there to meet and experience them.

Does it get any better than that? Yes! With Knitlandia, Parkes became a New York Times bestselling author! If that wasn’t a claramel* in itself, she recorded her essays and it’s available as an audio book!

* Parkes hasn’t met a stick of butter that, to my knowledge, she doesn’t want to turn into a delightful baked or candy creation. Claramels are her special, highly coveted, caramels, which, from what I’ve heard are incredibly delicious.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an early readers copy in exchange for a review.