Knitter's Review!

Knitter's Review is a big deal. Run by Clara Parkes, she reviews yarns, books, notions... Pretty much anything related to knitting under the sun.

I've developed a thick skin over the years. You learn from a young age that you can't please everyone and as you get older you begin to care less and less about even TRYING to please everyone, but Knit Local is special. It's special to me because I wrote it at 3 coffee houses, but mostly sitting at my kitchen table late at night while the rest of the world slept. I'd work by the glow of my computer screen, books, yarn, garments and color cards piled high around me creating a protective cocoon. My 2am break was spent shivering on my tiny balcony watching the Capitol dome lit from below. Occasionally my dog or cat would curl up on my lap or my husband would stick his head out and ask how it was going, inevitably woken up by the typing and looking over to see the clock read 4am and his wife was not where she should be. I thought about the book constantly. Riding the Metro, washing the dishes, walking the dog, getting the mail, taking out the trash, you name it. The book consumed me. It was my 5th appendage.

Why did it consume me so? This book is an extension of myself. I live my life in a certain way and trying to get that out into book form and try to get knitters, crafters and shop owners to take a look at the big picture and think more about what they carry and why they do is no easy task. Some people resist and that is their right, but after having my son, Callum in April, I no longer think about my lifetime, I think about his and what we're leaving him. I want him to breathe clean air, know what it's like to swim in a clean lake, be proud of being an American and think about what he can leave behind for HIS children.

So yes, when it comes to Knit Local I take things personally. Good reviews are fantastic, the bad ones I think about and decide whether or not they deserve merit, make a mental note and move on. This is where thick skin comes in handy.

When someone sent me an email this morning asking if I had seen the write up on Knitter's Review, I braced myself and went online. Knit Local made the top 11 books of the year (according to Clara Parkes)! See the review here. Clara is someone I admire and kind of want to fist bump. I think she's got a good eye and a smartness to her. Getting a good review is great, but being named one of the top 11 of the year, especially since the book has only been out for a month more or less made the rest of my year.

Now going into its second printing, I am darn proud of the book. Even more so, I'm darn proud this the book is starting dialogue between shop owners, local yarn companies and the crafting community.

Knit on.