Read One, Purl Two: Five Books for Knitting Fanatics

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Knitters are naturally creative types, so it’s no wonder that we love a good yarn. And when your eyes need a break from all the cross 2 R and EOR, it’s nice to kick back and keep your hands still for a while with a cozy knit-centric novel—the social and crafty elements can make for a tightly-woven story. Here’s five of my favorites.

1. The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs: Georgia Walker owns a little yarn shop in Manhatten’s Upper West Side called Walker and Daughter. In between running the shop and raising her daughter, Dakota, alone, Georgia likes to take time out with the knitting club that gathers at her store once a week to work on their latest projects and discuss the events in their lives.

But Georgia soon finds that her somewhat simple life cannot stay simple forever, especially when her ex shows up looking to play a bigger role in Dakota’s life—and she’s not the only one in her group with surprises popping up. This book is perfect for anyone who loves their crafting companions and understands the importance of a tight-knit (sorry!) community.

2. Knitting by Anne Bartlett: When Sandra, a rigid academic, and Martha, a self-taught textile artist, meet, friendship springs between the unlikely duo over their fascination with knitting. To help deal with her husband’s recent death, Sandra collaborates with Martha on a new knitting project and she discovers that she’s not the only one hurting inside.

This is one to really pull at your heartstrings with the quiet power of friendship.

3. How to Knit a Love Song by Rachel Herron: When Abigail’s mentor, Eliza Carpenter, dies, she leaves her cottage in California to Abigail, who gladly takes on a new life away from the big city. With the intention to turn the cottage into a knitting shop where she plans on spending her days spinning, designing, and purling, Abigail’s dreams come to a halt when she meets her new neighbor and Eliza’s nephew, Cade, who sees her move to the cottage as an intrusion.

However, as time passes, Abigail and Cade grow closer, and Abigail quickly learns she has to trust her neighbor when the past she thought she left behind shows up in her new quaint town. This is an excellent read if you like a little romance woven in.

4. The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood: After the sudden loss of her only child, Mary Baxter joins a knitting circle in Providence, Rhode Island. Although reluctant to open up to her new found friends, Mary finds that the women don’t pressure her, but instead teach her new techniques while revealing their own personal stories of loss, love, and hope.

Finally, Mary realizes the only way she can regain the life she once had is to open up and share with her friends her own grief.

5. Knitting Under the Influence by Claire LaZebnik: In their late twenties, Kathleen, Sari, and Lucy spend their Sundays together in their knitting circle as a way to keep their personal lives together. Kathleen has recently been financially cut off by her family, who force her to enter ‘the real world’ for the first time at the age of twenty-seven, while Sari finds herself falling for the man who made her life hell in high school, but who now needs her help, and Lucy tries to find the right choice when her lab and boyfriend are assailed by an animal-rights group.

The three friends try to set their lives right as they discuss everything from big life decisions to small knitting snafus in a comedic novel that’s guaranteed to keep you—wait for it—in stitches.

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Casey Murphy is an Editorial Assistant at a medical newspaper in South Jersey. In her spare time she focuses on writing her own fiction, which she has had published in several online and in print literary journals. Feel free to follow her (@murphcas) or visit her blog: simplydelete.wordpress.com