Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, also known as the Yarn Harlot, has written another collection of essays about knitting. Writing essays is a nearly lost art, but with blogs and the internet it is not lost yet. If you have not read any of Pearl-McPhee’s books this book will be a pleasure for you.

Free Range Knitter includes essays about knitting, about yarn buying, yarn stashing, nice (read more expensive) and not so nice yarn. Mostly what Pearl-McPhee does is share her love of all things related to knitting and make those who share that love laugh, cry and mostly agree with her. There is something about knitting that creates a community, as the art enjoys a resurgence and a popularity with young people, writers like Pearl-McPhee bridge the gap. Her essays verbalize the fun of knitting and attempt to explain why knitters knit.

In the past, a long long time ago, or back in the day, people may have knit to save money, to make money, or “for the troops”. Now people knit for a variety of reasons, Stephanie’s essay, Smarter than they think , talks a lot about why we knit. She uses the analogy of women in countries who knot rugs. These women are not allowed to learn to read and write, but their rugs tell stories about the people who create the rugs. Knitting is a lot like that, she writes that we knit to cover our children’s feet when they go to college, or clothe our babies, we make hats to keep those we love warm. This book may not help non-knitters understand knitters, although it will if they take the time to read it, but it will draw knitters closer together. The book will explain why knitters spend $27 for yarn and 100 hours to make a pair of socks, while non-knitters look on and wonder why?

The first book I read by Stephanie was, The Secret Life of a Knitter , and at the time I was only knitting a little here and there, her books got me knitting again, and remind why I knit, and why I enjoy it so much. Greg Kinnear calls her the Michael Jordan of knitting (that is another story), but I view her as the Lance Armstrong of knitting, she has by the wit and joy of her writing, brought knitters out of the closet and on to buses, parks, coffee shops and more. She has reminded us with her humor how much fun it is to knit.