First, the facts:
Title: Stitching in the Stacks: Librarian-Inspired Knits
Edited by: Sarah Barbour
Published by: Cooperative Press, 2013
Pages: 174
Type: Literary-themed patterns
Chapters:
1. Archives
2. Fiction
3. Reference
4. Stacks
5. Staff Room
The In-Depth Look:
It seems to be one of those (you’ll excuse the phrase) unwritten truths that a lot of knitters are avid readers. Maybe it’s because we’re happy sitting quietly, keeping ourselves busy, and both knitting and reading are perfect activities.
The author begins by asking the question, “Is there really a special connection between librarians and knitting? Stereotypically, of course, librarians knit. They also wear glasses, keep cats, and put their hair up in buns. … Still the circumstantial evidence of a link is persuasive. … For knitters of all levels, libraries are a natural place to look for patterns, technical help and inspiration–and they’re more common than yarn stores. … But maybe the connection lies in a mutual appreciation for preserving knowledge and sharing it. The collection of patterns in this book is designed to celebrate that connection, whatever its cause. Each of the designs comes with its own fragment of library lore intended to educate, amuse, and enrich. Some of the patterns draw their inspiration from librarians themselves, from the famous to the fictional, to the obscure and anonymous.”
To that end, what follows is a nice variety of patterns–sweaters, gloves, shawls, vests, even hats, and a couple skirts. There are odds and ends like a coffee-press cozy, eyeglass case, e-reader case, and even an adorable little 3D bookworm. (The only kind of worm you’d really want to find in your books.) Most of the clothing patterns are for women, though there is one vest for librarians of the male persuasion.
Along the way, there are some interesting tidbits about librarians (real and fictional), as well as shout-outs to some in-the-know kind of metadata, like the dewey decimal number for knitting. There are a number of things in here I’d love to knit (which isn’t true of every knitting book, no matter how good). I suppose it’s possible that all the lovely pictures with books and knits are making my book-loving knitter’s heart go pitter-pat, but really it’s a nice variety of pattern–useful, fun, attractive, playful … lots of options. And you don’t even need to be a librarian to appreciate them.
You can find this book at the Cooperative Press website.
Want to see bigger pictures? Click here.
This review copy was kindly donated by Cooperative Press. Thank you!
