Book Review: Knitlandia

I really enjoy knitting, but I don’t go to any of the big yarn shows or the sheep and wool festivals because I am very allergic to wool. I’m not talking the itchy skin type of allergic. I’m talking the my-eyes-water-my-nose-runs-my-throat-itches types of allergic. So, I tend to live vicariously through other people’s experiences.

Clara Parkes, best known for her website Knitter’s Review, has written the perfect book for people like me. Knitlandia: A Knitter Sees the World is a series of vignettes where Clara Parkes takes you by the hand through sheep and wool festivals, yarn trade shows, and even on a jaunt across the Icelandic countryside. She provides a behind the scenes peek at what happens during the taping of a knitting TV show, and even takes you out to eat with well-known knitting designers. Parkes vivid descriptions make you feel like you are right there beside her, taken into her confidence when she offers her honest (and sometimes blunt) opinions.

I loved this book! It was so great to be able to experience places I will never be able to go, and to get to look behind the curtains at taping of a Craftsy class. Clara Parkes is very personable, and it feels like she is confiding in you like a friend, sharing her secrets and telling you what she really thinks.

Knitlandia is a great book for the knitter in your life, including you! It deserves a place on your bookshelf next to other knitting non-fiction classics like Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter and Adrienne Martini’s Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously.

(This review is based on the ARC, which was provided to me free in exchange for an honest review. This post uses affiliate links.)