Recently in Poetry and Literature Category
The first version of this list was compiled and marked up into HTML by Lynn Ruggles. It is now maintained by Julie Ourom, with HTML by Emily Way.
Many of these books are available from the sources listed on Wool Works' booksellers page.
"Ever since I was a little girl, I loved one thing more than anything. Wool shops. Yeah, sounds daft, doesn't it? Wool shops. All those colours, the textures, all that possibility. I felt it, Dolly, the first time my Mam took me into one for a couple of ounces of double knitting to make my brother a pair of gloves. It was an Aladdin's cave. I knew then, I was only knee-high to a grasshopper, but I knew I was going to make this stuff and better. I didn't know how, but I knew I was going to. Ach, I can't explain it, but you must know what I mean.""Yes, of course. I feel the same about at paper and pens..."
"Right. Then just imagine this. I woke up one morning and I realised that if something wasn't done, something real and now, there could be a world without wool shops. Nuclear winter, the possibility of survivors, all that means to me just the one thing: a world without wool shops. The minute I thought of that, I knew I couldn't compromise."
A World without Wool Shops, Dulan Barber
General fiction
- Art Work, A.S. Byatt
- Knitting plays a major role.
- At Home in Mitford (from the Mitford Years series), Jan Karon
- The first in a series depicting everyday life in a small North Carolina town. Knitting is described at one point as a comfort to the soul.
- Bag of Bones, Stephen King
- The hero's wife is a knitter.
- Cheerfulness Breaks In, Angela M. Thirkell
- Plus other titles including The Brandons, High Rising, Marling Hall. Each of her books contains at least one knitting reference, often more.
- Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier
- Describes a sweater knit of unwashed fleece.
- Coming Down from Wa, Audrey Thomas
- Knitting at an African girls' school in the 1960s.
- Coming Home, Rosamunde Pilcher
- England during WWII with mention of Red Cross knitting.
- Country of the Pointed Firs, Sarah Orne Jewett
- A young woman's life in a New England seaside village, based on a diary from the late 1800s, with knitting references.
- The cure for Death by Lightning, Gail Anderson-Dargatz
- Mention of wartime sock knitting.
- Death and the Oxford Box, Veronica Smallwood
- Features knitting as one of the book's themes.
- Fall On Your Knees, Ann-Marie MacDonald
- Brief mention of sock knitting for the war effort.
- The Fever Tree and Other Stories, Ruth Rendell
- "A Needle for the Devil" is densely packed with knitting.
- Green Dolphin Street, Elizabeth Goudge
- Knitting.
- High Island Blues, Ann Cleves
- Very brief mention of knitting.
- Independent People, Haldor Laxness, trans. J. A. Thompson
- 1946 Nobel-prize winner, mentions Icelandic knitting.
- Jacob's Room, Virginia Woolf
- Full of knitting references.
- Lambs of God, Marele Day
- Spinning and knitting in a cloistered religious community.
- The Last Continent, Terry Pratchett
- Knitting that doesn't fit is discussed in this novel set in Australia.
- The Last Resort, Alison Lurie
- Knitting mentions, including Kaffe Fassett sweater.
- London Transports, Maeve Binchy
- Includes an enlightened knitter.
- The Man Who Loved Childen, Christina Stead
- Knitting is a part of the characters' lives.
- The Matisse Stories, A.S. Byatt
- One of the stories is about someone obsessed with knitting.
- McNally's Gamble, Lawrence Sanders
- The main character's mother is portrayed as a ditzy knitter.
- The Miss Read series, Miss Read
- Many mentions of ladies' knitting, both good and bad (knitting, not the ladies!).
- Mister Sandman, Barbara Gowdy
- Entertaining knitting scenes.
- Odd Woman, Gail Godwin
- Knitting and recycling.
- Persuasion, Jane Austen
- Knitting for charity and as an amusement.
- Plain Jane, Joan Barfoot
- Main character is a knitter and book is full of knitting mentions, particularly sweaters she's knitting for a friend in prison.
- Random Passage, Bernice Morgan
- Mentions of knitting with rags in outport Newfoundland.
- Roman Fever and Other Stories, Edith Wharton
- A daughter's views of her mother's knitting.
- The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx
- Lots of knitting references.
- Small Ceremonies, Carol Shields
- A mystery is created around a quantity of yarn found in a character's husband's desk drawer...since no one in the family knits.
- Some Tame Gazelle, Barbara Pym
- Many mentions of knitting as a part of ordinary life in her earlier books; fewer in the later ones.
- Staggerford, Jon Hassler
- Knitting and small town life.
- Storm Tide, Elizabeth Ogilvie
- Maine lobstermen talk of knitting bait bags and trap bags for lobster traps.
- A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
- Arguably the most well known knitting reference; not unusual for non-knitters to refer to a knitter as a Madame Defarge.
- The Twisted Sword (The Poldark series), Winston Graham
- The last book in this series includes a description of handknit stockings and gloves.
- Was It Something I Said?, Valerie Block
- Mention of knitting as therapy after a plane crash.
- A World without Wool Shops, Dulan Barber
- A wonderful description of wool shops.
Mystery
- A is for Alibi, Sue Grafton
- Description of a very intricately knitted mauve Aran sweater.
- Aunt Dimity's Death, Nancy Atherton
- Knitting mention.
- The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Laurie King
- In Sherlock Holmes style; also A Letter for Mary where a suspect makes mistakes in her knitting.
- The Bookman's Wake, John Dunning
- "The night was young, the game wasn't over yet, I was more focused with each passing block. I wasn't going to sit in my room all night knitting an afghan."
- The Brother Cadfael series, Ellis Peters
- At least one mention in Potters field of an old lady knitting.
- Buried in Quilts, Sara Hoskinson Frommer
- "'I still can't believe it,' said Annie Jordan, knitting without watching. Like Edna, she couldn't bear to sit idle -- and she didn't count mere meetings as work."
- Candle for a Corpse, Ann Granger
- Delightful mention of hand-knit sweater given as a gift.
- Carpool, Mary Cahill
- One of the main characters knits, and another quilts; the book has numerous mentions of their projects. "The nice thing about knitting is, you can do it anywhere. And you can do it faster when you're away from your own phone."
- C.O.P. Out, Nancy Herndon
- A seniors' knit-in in front of the police station.
- D is for Deadbeat, Sue Grafton
- Knitting as an aid to learning patience and an eye for detail.
- Dead Winter, William G. Tapply
- Nice description comparing knitting to solving murders
- Deadly Appearances, Gail Bowen
- Brief mention of knitting.
- Death of an Expert Witness, P.D. James
- One of the characters is a knitter.
- Deception on His Mind, Elizabeth George
- Comment that knitting is a usual part of a woman's possessions.
- The Devil's Workshop, Kate Gallison
- Knitting mention.
- Doomed to Die, Dorothy Simpson
- A suspect is a knitwear designer.
- Everywhere That Mary Went, Lisa Scottoline
- Knitting mention.
- Farewell to Yarns, Jill Churchill
- Numerous knitting mentions.
- The Grub-and-Stakers Spin a Yarn, Charlotte MacLeod writing as Ailsa Craig
- Zany book with some scenes set in a yarn shop.
- The Hand of Death, Margaret Yorke
- The wife of the main character knits, including charity knitting.
- Hasty Retreat, Kate Gallison
- Knitting figures into the plot.
- Ho Ho Homicide, Corinne Holt Sawyer
- Brief mention of knitting by a night-shift nurse.
- Holly Jolly Murder, Joan Hess
- Somewhat snarky comment about knitting.
- How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams, Dorothy Cannell
- The vicar's husband knits.
- Ice, Ed McBain
- The main character's wife knits him a watch cap for Valentine's Day.
- Impact, Stephen Greenleaf
- Another murder with a knitting needle.
- J. Alfred Prufrock Murders, Corinne Holt Sawyer
- Knitting mention.
- The Miss Marple series, Agatha Christie
- Lots of knitting by Miss Marple in this well-known series.
- Mrs. Malory: Death of a Dean, Hazel Holt
- Mentions yarn stashes.
- Mrs. Malory wonders, Hazel Holt
- Main character owned a yarn shop.
- Murder Among Us, Ann Granger
- The murdered woman ran a wool and craft shop -- you'll have to read the book to see if this caused her death.
- Murder Gets a Life, Anne George
- KIP at an airport.
- Night of Four Hundred Rabbits, Elizabeth Peters
- Main character is a knitter.
- "A Needle for the Devil," Ruth Rendell
- In the short story collection The Fever Tree and Other Stories. Several knitting references, but the details are inaccurate.
- The Red Scream, Mary W. Walker
- Knitting mention.
- Sadie Shapiro's Knitting Book, Robert Kimmel Smith
- Also other titles including Sadie Shapiro, Matchmaker. A zany senior has adventures, solves mysteries, and knits.
- Serpent's Tooth, Faye Kellerman
- Mention of favourably-received handknit cardigan.
- The Silent Cry, Anne Perry
- Brief mention of knitting socks using bone needles in this William Monk/Hester Latterley Victorian mystery.
- Stitches in Time, Barbara Michaels
- Sock knitting.
- Thrones, Dominations, Dorothy L. Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh
- Knitting under stress.
- Tourist Trap, Julie Smith
- Brief mention of male knitting baby clothes.
- The Trouble with Going Home, Camilla T. Crespi
- Dreaming of murder with a knitting needle.
- The Veiled One, Ruth Rendell
- Considerable knitting content; the murder weapon is a knitting needle.
- While the Patient Slept, Mignon Eberhart
- The narrator is a nurse who knits during home-nursing work; the author is a knitter and knows what she's talking about.
Science fiction and fantasy
- Friday, Robert Heinlein
- A menacing knitter.
- Drums of Autumn, Diana Gabaldon
- Sock knitting in 1700's, including description of males learning as children.
- Queen of the Summer Stars, Persia Woolley
- Heroine knitting on her queenly throne.
- The Unknown Shore (Aubrey-Maturin series), Patrick O'Brian
- Pirates teach a captured child how to knit.
- The Very Thought of You, Lynn Kurland
- An 11th century tapestry-destroying bard learns to knit when transplanted to 20th century Scotland.
Fairy tales
- Angelita's Magic Yarn, Doris Lecher
- An Andean folk tale, where the heroine is the fastest and finest knitter in the village.
- The Mitten, Jan Brett
- A Ukrainian folk tale where a young boy begs his grandma to knit him snow white mittens -- and promptly loses them in the snow where they become a home for animals.
Children's fiction
- Amos' Sweater, Janet Lunn
- Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery
- Also Rilla of Ingleside. Various knitting and crochet references.
- Apple Tree Christmas, Trinka Hakes Noble
- A young girl knits during a blizzard in the 1880s, using wool from one of the family's sheep, Mrs. Wooly.
- Boys Don't Knit, Janice Schoop
- Or do they?
- Christmas Trolls, Jan Brett
- A Scandinavian story with knitting mentions.
- Daisy and Her Needles, Keith Balding
- Delightful story about a granny knitting a fire, tea pot, husband...
- Derek the Knitting Dinosaur, Mary Blackwood
- Rhymed couplets of a dinosaur who knits during the onset of the ice age while his pals frolic.
- Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, Margaret Sidney
- Plus other titles; knitting mentions.
- Homer Price, Robert McCloskey
- Features a giant ball of yarn and a knitting teacher.
- Knitwits, William Taylor
- A boy learns how to knit so he can make a sweater for an expected sibling -- without the knowledge of his hockey team.
- Lottie's New Beach Towel, Petra Mathers
- Lottie, the chicken, knits a sock.
- The Lorax, Dr. Seuss
- A knitting frenzy causes environmental damage.
- The Mitten Tree, Candace Christiansen
- An old woman secretly knits mittens and hangs them on a tree for the children waiting at the school bus stop.
- Mr. Nick's Knitting, Margaret Wild
- A male knitter makes friends with a female knitter while commuting by train.
- No Roses for Harry, Gene Zion
- A bird unravels the unwanted sweater that Harry's grandma knit for him.
- The Queen's New Clothes, Tom Dunsmuir
- Dotty the Queen cat has an unsatiable appetite for yarn, and knits weird garments for everybody in the kingdom.
- Safe Return, Catherine Dexter
- A young girl pushes herself to knit mittens to will her mother's return from across the sea.
- The Saturdays (Melendy books), Elizabeth Enright
- Kids' knitting.
- Scaredy Cat, Joan Rankin
- Knitting.
- Sheep in a Jeep, Nancy Shaw
- Plus others; with a knitted lamb.
- Sunny's Mittens, Robin Hansen
- Grandma teaches a young girl to knit; includes patterns.
- Tale of Alain, Arnold Zimmerman
- Time travel tale; includes directions for making the hero's striped sweater.
- Thomas' Snowsuit, Robert Munsch
- The Tusk Fairy, Nicola Smee
- A little girl's knitted elephant unexpectedly unravels and the tusk fairy comes to the rescue.
Children's non-fiction
- Wool, Annabelle Dixon
- Describes how wool is made into a sweater.
Poetry
- Auntie's Knitting a Baby, Lois Simmie
- Zany rhymes about a bad knitter.
Biography
- At Home in the World: A Memoir, Joyce Maynard
- Known because of her affair with J.D. Salinger; Maynard's mother was a knitter and the book includes knitting-related anecdotes.
- Birds, Beasts and Relatives, Gerald Durrell
- Amusing description of knitting by his mother.
- Jenny Walton's Packing for a Woman's Journey, Nancy Lindemeyer
- Includes many references to her knitting.
- My family and Other Animals, Gerald Durrell
- Hilarious description of author's mother knitting in a car.
- No Ordinary Time, Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Biography of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt; includes photo of Eleanor knitting.
- Personal History, Katharine Graham
- The author, longtime editor of The Washington Post and Newsweek, mentions her mother-in-law knitting as a decoy on the back of a rum runner in the Florida Everglades during Prohibition.
- A Schoolteacher in Old Alaska: The Story of Hannah Breece, Jane Jacobs
- Knitting in Russian Alaska in the 19th century.
- Voyage of American Promise, Dodge Morgan
- Solo long distance sailor describes mittens handknit by his wife.
- A Welcoming Life (the M.F.K. Fisher scrapbook), Dominique Gioia
- Photos of the author knitting on the beach.
- What Fresh Hell Is This?, Marion Meade
- Biography of Dorothy Parker, an avid knitter who carried her knitting bag everywhere.
Non-fiction
- And Now All This, A.W.C. Sellar
- The practice and fury of knitting (woology).
- Born at the Right Time: A History of the Baby Boom Generation, Doug Owram
- Mention of postwar shortages of knitting supplies.
- The History of Hand Knitting, Richard Rutt
- The Knitting Sutra: Craft as Spiritual Practice, Susan Gordon Lydon
- Knitting and meditation as contemplative aids.
- Notes from a Small Island, Bill Bryson
- "Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back 3,000 years haven't yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food?"
- Prevention's Your Perfect Weight
- Knitting as a dieting aid (!).
- http://www.woolworks.org/bookref.html
"A narrow and deserted street in deep shadow, high houses, innumerable windows with venetian blinds, a dead silence, grass sprouting right and left, immense double doors standing ponderously ajar. I slipped through one of these cracks, went up a swept and ungarnished staircase, as arid as a desert, and opened the first door I came to. Two women, one fat and the other slim, sat on straw-bottomed chairs, knitting black wool. The slim one got up and walked straight at me -- still knitting with down-cast eyes -- and only just as I began to think of getting out of her way, as you would for a somnambulist, stood still, and looked up. Her dress was as plain as an umbrella-cover, and she turned round without a word and preceded me into a waiting-room. I gave my name, and looked about. Deal table in the middle, plain chairs all round the walls, on one end a large shining map, marked with all the colours of a rainbow. There was a vast amount of red -- good to see at any time, because one knows that some real work is done in there, a deuce of a lot of blue, a little green, smears of orange, and, on the East Coast, a purple patch, to show where the jolly pioneers of progress drink the jolly lager-beer. However, I wasn't going into any of these. I was going into the yellow. Dead in the centre. And the river was there -- fascinating -- deadly -- like a snake. Ough! A door opened, a white-haired secretarial head, but wearing a compassionate expression, appeared, and a skinny forefinger beckoned me into the sanctuary. Its light was dim, and a heavy writing-desk squatted in the middle. From behind that structure came out an impression of pale plumpness in a frock-coat. The great man himself. He was five feet six, I should judge, and had his grip on the handle-end of ever so many millions. He shook hands, I fancy, murmured vaguely, was satisfied with my French. BON VOYAGE.
"In about forty-five seconds I found myself again in the waiting-room with the compassionate secretary, who, full of desolation and sympathy, made me sign some document. I believe I undertook amongst other things not to disclose any trade secrets. Well, I am not going to.
"I began to feel slightly uneasy. You know I am not used to such ceremonies, and there was something ominous in the atmosphere. It was just as though I had been let into some conspiracy -- I don't know -- something not quite right; and I was glad to get out. In the outer room the two women knitted black wool feverishly. People were arriving, and the younger one was walking back and forth introducing them. The old one sat on her chair. Her flat cloth slippers were propped up on a foot-warmer, and a cat reposed on her lap. She wore a starched white affair on her head, had a wart on one cheek, and silver-rimmed spectacles hung on the tip of her nose. She glanced at me above the glasses. The swift and indifferent placidity of that look troubled me. Two youths with foolish and cheery countenances were being piloted over, and she threw at them the same quick glance of unconcerned wisdom. She seemed to know all about them and about me, too. An eerie feeling came over me. She seemed uncanny and fateful. Often far away there I thought of these two, guarding the door of Darkness, knitting black wool as for a warm pall, one introducing, introducing continuously to the unknown, the other scrutinizing the cheery and foolish faces with unconcerned old eyes. AVE! Old knitter of black wool. MORITURI TE SALUTANT. Not many of those she looked at ever saw her again -- not half, by a long way.
Dyes - said He - have I -
Could disparage a Flamingo
Show me then - said I -
Cochineal - I chose - for deeming
It resembles Thee -
And the little Border - Dusker
for resembling Me -
-Emily Dickinson
Knitting.Sunshine lying across the floor; A little maid, feet bare and brown, Cheeks like roses, a cotton gown, Rippling masses of shining hair, And a childish forehead smooth and fair. The child is knitting. The open door Wooes her, tempts her, more and more. The sky is cloudless, the air is sweet And sadly restless the bare brown feet.. Still,' as she wishes her task were done, She counts the rounds off, one by one. Higher yet mounts the sun or June; But one round more!___a joyous tune Ripples out from the childish lips, While swift and swifter the finger-tips Play out and in, till I hear her say, "Twenty rounds! I'm going to play!" Up to the hedge where the sweet-brier blows, Down to the bank where the brooklet flows, Chasing the butterflies, watching the bees, Wading in clover up to her knees, Mocking the bobolinks; oh, what fun It is to be free when the task is done! Years and years have glided away. The child is a woman, and threads of gray One by one creep into her hair, And I see the prints of the feet of care. Yet I like to watch tier. To-night she sits By her household fire, and as then she knits. Swiftly the needles glance, and the thread Glides through her fingers, white and red. 'Tis a baby's stocking. To and fro And out and in as the needles go, She sings as she sang that day in June, But the low, soft strain is a nursery tune. Closely beside her the baby lies, Slowly closing his sleepy eyes. Forward, backward, the cradle swings, Touched by her foot as she softly sings. And now in silence her watch she keeps; The song is hushed, for the baby sleeps. Up from the green, through the twilight gray, Comes the shoats of a troop at play. Blue eyes, black eyes, golden curls - These are all hers___her boys and girls. Then wonder not at the prints of care, Or the silver threads in her braided hair. Does she ever pine for the meadow brook, The sweet-brier hedge, the clover nook? When sweet winds woo, when smiles the sun, Does she ever wish that her task was done? Would you know? Then watch her where she sits Smiling dreamily, while she knits. __Ellen P. Allerton. |
http://www.skyways.kumc.edu/poetry/walls/knitting.html
Walls of Corn and Other Poems
Ellen P. Allerton
(Hiawatha, KS: Harrington Printing Company. 1894)
Pages 239-240
The Boston Transcript reprinted the following poem in 1917, just as it appeared in that paper November 27, 1861.
CLICK, click! how the needles go
Through the busy fingers, to and fro--
With no bright colors of berlin wool,
Delicate hands today are full:
Only a yarn of deep, dull blue,
Socks for the feet of the brave and true.
Yet click, click, how the needles go,
'Tis a power within that nerves them so.
In the sunny hours of the bright spring day,
And still in the night time far away.
Maiden, mother, grandame sit
Earnest and thoughtful while they knit.
Many the silent prayers they pray,
Many the tear drops brushed away.
While busy on the needles go,
Widen and narrow, heel and toe.
The grandame thinks with a thrill of pride
How her mother knit and spun beside
For that patriot band in olden days
Who died the Stars and Stripes to raise--
Now she in turn knits for the brave
Who'd die that glorious flag to save.
She is glad, she says, ''the boys" have gone,
'Tis just as their grandfathers would have done.
But she heaves a sigh and the tears will start,
For "the boys" were the pride of grandame's heart.
The mother's look is calm and high,
God only hears her soul's deep cry--
In Freedom's name, at Freedom's call,
She gave her sons--in them her all.
The maiden's cheek wears a paler shade.
But the light in her eyes is undismayed.
Faith and hope give strength to her sight,
She sees a red dawn after the night.
Oh, soldiers brave, will it brighten the day,
And shorten the march on the weary way,
To know that at home the loving and true
Are knitting and hoping and praying for your
Soft are the voices when speaking your name,
Proud are their glories when hearing your fame.
And the gladdest hour in their lives will be
When they greet you after the victory.
http://beck.library.emory.edu/greatwar/poetry/view.php?id=eaton_Eaton109
