Knitter's Bookshelf

The second book in Debbie Macomber’s Blossom Street series sees Lydia Hoffman, the owner of Seattle’s A Good Yarn shop, start a new knitting group with three women who create a sisterly bond.

Lydia wants to start a new knitting club for sock knitting as she is interested in how the new self patterning sock yarns can be used to create a quick knit project.[Read More]

The Shop on Blossom Street is the story of four very different women who develop a friendship through the knitting club of A Good Yarn knitting shop.

Lydia Hoffman has fallen in love with an old shop on Seattle’s Blossom Street.  So she decides to fulfil her dream of opening up a yarn store and moves in to the apartment above with her cat Whiskers.  [Read More]

A review of Knit One, Kill Two, Knitting Mystery Book 1, written by Maggie Sefton. When Kelly Flynn’s aunt Helen is murdered, Kelly leaves her job as an accountant in Washington, D.C. and returns to the small town of Fort Connor in North Colorado.

However, what she thinks will take a couple of weeks in April becomes a period of extended  leave working from her aunt’s house.[Read More]

Have you ever wondered what the lives of other knitters are like?

The Friday Night Knitting Club written by Kate Jacobs is about a single Mum, Georgia Walker, her shop on Broadway’s Upper East Side in New York and a group of friends who visit her yarn shop.  It is a book about female friendships, loves, parenthood and, of course… knitting.

The book was Kate Jacobs’ debut which describes the concerns and hopes of the group members as they deal with heartaches, difficulties and joyful moments.[Read More]

Death in the Cotswolds is the third in the Cotswold series of murder mysteries by Rebecca Tope.  In a departure from the first two books in the series, this one is told from the viewpoint of a new character, Ariadne, who observes Thea and Phil as they continue their courtship in the quiet Gloucestershire village of Cold Aston.

Quiet that is, until Ariadne stumbles across the body of her friend, Gaynor, murdered with a knitting needle!  Ariadne had been making preparations to celebrate the festival of Samhain, on a local burial ground, when she finds Gaynor’s body.  Phil, as a police Superintendant, is called upon to take charge of the case and Thea turns to Ariadne for companionship and the two share her thoughts on the murder.[Read More]

I love reading books! Don’t you?

And a novel that has a knitting element to the story makes a wonderful change from reading actual knitting books. I’ve intended adding a few reviews of these novels for a while now. Okay, Mad Men, Bad Girls and the Guerilla Knitters Institute is a bit of a mouthful so I can quite understand why the title was shortened to Mad Men, Bad Girls for the print version of the book.

Mad Men, Bad Girls and the Guerilla Knitters Institute is an enjoyable book written by Maggie Groff. I listened to the unabridged audio book brilliantly read by Georgie Parker whose Australian accent brought Scout Davis to life. I don’t know about you, but I think audio books are just brilliant to listen to while you’re knitting or sewing.

Mad Men, Bad Girls and the Guerilla Knitters Institute is an intriguing mix of mystery, romance and comedy. The story unfolds against the backdrop of Byron Bay and the Gold Coast. As I’ve never been to Australia, I found this to be a refreshing setting for the novel.

The protagonist Scout Davis is a freelance journalist who’s investigating a secretive American cult that has recently relocated to the Australian Gold Coast. We find out a bit about her; she’s in her early 40’s and has a long distance romance with another journalist who’s away more than he is at home. She loves real tea (with tea leaves and a teapot), is a diabetic and shares her home with a cool cat called Chairman Miao.

The main story line is about the investigation into The Luminous Renaissance of Illustrious Light. Which leads to Scout planning to infiltrate the cult as a possible new recruit. The story looks at the egomaniac leader who entrances vulnerable people with a message of peace and love but then controls them with brutality and fear. This investigation becomes more personal for Scout when she finds out that a one of her daughter’s childhood friends has left her family while suffering from post-natal depression and joined the group.

There are other subplots running through the story. With strange goings on in the private school her sister Harper teaches at. A blossoming romance with Rafe a local police officer. And a crazy plan for the Guerilla Knitters Institute to yarn bomb a public building in the middle of the night in which she involves her nephew. I don’t want to reveal too much as it might spoil you’re enjoyment of the book.

The only bit I found a little, well naff, was when taking an insulin injection was used as, mmm… how should I put this… foreplay… yeah, well, don’t really see it myself. When I take my insulin, I just find it to be painful, best done quickly, certainly not by someone else, and definitely not an interlude to romance. But maybe, that is just me!

Other than this Mad Men, Bad Girls and the Guerilla Knitters Institute is a fun light read for the summer. An interesting mystery. A bit of silliness. Some quirky humour. A touch of romance. And a very likeable character in Scout Davis. Would have enjoyed a bit more of the yarn bombing but maybe this will happen in the next book.