Customer Reviews

Knitting the Threads of Time: Casting Back to the Heart of Our Craft

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I chose this book, while on a search for knitting patterns and knitted items to inspire me. While this book isn't not one of stitches, or yarn, or patterns - it is all of that from the beginning place of culture. The desire to create. I have read Olga Soffer and Janet Spector's books that are archaeological/anthropological but yet draw you into the mythic origins of fiber and art and practicality. The importance yet commonality of the arts of women and also men, who find creativity and economy in the siren call of twisting, turning, spinning, knotting threads of all kinds.

Ms Murphy also explained in as respectful manner as I have seen yet, the arts and myth of the Native American. From her writing, I could sense her respect and knowledge, and I knew she was not one of those notorious 'fluff bunnies' who dramatize their own romantic garbage as some 'mysterious' cultural insight. That drove me to write this. Scholarship yet wise and based in the very real world of buying yarn in a world that exploits economically challenged people.

From the first stitch to cutting the last strand of yarn, Nora Murphy managed to completely enthrall me with this well written, engaging and informative tale. I was captivated by the evocative imagery that drew me into cosy scenes of her own life, and delighted to discover how this craft has evolved over time around the world. This book satisfies on so many levels, it appeals to the woman, the mother, and the needle artist in me. I highly recommend it, it deserves reading and rereading.

This is as amateurish a history of knitting as its author is an amateur knitter. Has she never heard of Kaffe Fassett, Martin Storey, Brandon Mably, or Eugene Bourgeois? Does she not know that the medieval knitting guilds were exclusively male? Or that men knit in, among other places, Peru and Jamaica? Or that both boys and girls are taught to knit in Waldorf schools? Has she not seen the photographs of men and boys knitting socks, mittens, and other warm wool garments for servicemen during World War II?
I commend to her the DVD Real Men Knit and Richard Rutt's A History of Hand Knitting, among other items. If she checks out the many knitting blogs on the Web, she will see that a number of them are written by men--men who knit. Or if she types "men who knit" into Google, she'll find plenty of resources on the subject.
As a knitter for more than 50 years, I cannot bring myself to feel kinship only with knitters of my own gender. All knitters, from the newest novice to the oldest or most professional, share a history--and a craft.

This book is a perfect book to read this winter. It left me with the triumphing accomplishment of reading good literature during these cold months. Most importantly it is a culturally uniting book. It connected me on a number of levels; cultural, family life and the ups-and-downs of knitting projects.

Apparently writting about your stuggles to complete a task that countless other people are able to perform effortless as if it is some heroic and epic accomplishement is the latest craze in knitting related books. Like the equally dull, "Sweater Quest", the author is somebody who knows the basics about knitting, decides to tackle a project that is a challenge for her skill level and then proceeds to muse on the knitting world while occasionly filling us in her struggles to complete basic knitting tasks. It is the equavalent of reading a food book about somebody's proud quest to hard boil an egg who muses on the meaning of food prepartion but who has never even heard of Julia Child.

The only thing nice I can say about the book is that her prose is lovely. However it is difficult to enjoy because she uses it to try and turn mundane life in America into some epic adventure. She acutally writes that "Survival can be a challenge here in the north country." She lives in St. Paul, MN a major US city. Sorry, you don't get to pat yourself on the back because you live in a part of the US that snows and has short Winter days. News Flash: About half of America's 300+ million residents have a similiar winter experince.

I am a skilled knitter. I have come to the conclusion that I don't care to read about self-important newish knitters struggles to complete something I could knit in a fraction of the time. If they had a sense of humor about it, and made me laugh with them, I could get into it. But writting about something that is a widespread skill and that you know little about as if you are really doing something special is off-putting.

"Knitting the Threads of Time" is fairly interesting because it's written by a grant writer for non-profit organizations, such as Hmong, Vietnamese and Native American cultural centers. When combined with her hobby of knitting, it gives her a unique perspective on the importance of textiles to different cultures.

Murphy interweaves discussions about the history of knitting in other cultures with her personal experiences--life during a dark Minnesota winter, knitting her first sweater, raising two sons--and the experiences of her friends. It makes for a fast, rich, satifying read.

My only quibble is minor: it's got just a wee bit too much "girl power/ goddess" flavor for me; however, it's not so overpowering that it kept me reading or enjoying the book.

Because knitting has always been a mysterious process to me, Knitting the Threads of Time: Casting Back to the Heart of Our Craftopened my eyes to the fascination of the clicking needles. Along with descriptions of the process, of the frustrations of trying to knit a sweater on time for Christmas for her son, the author involves us in the churning, on-going, interesting evolving of the day-to-day life of her family, making a can't-put-it-down book. She does this with a flowing style of writing, which, even though I didn't know a purl from knit, kept me fascinated to the end (an unexpected ending, by the way, which I will not divulge) Bob

This is a lovely book. I use the word "Lovely" with purpose. It is warm, it is inviting, it rings true, and it inspires and informs.

A mother, during a cold, dark, Minnestoa winter, begins to knit a sweater for her son. An average mother, like me, like you. Taking on a challenge for a loved child. Fitting it in between work, homemaking, partnering, etc. But, as she knits she weaves....

She knits a row, and she tells of other women in other places and times. The yarn of her sons ever growing sweater becomes a "yarn" about women everywhere and the fiber they worked with. It is about the stories they incorporated into their work, the rituals, Everyday acts of practicality become heart, and soul, and history.

This is the kind of book I prefer to read s-l-o-w-l-y. I didn't want to gobble it up, altho the temptation was strong because it was SO inviting and interesting. I made myself savor it. Read a bit. Then ponder over what I had read. Maybe looking up some more on the historical aspects of Hmong design, or African, or Ojibwe. Letting each piece of new fiber information settle in to my soul, not just my brain.

A mother in Minnesota begins to knit a sweater for her child, and along the way she knits me, the reader, into a new wholeness I could not have anticipated. How LOVELY!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this new novel by Nora Murphy. As a fellow Saint Paulite I was thrilled with all of the local references and often found myself pondering my own cultural traditions. This story weaves the history of knitting from Africa to South America, Europe and beyond and explores everything from daily personal challenges, human tragedy and never ending faith.

In these modern days when we can go to our local stores and buy practically anything from practically anywhere in the world, some people choose to take the time and effort to make something from scratch. We can feel the love and creativity in these handmade items. Knitting the Threads of Time tells the joys and tribulations the author experienced while knitting a sweater for her young son. But beyond just writing about her knitting, Nora Murphy links the knitting to bonding with ancient and indigenous weavers and knitters. For centuries women have creatively made cloth, utilizing various fiber crafts, to be able to clothe their families.
Murphy revels in the timelessness of carrying on the tradition. She extensively researched various cultures and time periods to be able to tell the reader about the fiber creations throughout the centuries. Anyone interested in textiles and their history will find interest in this book. Its perspective feels familiar and homespun, not scholarly or bookish. A textile bibliography invites the reader to do further research on their own.

-- Alice R. Berntson, New Connexion Journal
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