Hello! My name is Caroline and I’m a knitting Addict. Well, I’m also a book addict but that was a given *wink*. At first I thought these two passions would be  two different things, I was either reading OR knitting.  Oh but I know better now *g*. I won’t even talk about this great invention that is the Audiobook. Nope today I’m here to talk about books!

When I’m looking for pretty patterns to knit I often find patterns inspired by  books I’ve read. And THAT, makes my geeky self happy. It started with the Jane Austen Knitting magazines. I’m fascinated with anything Jane Austen. I love that these magazines give you Austenian patterns with a modern touch.

 (You can see the Table of Content when you click on the pics) 

Sometimes whole Pattern Books are just about celebrating your favorite classics. Literary Knits is the new shiny I’m eyeing.

It boasts patterns inspired by The Great Gatsby, Wuthering Heights, Anna Karenina, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Madame Bovary, A Room with a View, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Pride and Prejudice, The Sun Also Rises, Anne of Green Gables, The Lord of the Rings, Moby Dick, The Metamorphosis, On the Road, The Call of the Wild, A Tale of Two Cities, Slaughterhouse-Five, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Tin Drum, The Golden Compass, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe… and more.

Then there’s knitting books turned into stories. Needles and Artifice is both a story book and a knitting pattern books. Each pattern (Btw this is a Steampunk book, you should click on the link to see all the corsets, pirates  coats etc…)  is introduced in the course of an adventure. You meet pirates, crazy scientists, pilots etc. It’s pretty cool!

The Ladies of Mischief Interrupt Their Knitting to Present to You…
Needles and Artifice: A Refined Adventure Story with Ingenious Knitting Patterns

Gentle ladies and kind sirs: welcome to the world of Needles and Artifice, where corseted Victorian fashion gets an energized infusion of punk.

In this fantastically playful take on steampunk knitwear design, the Ladies of Mischief offer not only 23 original patterns, but also a high-flying, busk-snapping adventure that plays out across each chapter.

Pull on your goggles and spats, knitters: you’re in for a wild ride.

The Ladies of Mischief are 12 friends who believe that if you mix different personalities, quirky ideas, a vast variety of talents and gifts, and a handful of challenges, with trust, love, and a little compassion… you can write a book and run a business. They really believe the power of friendship can encourage, support, and push you to use your talents for creative, collaborative and visionary work. And they wrote you this book to prove it could be done. But mostly they did this because they are all really good friends. And they really like to knit. And wear corsets.

Now this is all fun and good you’re thinking, but I’m not a knitter and that doesn’t concern me. Well, you’re right, which is why I left the best for last! Awesome blogger Aurian once mentioned to me that she’d read a great Knitting Cozy Mystery book which included a pattern at the end of the book.  I’ve yet to read a knitting cozy mystery but I will, Maggie Sefton ‘s books are on my TBR list!

What I did read though, is Amy Lane‘s Knitting series. I fell for the cover and title and stayed for the story. This is cute, funny, sexy and knitting obsessed…I mean seriously these guys are as addicted as I am! This is hitting all my buttons. Oh and it’s M/M romance! *g*  I just LOVED  it so much I’m already on the 3rd book (and  they are novella length,so quick dirty fix of awesomeness). Also each book has a pattern at the end, something the characters knitted in the book. It made me laugh when I found the ‘willy-warmer’ pattern at the end of book 1.  It’s a nice touch.

Here’s the blurb for the 1st book:

Rance Crawford is an alpaca rancher, fiber mill owner, and self-proclaimed grumpy bastard. When sweet, charming tenderfoot Ben McCutcheon moves onto Crawford’s rural road, Rance is very aware that Ben makes it a grand total of two gay men in their tiny town, and even though he is instantly, painfully smitten, any move he makes could be simply chalked up to being hard up. Using his best weapon and favorite skill, Crawford launches an awkward, wordless effort to make sure Ben is kept warm during the cold Colorado winter, every last piece of him—especially his heart.

Book #2:

Everything about Jeremy has always been a lie—including his last name. When one grift too many ends in tragedy, Jeremy goes straight. But life’s hard for an ex-con, and Jeremy is down to panhandling and hope when Rance Crawford offers him work at a tiny alpaca farm and fiber mill. Jeremy takes him up on the job, thinking this could be his last chance to be a good man, and meets Aiden, who is growing into a better one.
As Aiden comes of age, Jeremy finds himself desperate to grow up, too, because Aiden starts looking to him for things Jeremy doesn’t know how to give. Being honest is terrifying for a man who’s learned to rabbit at the first sign of conflict—more so when Aiden gives Jeremy a reason to stay that can’t be packed up and carried in a knapsack. When Jeremy’s past comes knocking at their door, can Jeremy trust enough in Aiden and his new home to answer bravely back?

Book #3:

Stanley’s life took a left turn at a knitting shop and hit a dead end. The closest thing he’s had to a relationship breaks things off to date a “nice boy,” and none of the pretty young things in Boulder’s limited gay scene do it for Stanley. He needs to reevaluate whether working as a floor designer for a series of craft stores is really where he wants to be.

Then Stanley does a peculiar thing: he starts to live the life he fell into. Stitch by stitch, he knits his life into something meaningful. Just when he does, Johnny, the store’s new delivery boy, walks in.

Johnny is like no one Stanley has ever met: he doesn’t believe in quickies in the bathroom and has a soft spot for theater and opera. There has to be a catch. When Johnny’s dark past comes back to haunt them, Stanley realizes how much he loves his cushy life in the yarn store—but he’ll give it all up to keep the man who makes his ordinary life extraordinary

Aren’t these covers adorable? I love the little rabbit mittens. I’m still smiling like a fool when I think about The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur-Bearing Critters! The really awesome things about this series is that knitting is often used as a metaphor. It will appeal to knitters as well as non-knitters.  2 thumbs-up!

So that’s it, you can see the extend of my Knitting/Reading addiction.  And yes I do realize I’ve said ‘knitting’ about a hundred time in this post but I can’t help it! *starts knitting*

Do you have a passion/addiction/hobby? Do you like reading about it? I guess, the question is would you read a book with it as a theme? 

About Caro The HEA Lover

Caroline is a HEA loving, yarn addicted French who's desperately hoping to get a HEA of her own. If she's not reading then she can be found knitting while listening to Audiobooks or watching Tv shows. Her secret addiction is reading websites that make fun at other people's expense (DYAC, Failbook)! Caroline also blogs at the Secret HEA Society with Susi.

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