A measure of one's obsession with a hobby is the number of books you read on the subject. Fishermen read fishing books, gardeners read seed catalogues, travelers read travel guides, etc. I read about knitting. How boring have I become, really?
I have to confess that for me reading about knitting is sometimes a way of procrastinating from actually doing it. That might seem confusing to non-knitters -- if I love to knit so much, why would I procrastinate? -- a behavior which I frankly can't explain.
Knitting book titles tend to lean heavily on bad puns, especially the knitting/mystery sub-genre, for example:
Dropped Dead Stitch, A Killer Yarn, Skein of the Crime (which is confusing: I've always pronounced "skein" as skane, not skeen), Sins and Needles. I've never actually read any of these - I like my mysteries more gritty than twee.
Then there are the instruction and pattern books. A sampling of titles:
Dominaknitrix: Whip your knitting into shape Fun book, but I couldn't find one pattern I'd actually wear in it. It's going into the swap pile for my knitting group.
Knitting outside the Socks. Groan.
Hattitude Lots and lots of hats.
Knitting with Balls: a hands-on guide to knitting for the modern man. I wish I knew someone to gift this with.
Knitting for Barbie: 75 Fabulous Fashions Please shoot me if you ever see me with this.
And my favorite, though I doubt I'll ever take up this technique:
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Knitting with Dog Hair : Better a sweater from a dog you know and love than from a sheep you'll never meet.The blurb reads: "Stop vacuuming and start knitting! Learn to recycle Rover into beautiful garments and accessories as the authors teach you this wacky new spin on an old craft."
I hope they warn you to never get caught in the rain.



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