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Completed	03 November 2007
Title	The Friday Night Knitting Club
Author	Kate Jacobs
Published	2007
Quote	"Choosing your wool is dizzying with potential: the waves of colors and textures tempt with visions of a sweater or cap (and all the accompanying compliments you hope to receive) but don't reveal the hard work required to get there. Patience and attention to detail make all the difference. Also willingness. Challenge keeps it interesting, but don't select a pattern that is so far beyond you. Always select the best yarn you can afford. And use the type of needle that feels best in your hand; I always used bamboo. Even now, it still seems unbelievable to me that by pulling together a motley collection---the soft yarn, the sharp needles, the scripted pattern, the smoothing hook, the intangibles of creativity, humanity, and imagination---you can create something that will hold a piece of your soul. But you can."
Review	This is a story about knitters. Knitters who have lots of haphazard sex and illegitimate babies. And then they sit around and wonder why their lives are unnecessarily complicated and they're always flat broke. Let's just say, these knitters are not the sharpest tools in the shed. This is a story about freaky people who are brought together through knitting. It's about the frustration of learning how to knit, and the frustration of realizing that, after many years of knitting, you still can't knit. But they do. They knit. They try. They plod on. Throughout the book, all I kept visualizing was all the bad knitting that was occurring within the walls of the "Walker and Daughter" knitting shop. It just kills me. I mean, what gives? Why can't these knitters ever improve their skills? They were stumbling knitters in the beginning of the book, and they're still stumbling toward the end of the book. And yet they come to the store every single Friday night, like bees to honey. And sure, it's for comradery and all that, which is one of the best things about knit-togethers. But another great thing about knit-togethers is the chance to learn from others. Every single time I attend a knit-together, I learn something. How? I just watch and listen and see what others are doing. We learn from each other's triumphs and mistakes. We share tips and tricks. We inspire each other. Without doubt, I am a much better knitter for having hung out with the London knitting crowd. Big thanks to y'all! Meanwhile, back at the ranch.... I really disliked this stupid book. It was lent to me by my friend, Teri, and she apparently loved it. More power to her. To each her own. But I just thought the book was plot-thin. I just need more from a book. I need a real plot, and real situations, and characters I have some sense of respect for. This stupid book had none of it. The beginning of the end was when wealthy Anita, in her Chanel pantsuit, shacked up with the Deli Man. I mean, what gives? Anita is, what, seventy years old, and she leaves her posh New York flat to go live with the Deli Man in his basement apartment? Oh, yes, I am so sure that would happen in real life. Right. The thing is, if Anita and Deli Man were so much in love, then why didn't Deli Man simply step up to the plate and make an honest woman out of her? Why didn't he marry her? Call me old fashioned, but hello? I just expected more out of Anita. But in the end, she was like all the other losers in the knitting club. And just when you thought the book couldn't get any worse, the main character, Georgia, was suddenly killed off on page 407. It was abrupt. It was shocking. It was unnecessary. Not that I liked Georgia or anything, but it was just as if the author had received a phonecall, just a second ago, from her publisher who called to inform her that she was over deadline and had to wrap up the book right then and there. Full stop. What a lazy way to end a bad novel.

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