A small, warm book about the magic of knitting and its invisible history.
Author: Karin Erlandsson
Swedish original: Det blå garnet
Publisher: Schildts & Söderströms, 2022
Genre: nonfiction
Number of pages: pp. 185
Reading material: Swedish original, Finnish translation, English sample, English synopsis
Rights sold: World English, Dedalus; Denmark, Straarup & Co.; Germany, Blanvalet | PRH; Slovenia, Hart
Author Karin Erlandsson was a teenager when she decided to make her dream come true and knit herself a jumper. Without using instructions, she made a beautiful striped jumper out of the leftover yarn she found at home. She wore it a lot and it was widely admired. A deep and life-long love had been born.
In The Blue Yarn Erlandsson weaves together a nonfiction book, in which personal memories expand into sharp observations about the effects of knitting on the knitter, those close to them, and society at large. In it, knitting is presented not only in terms of clothing and preserving tradition, but also as a means of creating and conveying something new. As the world around us burns, it can be a way to survive – or to break the ranks. For those who are busy and stressed, it can be a means of recovering and finding balance.
Knitters have always been part of a long, somewhat invisible, tradition, which has especially been upheld by women from one century to the next. There is a magic in knitting not unlike the magic of writing.
The Blue Yarn: What I Know About Knitting by award-winning novelist Karin Erlandsson is an inspiring book seasoned with knitting humour about the history of knitting, women who knit, and its enduring appeal.
Also available:
Adult fiction
Home (2021)
The Misdeed (2016)
Enclosed (2018)
Children’s fiction
Night Express (2020)
Song of the Eye Gemstone #1, The Pearl Fisher (2017)
Song of the Eye Gemstone #2, The Bird Master (2018)
Song of the Eye Gemstone #3, The Scaler of the Peaks (2019)
Song of the Eye Gemstone #4, The Victor (2019)
About the author:
Karin Erlandsson