Of all the knitting memoirs released in the last decade, this is far and away the best of them. People not in the know will doubtless think that's meant to be a joke, but far from it. Knitting has long since spilled out of the "Arts & Crafts" section of the book store into the romance, fiction, murder mystery, and autobiography shelves. (I eagerly await the first science fiction knitting book.)
As a rule, I am leery of all books about knitting. Even though - or perhaps because - I love both books and knitting. But Herron manages to deftly avoid the traps of writing which is too cutesy, or too sentimental. At the same time, she avoids the memoir trap of writing everything in a high key to make it seem Super Duper Dramatic. (An understandable impulse for the writer, if one which is tiring for the reader.)
A Life In Stitches is a collection of autobiographical essays which are thematically organized around the important works of knitting throughout Herron's life. This is another thing that probably sounds silly to non-knitters, who fail to realize that knitters use projects as touchstones. It makes sense to us that our live stories can be organized and categorized this way - I can't think of Cestari yarn without being transported back to the reeking desperation of a layoff in a bad economy - which makes it all the more remarkable that Herron's book is the first to point it out.
It's clear that the field of writing ABOUT knitting is still in its infancy. Which explains why most knitting memoirs include patterns, or are organized by item type - neither of which work very well. Each of Herron's essays revolves around a particular project, from the electric blue sweater she tried to knit without her mother's help as a girl, to the wedding dress she tried to knit for her first wedding to her wife, Lala. A Life In Stitches includes a pattern at the end, for an item which has cropped up so many times throughout the book by that point that including the pattern almost seems integral to the plot.
As a memoir, A Life In Stitches is also notable for its remarkable clarity. I was frequently taken aback, humbled by Herron's writing, which is bluntly honest with both good and bad. Her warmth and fondness comes through on every page. It's easy to be bluntly honest about your past self's failures and shortcomings; less easy to forgive yourself for it. (Maybe it's just that, at my age, "forgiveness" is a more interesting literary device than "castigation.")
The other knitting memoirs in the field either pull their punches by avoiding the more difficult subjects, or use a voice which at first seems mannered, but eventually becomes grating and shtick-y. A Life In Stitches is the undisputed best in class.