Customer Reviews
Hit or Miss 
2008-03-12
I am truly disappointed in Pearl-McPhee's "Cast Offs". I'm giving it three stars, instead of two or one, only because if you've never read her material before, I think you'd like it more than I did. However, I've read her three other laugh-out-loud books, and this one dims by comparison. I feel her problem is that she starts off welcoming the knitter/reader to "The Land of Knitting", and writes "Cast Offs" from a travelogue point of view. Her attempt to be a witty commentary on knitting while remaining in this style seems forced for much of the book. Sometimes, it hits, as when she talks about traveling to foreign "embassies" (local knit shops in foreign cities), while other times it misses its mark (talking about different "diseases" a knitter may encounter while in the land of knitting (like "SSS" for second sock syndrome). While these themes work for a sentence or two in previous books, stretching them out for a page or a chapter really didn't work for me. In fact, I had to force myself to finish "Cast Offs" just so I could tell my parents that they didn't waste their money by giving me this book. Really, this book isn't up to her earlier standards. If you've never read her before, you may like it, but I'd more heartily recommend "The Yarn Harlot", over "Cast Offs" any day.
The author's own voice spices her engrossing story. 
2008-02-07
Humor blends with a love for knitting and fun guides to its ironies and methods in this fun survey of knitting. Most knitting guides don't translate well to audio because they are 'how to' book coverages, but the fine overview of knitting's appeal which began as a blog on the topic blends enough humor and action to make it a top pick for any audio listener interested in knitting. The author's own voice spices her engrossing story.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Been There Already 2008-02-05
I would have enjoyed this book more had I not already read the earlier books. People new to Stephanie's writing, or those who know her mainly through her lively blog, will read with pleasure. But, barring the "cute" organizing principle, this is pretty much the same book with the same points as the ones I've read. I have hopes for her next book. And, in the meantime, there is the Yarn Harlot's blog--timely, with pictures!
Can knit ... and be funny. 2007-10-10
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is the Jon Stewart of the knitting world. She skewers us with our own needles, unravels our obsession for the uninitiated and helps us learn to laugh at ourselves. Her fresh, tongue-in-cheek observations about the crazy world of knitting have become wildly popular on her blog, her speaking tours (accompanied by her trademark socks-in-progress) and in her three previous books.
In her newest book Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: the Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting, the author looks at knitting as a journey and sets off on a whirlwind tour of the land of knitting. Whether a newly arrived visitor, a long-time resident or a tourist seeking understanding of a loved one; Casts Off is an essential guide to the people, customs, tourist attractions and common ailments of this fascinating land.
Divided into the areas of reference commonly expected in a travel guide, the author investigates packing tips (just how much yarn does one need to take on a trip), consulates and embassies (local yarn stores), politics (the great "acrylic versus natural fibers" debate) and common ailments (the dreaded "Yarnesia" or the debilitating Viral Second Sock Syndrome), treatment and prognosis.
Knitters who have caught the "Harlot" bug will find themselves laughing uncontrollably through Casts Off and most will remain convinced that the author knows them better than their closest friend. Whether she is commenting on the "four ways knitting is like playing the violin" (both are worked from a chart) or how to cope when bad knits happen to good knitters, knitters respond to Pearl-McPhee because she understands us. She knows our foibles because she shares them and like all good enablers, she helps us explain ourselves the skeptics around us. After all, as she reminds us, "We know it looks like yarn, but it's love...and for this it's worth giving up all your closet space."
This knitter recommends regular doses of the Harlot, along with infusions of social knitting and stash diving, to ensure a pleasant and healthy stay in the land of knitting.
Armchair Interviews says: For every knitter needing a knitting soulmate
LOVED IT! 2007-10-09
This book is the perfect example of technology giving two very old art forms -reading and knitting--a boost. I "read" this book via audio book. Which I think is brilliant... my husband finds it scary. He thinks it's a very bad idea for someone to enable me to enjoy my two passions together... especially knitting. Because then I can do MORE, MORE of both!!
SPM Casts off is a travel book about knitting. It looks at Knitting as a destination. As a country of sorts. With its own citizenry, customs, language, superstitions, history and so forth. I know, I couldn't imagine it either. But Stephanie Pearl-McPhee has pulled it off. She had me cackling happily as my needles clicked. And I learned quite a bit about the history of knitting (samurais used to knit!) and about what's possible (would you believe a knitted grandfather clock and a floating knitted boat?)
Pearl-McPhee's writing and work is best known through her blog. She's done a lot to create an international community of knitters. In 2004, she founded Tricoteuses sans Frontières (Knitters without Borders), a group dedicated to raising money for the non-profit Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders). As of September, 2007, they have raised over $368,000. In 2006 she started the 2006 Knitting Olympics, a competition for knitters to start and finish one project during the timeframe of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Over 4,000 knitters worldwide participated.
I found her voice and style really grew on me. She's funny and charming and it's so comforting to know that I'm not alone in my eccentric, yarn and pattern book hoarding behaviour... and perhaps that's what my husband finds so threatening about this. That there are other women (and men) out there like me. And it's all perfectly normal.
One note.. I found particularly with the her other audio book "At Knit's End", but a little less with this one, that Pearl-Mcphee drops the last word when she reads. So you'll have to rewind occasionally to figure out what she says at the end of a track or paragraph.
But on the whole, very entertaining. Certainly one that I enjoy listening to again and again.
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Cast Off 2007-09-21
From the best-selling author of
At Knit's End and
Knitting Rules! comes yet another hilarious book of tongue-in-cheek observations on the world of knitting.
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off invites knitters of all ages, levels, and persuasions to embark with her on a journey deep into the land populated by those who are obsessed with yarn, needles, and what’s on their needles now.
Using a travel guide format as her launching pad, Pearl-McPhee acts as tour guide extraordinaire, displaying her trademark razor-sharp wit as she describes and critiques every aspect of this land she knows so well — its people, native language, familiar phrases, strange beliefs, etiquette, and cultural customs. Readers will love her timeline of notable dates in knitting history and rarely celebrated knitting heroes, from the samurai warriors of Japan to the "Ter-rible Knitters of Dent." And, while the land of knitting is a peaceful place, it does have its political arguments, such as the acrylic versus natural fi bers and circular versus straight needles debates.
As she's toured (and knit) her way across North America during the past two years, Pearl-McPhee's smart, perfectly timed banter has captured the hearts, minds, and funny bones of thousands of knitters far and wide. No fan is going to want to be left behind as
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off on her latest yarn-bound expedition.
Eat, Sleep, Knit! 2007-09-15
This book is hilarious! I laughed from cover to cover and have learned new places to store my stash! Thanks for the laughs!
I also had a hard time getting through this. 2007-09-13
Every five pages or so, I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to go knit. (I haven't yet worked out how to knit and read at the same time, sadly.)
Seriously, I've been away from knitting for the last three years going to law school. I feared I had forgotten how to knit. And then I picked up this book, and suddenly it all came back. Since I bought it two weeks ago, there have been three mad trips for yarn, and I've become the kind of person who gets stared at for knitting in restaurants. I am all-but-finished with a project that I'd been barely picking at for the last six months when I had thirty seconds to rub together, I've started a new pair of socks, and I'm looking for the yarn that will become that legendary wonderful/awful first sweater.
Depending on how you look at it, I've finally gone off the deep end, or my sanity is finally returning. And this book, which I finished somewhere between one project and the next, is what sent me on the trip.
Stephanie, thank you. This was exactly the right book at the right moment for me. Your travel book helped bring part of me back home.
From one SABLE owner to another 2007-09-08
My SABLE (stash acquired beyond life expectancy)has been decreased by a donation to the local Goodwill shop. I feel pounds lighter and can now, without guilt, purchase just a few items at my local yarn store.
Stephanie knows what all the rest of us Yarn Harlots are all about, and how we feel when one of our number casts off and goes to the great yarn store in the sky. What a pleasure to read her books!
(Although I've never been able to knock off an afghan in 100 hours!)
Don't like it 
2007-08-11
I have ALL of her books but this is my least favorite one. I've had it for months and cannot even get thru reading it. With all of her other books I had a lot of good hearty laughes while reading them. This one I don't think has even made me smile. Not sure what is "different" about this book but it's my least favorite. I don't care for the dark green color pages and the drawings on these pages either. Just not easy on the eye.
