The Friday Night Knitting Club is the story of a group of women of different ages, different backgrounds, and very different personalities who meet at a little yarn shop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side — and surprise themselves by forging an unbreakable bond of friendship.

I finally finished The Friday Night Knitting Club… I’ve only been reading it for several months. I love the classy cover design, but I think why it took me so long to finish this book was that after the general introductions, the middle was slow. Now, some people may disagree with me, but hear me out. While the characters were all facing their own trials and tribulations, there were no actual conflicts until past the halfway point.

For example (no spoilers here!), Darwin who got drunk and cheated on her husband: Sure, she cheated… but she hasn’t told him yet and there is no way to tell what kinda guy he is. Can they work through it? She just assumes she’s made an irreparable error and starts into a downward spiral. Yes the reader wants to find out what happens, but it is certainly more intriguing after she speaks to her husband.

I found that after about halfway, things started to get interesting — approximately when Dakota, Georgia’s daughter, ran away to try and visit her family. Once they decided to go to Scotland and visit Gran, I found that the story moved forward for all the secondary characters too. Despite my original feelings, I really enjoyed the book!

Although I found it slow to start, the characters drew me in. I’m sure everyone identifies with different characters, but I found I was most interested in Darwin, Lucie, and Dakota. I identified with Dakota by often being the youngest in a group, but sometimes not really minding. Darwin with the long-distance relationship certainly hit close to home. And Lucie, well to be honest, I just liked her back story!

All the little knitting revelations (from casting on, frogging, to binding off) that interspersed the narrative were really heart-warming and made me proud to be a knitter, even if I’m slow at it!

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The sequel, Knit Two came out November 25th, and I’ll definitely be reading this one. I am loving Lucie, Darwin, and Dakota the most. Knit Two revisits these mothers, wives, sisters, and friends five years later as they continue to share the joys and frustrations of life, love, and of course, knitting.

The Friday Night Knitting Club is becoming a movie in 2010 with Julia Roberts slated a Georgia Walker!

1. My stomach wants breakfast.
2. Cups of tea is what I had the most of on Thursday.
3. The yard is wet & I want the street cleaners to come eat the leaves before it freezes.
4. With my boyfriend is where I’d rather be at any given time. (yay for long-distance!)
5. The smell of hazelnut reminds me of winter.
6. Quiet is what I need right now!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to babysitting the neighbours & then celebrating Kas’s 20th birthday, tomorrow my plans include dinner at my boss’s house in celebration of the National Conference and Sunday, I want to sleeeeeeeeep!