"Threadbared" | Stop me before I knit again

"Threadbared: Decades of Don'ts from the Sewing and Crafting World"
by Kimberly Wrenn and Mary Watkins
Three Rivers Press, 176 pp; $17.95

With knitting and crocheting curiously hip again, "Threadbared" should be a cautionary reminder that just because you can knit something doesn't mean you should.

This campy book takes us back to the zenith (OK, maybe nadir) of the modern-day craft movement — the 1970s — when homespun shawls, afghan blankets and macramé plant hangers were the height of natural-chic.

But, oh, the excesses from crafters who took their love of the needle a little too far. They knitted bras (that went over sweaters!), hot pants and Sonny and Cher-style fringe vests.

So gnarly knitters take heed: Scarves good, crocheted earrings bad.

— Seattle Times editors