Audiobook Review: The Yarn Whisperer: My Unexpected Life in Knitting by Clara Parkes

Listening to The Yarn Whisperer feels a bit like sitting down for tea with your favorite knitting friend—the one who can turn a tangle of yarn (or life) into something comforting and meaningful. Clara Parkes doesn’t just write about knitting; she speaks it, and hearing her tell her own stories brings a warmth and intimacy that the printed page can’t quite capture.

Her voice is calm, expressive, and familiar—like she’s reading aloud from her heart rather than a script. Each essay unfolds with gentle humor and insight, connecting everyday moments to the quiet rhythm of knitting. She talks about dropped stitches and lost love, about finding patience in fiber and peace in imperfection. There’s something wonderfully meditative about listening to her words while your hands are busy with your own project.

Unlike most craft books, this isn’t about patterns or technique—it’s about the soul of the knitter. Parkes explores how yarn connects us to memory, creativity, and resilience. Her phrasing and pacing are spot-on for audio; you can easily drift along with her storytelling while folding laundry, commuting, or settling into your favorite chair with needles in hand.

The production is clean and simple—no dramatics, no background distractions—just Parkes and her storytelling. It feels personal, genuine, and deeply human, like a one-on-one chat in the corner of a cozy yarn shop.

Verdict:
An audiobook that wraps around you like a hand-knit shawl—warm, thoughtful, and beautifully spoken. Ideal for knitters who love to pair storytelling with stitching.

5 out of 5 – The perfect companion for quiet evenings, long car rides, or hours lost in yarn.

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts.

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts.

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects.

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version.

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want.

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do.

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like.

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.

Have you read?