The Woolly Hat Knitting Club by Poppy Dolan

The Woolly Hat Knitting Club by Poppy Dolan

Published: 25th September 2017

Publisher: Canelo

Pages: 300

Available on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Rating: 4/5

Blurb

When Dee Blackthorn’s brother, JP, breaks both wrists not only is he in need of a helping hand – or two – but the knitting shop he owns can’t function. Sisterly duties take Dee away from her demanding job and she is unceremoniously fired amidst scandalous office rumours. Dee is certain that her hot-shot nemesis, Ben, is behind it all.

Back in the village of Fenwild where JP's shop resides, Dee bumps into Becky, an old friend who is new mum to a premature baby. Desperate to help Becky, Dee convinces JP to enlist his knitting pals to make tiny woolly hats to keep the little one warm. Seeing how grateful her friend is, Dee makes it her mission to help lots of other premature babies. When Ben turns up denying involvement in Dee’s sacking she is initially furious, but hears him out before roping him into helping the knitting cause.

But before long Dee’s good intentions backfire and she risks losing her friends, her family and Ben, who’s turned out to be not so bad after all…

Review

Being someone who loves all things crafty The Woolly Hat Knitting Club was a book which really appealed to me. It’s a wonderful story of family, friendship and full on knitting fun and one which I found to be deeper than your average chick-lit novel.

Dee and her brother Julian (JP) co-own Blackthorn’s Haberdashery. Dee who works in advertising in London is more of a silent partner in the business until JP calls her and says he needs a hand…literally as he’s broken both of his wrists and can’t keep his shop or his blog About a (Knitting) Boy running without Dee’s help.

Dee steps into help JP but her absence from the office starts scandalous rumours leaving Dee being given instant dismissal on her return. Fuming Dee places all the blame on co-worker Ben and with nothing keeping her in London heads back to Fenwild to lick her wounds.

 Back in the village Dee bumps into old friend Becky and when she learns she’s given birth to a premature little boy Dee decides to make it her mission to help. What starts off as one woolly hat being knit turns into hundreds as Dee and JP set up a campaign to help as many babies as they can.

Dee is one of those characters who you’ll either love or hate. She very quick to judge things based on very few facts and always believes she knows the best for everybody which does land her in trouble with almost everyone she knows. But I believe her hearts in the right the place and she’s doing the best that she can, she may make many mistakes, but she also knew when its time to admit she’s wrong and apologise and for that I loved her. I also loved that she never gave up learning to knit despite being rubbish at it, I feel her pain, I still can’t master this craft and it annoys me greatly…knitting is harder than it looks.

I found this a lovely heart-warming novel which highlights that working twenty-four seven is not always the best way to life, the things outside of work such as family, friends, romance and even hobbies all add things to make our lives better and I loved reading Dee’s journey as she learns this.

I also loved that this showed the crafting community in such a positive light, being part of it myself its nice to read something where knitting isn’t just for the older generations but something which everyone can embrace.

This was my first novel by Poppy Dolan but I’m really looking forward to reading more of her stories in the future.

Thank you to Canelo for sending me a copy to review in exchange for my honest opinions.