I’m a voracious reader and avid collector of crafting books.

I love them for their practicality. You want to make something? Why, here is how you go about doing it, step-by-step.

I love them for fueling my fantasy life. Here are some cozy pictures of domestic scenes or people strolling through the wilderness in intricate sweaters or cobweb shawls (Rowan magazines and Vintage Lace Today are tops in this category).

I love them for the inspiration they provide. I never would have thought of that! Why, that’s cool, but what if I did this or that?

My newest favorite isn’t new on the scene at all and it isn’t really a craft book, per se, but since its author particpates in the craft blog community, I think of the book as a craft book anyway. Take that, Melvil Dewey!

The Gentle Art of Domesticity articulates the feelings and muddled notions I have had percolating in my system for many years. I never could have explained those things half so well as Jane Brocket does in her book. I found myself nodding so frequently as I read through its pages that someone might have mistaken me for a bobble-head.

Yes, yes! I also feel compelled to be doing something creative! To surround my family with beauty and comfort! I also struggled with professional and personal notions of success. Pink and green are obviously a superb color combination!

My reading list has been populated with Jane Brocket’s suggestions. My Netflix queue has been filled up with fascinating movies and my impulse to create a vibrant quilt a la Kaffe Fassett has been reignited. I even want to start drinking tea again so I can make a fun tea cozy like those pictured in the book. I draw the line of my Jane-Brocket-hero-worship at the pineapple upside down cake. Fresh pineapple is good…I can’t stand it when cooked.

Other than some intriguing recipes, the book does not offer a lot of “how-to’s.” At first, I was disappointed, because it seemed like such a tease to show a picture of a pineapple tea cozy, which made me want to create one of my own…and then not explain how it was done. I tabled the tea cozy idea, mainly because I don’t drink much tea, but couldn’t let go of the idea of making a ripple afghan like Jane’s. I do a lot of curling up under afghans, so this project immediately gained a sense of urgency about it. There were a few problems:

(1) The book doesn’t provide a pattern.
(2) I didn’t know how to crochet.

Problem number one was easily solved by searching the internet. Apparently, the ripple pattern is one of those old crochet classics that everybody and their grandmother knows how to do. Except me, because I didn’t crochet.

Problem number two required a little more work. I bought a copy of Erika Knight’s Simple Crochet, figured out how to create a chain and execute a double-crochet stitch…and just like that, I was off! Crocheting! Making a ripple blanket!

In another 7,689 months, I will have an afghan of my very own.