What perfect weather for wearing a woolly hat! Good to know our author is keeping herself nice and toasty whist visiting all the blogs on the blog tour, that’s for sure! Speaking of which – I have the pleasure of hosting Poppy Dolan and ‘The Woolly Hat Knitting Club’ as we go into day two of the tour! Huge thanks to Canelo for asking me to be involved in the blog tour – here is my review:
Finding happiness one stitch at a time
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 rumours of inappropriate behaviour. Dee is certain that her hot-shot nemesis, Ben, is behind it all but has no proof.
When Dee bumps into an old friend who is new mum to a premature baby she convinces JP to enlist his knitting pals to make lots of tiny woolly hats. Then Ben turns up denying involvement in Dee’s sacking and she ropes 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…
A feel-good romantic comedy about learning what life is really all about, The Woolly Hat Knitting Club is perfect for fans of Cathy Bramley, Tilly Tennant and Carole Matthews.
What does TWG think?
TWG and knitting do not go hand in hand. I’m more likely to tie myself in a knot with the wool instead of knitting with it (and no, not in the kinky way either). I used to knit…a very long time ago, but I expected one of those Jean Greenhowe doll patterns to be completed a lot quicker than it actually was. Granted I was eight, but that’s not the point. As an avid reader, I have only read one other book which has knitting as its theme…surprisingly! As soon as I saw Poppy Dolan’s new novel I was rather eager to let myself loose into the knowledge of, er, purl stitch and such. Well, that and it looked so much fun.
To be perfectly honest, I really didn’t know what I was expecting ‘The Woolly Hat Knitting Club’ to entail (apart from the obvious), yet I was still rather surprised when the ‘drama’ bells rang within the storyline after several pages. I rubbed my hands together with glee thinking that I was in for a bumpy ride….and it was two broken wrists. TWO BROKEN WRISTS. I never knew knitting was such a dangerous sport! I jest….kinda. I will probably sound mean now, but as soon as the two broken wrists became part of the storyline in great detail, I couldn’t help but giggle. I could just imagine two arms stuck out like a snowman. Let me just say that if it happened to me, I wouldn’t be laughing, but it was just the way it was described in the storyline that made me chuckle.
Whilst I hoped I would laugh, I never expected to feel tears prick my eyes when the storyline went from jokey, to incredibly serious. Reader, it gave me all the feels and I’m not even joking. Two words – premature babies. That’s all I’m saying (it’s in the blurb so I won’t get told off). For me personally, the direction in which the storyline took after the emotional scene made the entire novel go up several notches. Instead of it just being about knitting and broken wrists; the storyline started to have meaning and incredible depth.
Now, as I admitted at the start of this novel – I am not a knitter. However, after reading about the woolly hats for premature babies, I have decided to re-learn how to knit and get some premature baby hats knitted for my local area. That whole situation hit home for many, many personal reasons and thanks to Poppy Dolan, I am actually going to give something back. Without the author’s important message in her storyline, I wouldn’t have been given the kick up the backside.
I thoroughly enjoyed ‘The Woolly Hat Knitting Club’ as it was cleverly written and so unique. That said, I couldn’t really work out what the issue with Dee was later on in the book, I didn’t see an issue in her actions so I became a little confused by her brothers reactions. Maybe that’s just me I don’t know!
The highlight of Poppy Dolan’s novel (aside from the hats), was the 90’s references. I laughed out loud to several of the band names, even re-reading a previous page to see whether what I read was actually what I read! Absolutely brilliant.
All in all, ‘The Woolly Hat Knitting Club’ is a feel good novel which is guaranteed to make you giggle, whilst also preparing you for world dominance – knitting style. A perfect paced read from start to finish; Poppy Dolan has written a storyline with a heart of gold and never-ending hugs. The perfect pick me up book.
Thanks Canelo,
Author Bio:
Poppy Dolan is in her mid thirties and lives in Berkshire with her husband. She's a near- obsessive baker and a keen crafter, so on a typical weekend can be found moving between the haberdashery and kitchenware floors of a department store, adding to her birthday wish list. She has written three novels: The Bad Boyfriends Bootcamp, There’s More to Life than Cupcakes and most recently The Bluebell Bunting Society. The Bad Boyfriends Bootcamp made it into the Amazon top 100 bestseller chart, so clearly someone other than her mum must have read it. She’s currently working on her fourth novel – it’s about friends, siblings and crafty things – and drinking far too much tea.
You can get in touch with Poppy on Twitter @poppydwriter and on Facebook at
PoppyDolanBooks. She doesn’t bite. Unless you are a dark chocolate digestive.
The Writing Garnet 
Interesting boost for knitting.
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Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Check out the book, The Woolly Hat Knitting Club, by Poppy Dolan, as featured on The Writing Garnet blog.
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