Review: Knit One Girl Two by Shira Glassman

Goodreads summary:

Small-batch independent yarn dyer Clara Ziegler is eager to brainstorm new color combinations–if only she could come up with ideas she likes as much as last time! When she sees Danielle Solomon’s paintings of Florida wildlife by chance at a neighborhood gallery, she finds her source of inspiration. Outspoken, passionate, and complicated, Danielle herself soon proves even more captivating than her artwork…

Fluffy Jewish f/f contemporary set in the author’s childhood home of South Florida.

Review:

Man, was I in the mood for this book. Cute girls, art pulling people out of darkness, knitting, cute girls, gorgeous colour descriptions and cute girls. If you need something safe and brave, comforting and inspiring, then this is the book for you.
Clara and Danielle reminded me what hope could really feel like. Their story is tender, careful and gorgeous, and just wanted to crawl inside it and live there forever – the ending came all too soon. Even their city felt somehow kind – I don’t know how to explain that, but it felt like a place where art and love could live without criticism.

One of the most precious things for me was the way that the protagonists’ religion and orientation coexisted without feeling like a Thing – this occurs in all of Shira’s work that I’ve read so far, and I can’t express to you how whole and peaceful it makes me feel. If anyone’s got any other recs in this direction, please do swing them my way.

The only criticism that I have was that it was too short! I hadn’t really read up on the book before I bought it, so it was a bad surprise when I reached the end much faster than I was expecting. More please, Shira!

Representation: 

Protagonists are Jewish, f/f relationship. Queer knitting and crochet group appears, and includes a nonbinary person and a couple of trans women. Author is a queer Jewish woman.