Chicks with Sticks (It's a Purl Thing) by Elizabeth Lenhard

"Oooh, check out the badass knitter." Tay laughed. "Keep her away from any spray-pant cans, you guys. She's gonna start leaving tags in alleys."
Scottie straightened up suddenly.
"You just gave me another idea," she said.
"Oh no," Tay said, flinging her stripy scarf around her neck. "No more! I've had all the bonding I can handle for one night."
What do you do when your best friend seems to have totally turned on you?
What do you do when your favorite aunt has just died?
What do you do when your mom and dad are distant, and look through you not at you?
What do you do when your life is falling apart?

These are the questions Scottie has to ask herself. She doesn't really have any answers, until her great aunt teaches her to knit. Suddenly, even though she's labeled as a geek, a nerd, and undesirable, everything seems to be okay. It's like the yarn and the needles are magic. Or maybe it's just KnitWit, the knitting shop she starts taking lessons at.
But whatever is magic, there certainly seems to be some.
When Amanda starts knitting with Scottie too, and they are joined by two new friends, Tay and Bella, everything seems to be going right for Scottie.
But how long can the knitting keep it's magic?
Bella lowered her hand and allowed herself a little smile.
"Thanks, you guys," she squeaked. "This stuff would be twice as scary without you. I mean, I feel like I don't even know who I am all of a sudden. But I also have this incredible urge to figure it out, like, immediately."
I, personally, found this book incredibly entertaining.
It was witty, funny, interesting... The knitting terms were completely correct, and I loved the way that the author made everything seem so serious, at the same time that the book itself didn't exactly seem to take itself seriously.

The only few problems I had with this book were that (a) I'm not exactly sure I liked how the author portrayed homeschoolers (Bella is a homeschooler. Bella is also a nutjob.), and (b) I found a lot of the "no one is seeing me as myself!" things annoying, when none of the characters were actually acting like themselves.

But besides that, I liked this book. I'd give it 3 stars, and recommend it in particular to female teen knitters. ;)