Does Science Fiction or Fantasy have fiber content?
The mystery genre has whole series of books that have a knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving, and other fiber arts mentioned in them. In many, the amateur detective/sleuth owns a yarn store or art gallery and so the characters use these skills — either to help them solve the crime or in the background as the story unfolds. An example would be Miss Marple calmly knitting as she observes the people around her and listens to what’s going on and then puts it all together to solve the crime.
In talking with friends, I couldn’t really come up with anything similar in SF/fantasy/horror (and all subgenres).
The closes I could come to that off the top of my head is the Pern series by McCaffrey where many characters weave, knit, or whatever as part of their household duties. In the Harry Potter series, Mrs. Weasley knits the family and Harry sweaters and other item, Dobby knits socks, Hermione knits hats, and Hagrid knits various items throughout the books.
I read another book YA retelling of Rumplestiltskin, Spinners by Donna Jo Napoli and Richard Tchen where they not only mention the spinning into gold but throughout go through the process of spinning wool (cleaning, carding, spinning, and plying).
I’m looking for the titles and authors of other books for children, YA, and adults that have the fiber arts (spinning, weaving, knitting, crocheting, and other crafts) as an integral part of the story line.
Are there others in the science fiction or fantasy category? Comment with the author, title and how the craft is used…I’m really interested.