The latest, safe and warm installment in the Blossom Street tradition. People are moving on, characters come and go and their lives continue. Once again the story narrows in on a number of people and families, some new, some already familiar, and the emotional issues they encounter

"Knitting is a lot like life...dropped stitches and all!" Knitting and life are a lot about beginning and endings.

I got this book off the book exchange rack at my library, but I see that two of my friends have read it as well and enjoyed it. I have read other books by Debbie Macomber, but I don't know if I've read any other Blossom Street books.

I liked the idea of a Knit to Quit group, and I liked the camaraderie that the group developed. Lydia Goetz is the yarn shop owner (or co-owner with her sister, I'm not quite sure). She's married to Brad and has a stepson, Cody. They're planning to adopt a baby. Instead, they get almost-teen Casey as an emergency placement foster child.

At first, the Goetz family's attempts to reach out to Casey fail. Lydia even attempts to teach her to knit as a way to bond, but for whatever reason, Casey can't "get it". It's Lydia's sister, Margaret, who figures out that Casey can crochet much better than she can knit.

Phoebe Rylander joins the knitting group to occupy her and to relearn knitting after she breaks off her engagement to the unfaithful Clark Snowden. I admire Phoebe's resolve in sticking to her guns despite pressure from her mother, Clark, and his parents to overlook his indiscretions. (That part reminded me a bit of historical romances where men are expected to have affairs and the women are expected to look the other way and not mind--yet if the tables were turned, the women are ostracized and the men do mind.) Clark reads as stalker to me. Of course, it probably helps some that Phoebe meets Bryan Hutchinson through the knitting group and gets to see what a good man is really like.

Hutch joins the knitting group on the advice of his physician who says it will be both calming for his blood pressure and physical therapy for his thumb. He seems like both an uptight worrier and a sweet guy who's a bit inept when it comes to romance.

Alix Turner joins the knitting group as a way to occupy her hands and calm herself as she quits smoking so that she and her husband, Jordan, can have a baby. Alix is also the product of foster homes, so she advises Lydia on relating to Casey and also talks to Casey. Unfortunately, her history also makes her doubt her ability to be a good mother--probably another reason she puts off quitting smoking.

Lydia's friend Anne Marie Roche doesn't join the knitting group, but claims she is going to make the scarf project that the group is doing--I don't know that she does. Anne Marie has recently adopted Ellen and the two are just back from a trip to Paris when Ellen's biological father (Tim) shows up. At first, Anne Marie refuses him, but later, after hearing Ellen's wish list, she reconsiders and allows him to paternity test the two of them to be sure he is the father. I'm not sure how I feel about Tim. He does seem committed to his sobriety (8 years) and though he starts out threatening to involve a lawyer to be able to see Ellen, once he gives that up, he seems very conscientious about Anne Marie's concerns and schedule. He also misleads Ellen (and readers) into thinking that the 3 of them might become a family when he's dating someone else (that kind of came out of left field for me--perhaps it was revealed in a previous book and those who read in order might not have been so surprised). I was kind of mad at him at that point.

I kind of guess after Vanessa was introduced, that the two of them wouldn't work out. She seemed to resent having to share him with Ellen and seemed like she'd be extremely jealous of any woman he paid any amount of attention to (based on how she reacted to Anne Marie).

I couldn't believe that Tim just expected her to have waited for him to decide this and figured he could just ask her to date him. So, Anne Marie has two seemingly decent men vying for her dating attention (since she had a blind date the night Tim asks her to date him).

It's a series, so not all plot questions are resolved in this book--many are though. ( )

Really enjoyed this novel. The best one in the series. ( )

A pleasant, light read--another visit with the generally very nice people on Blossom Street, Seattle. ( )