Monday, January 14, 2013

2013: The Year of Socks?

Last night I got back to Manhattan, with one week left until school starts back up.  I had completely forgotten that I had checked out some knitting books from the library here to review on my blog...6 weeks ago. So, I am very overdue for a Saturday Evening Book Review. I apologize. You guys will get one this week for sure.

I don't have any novels I am working on right now, so before bed I decided to read through on of them to get myself back into the book review mood. And after reading through the whole book, I decided that I really need to knit more socks!

Toe-Up Socks for Every Body by Wendy D. Johnson

Likes:
-This book is really comprehensive. It explains construction, technique and everything in between for both the novice and experienced sock knitter.
-Wendy is such a great writer!
-The photos are just lovely.
-She really explains her reasoning for what she does, such as why she recommends 2 needle sizes for cabled socks.

Dislikes:
-I wish I liked more of the patterns.
-A couple of my favorites are designed for men's feet....
-Even though her first book (Socks from the toe-up) has plain vanilla socks, I wish this did too, so that newbies/designers could have that as a reference. 

Favorite Patterns:

Overall, I love this book, just as I do her previous one. The photos are gorgeous and there are so many stunning patterns. Plus, I love toe-up socks so this is perfect! She really explains everything so well and allows the knitter to do what they want with her patterns.

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After putting this book down last night my brain started thinking about all the sock yarn I still have that I could be knitting socks with. Me and socks have a love hate relationship. I love to knit them and I love to wear handmade ones, but the process always drags on and on and usually after I finish one pair I just need a break from them before I can start another. Which is why my sock yarn stash isn't really going down. 

It also doesn't really help that some of my favorite bloggers are knitting socks right now:

Andi has some amazing striped socks going on right now, as always!
Pumpkin just finished the Belle Epoque Socks from the book I just reviewed, and boy are they lovely!
More stripes from Karen, man I love these!
Alicia has the cutest booties (and hat) on her needles right now. 
And who can resist Pinkundine's textured rainbow socks??

So... what does this mean for me? Well I really want to use up some of my sock yarn this year, and I really want to have more pairs of handknitted socks as well, especially since a couple of my pairs right now don't fit me the way I'd like anyways. That is one of my mini-goals for the year- figure out how to make socks fit my foot better. 

What's first on the list? I have no idea. There are so many yarns and socks I want to knit! But I do have a couple of designs in my head I want to experiment with also, so maybe that can be my jumping off point for the year of socks.

~Lisa


4 comments:

  1. I love knitting socks, and love wearing them even more, good luck with your goal to knit some sock, and choose a pattern!

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  2. Yay! Socks! I understand the love/hate feeling, although most of the time it's love/guilt for me when I don't finish them!

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  3. I hope you design more sock patterns! You are so creative! Have you tried making shawls out of the sock yarn? Although you are probably tired of shawls now.

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  4. Thanks for the book review. I have her first book, but I've never knit a pattern from it. I like toe-up, too, but find it gets kind of painful to knit with tiny needles. Hope you are enjoying the last week before school begins.

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