Ann Budd has a gift for making the complicated easy. She did it in The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns
and The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns
, and she does it again with this marvelous book for new sock knitters.
As the title suggests, this book is all about getting you started with socks. It doesn’t present 30 different techniques, it doesn’t confuse you with a dozen cast-ons and increase/decrease techniques, it sticks with a small, manageable assortment of time-tested approaches and techniques to get your sock knitting career off the ground.
The Sock Basics section at the beginning is a book in itself. Budd provides all sorts of information, from gauge and swatching to working in the round (using four or five DPNs, a short circular, two circulars, or one long circular) and measuring your foot for a proper fit. Throughout this section, Budd provides painstakingly swatched and photographed examples of every step in the sock-knitting process, including tricky spots where we often get into trouble. If you were ever nervous about turning a heel, picking up stitches, or seaming your toe, the answers are in this book, as clear as day.
Next, she gives you instructions for a basic sock—but as in her previous books, she does all the math for you. The sock pattern is provided in five different gauges (4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 stitches to the inch), with each of those patterns offered in five different sizes (ranging from child’s medium to adult large). Then Budd continues the adventure with additional patterns that experiment further with colors, stitch patterns, and structural variations in the cuff and leg.
I strongly recommend this book for anybody who wants to become a sock knitter.
→ Buy the book on Amazon.com
