Dear Ann,
I love handknit socks. I have cherished handknit socks made by world-class sock-knitting pals, and I currently am wearing the heck out of socks that were “hand knit” on old-fashioned machines that crank out one sock at a time. But when it comes to knitting socks myself, I demur. Someday, I’ll get the urge. Until then, I have plenty of other uses for fingering weight yarn.
Despite my socknosticism, I was intrigued when Ann Budd‘s latest book, New Directions in Sock Knitting: 18 Innovative Designs Knitted From Every Which Way landed on my doorstep.
The socks are SO CRAZY. Each one is a brain teaser.
How did she do that?
And that?
Well, because she’s Ann Budd, all mysteries are cheerfully revealed, with clear directions and illustrations.
The designs are contributed by a dream team of sock fiends: Kate Atherley, Cat Bordhi, Rachel Coopey, General Hogbuffer, and Anne Berk, to name just a few.
Have you been longing to knit mitered triangles in reverse? Well, yearn no more. Intarsia (“Annetarsia”) in the round? It’s a a snap, when you know how. Somebody, surely, will knit their way through all 18 designs, à la Julie and Julia, thus earning their PhD in sock studies.
Spending time with Ann’s latest book sent me to my small shelf of most essential knitting books, looking for her 2002 gem, The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns: Basic Designs in Multiple Sizes and Gauges.
I picked it up. (It sparked joy.) What a brilliant tome this is. With its plainspoken title, spiral binding and snappy elastic, you know it means business. If you could only have one knitting book, ever, this would be the book. Any garment or accessory, any size, any gauge, all charted out for you. All you need is yarn, needles and a tape measure and you can knit for the rest of your life.
Which is kind of a nice thought.
Love,
Kay
I love those striped socks! I wonder what yarn that is.
It looks like Crazy Zauberball to me.
In complete agreement about the book! And how nice it will be to knit for the rest of one’s life! LOL
I’m a handspinner, and “The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns” is invaluable. No matter how your yarn turns out, you can find the pattern that fits it. I have the new sock book, but I haven’t tried any of the patterns yet.
I delayed doing socks when everyone else in my knitting group was catching the wave – in fact just couldn’t bring myself to do them. Then it was a bit of a challenge to learn how to turn the heel – I made a sock – and my feet were warm in the winter for the first time in years! So…….probably 20 pairs of socks later over the years and they have become my staple “purse knitting” – handy for stoplights, doctor’s offices, etc. I just do the standard 3 x 1 rib which requires no thought. And I also discovered for those of you who do wonderful socks and just panic when that first thinness occurs – the Little Knits website has a couple of fantastic videos on marvelous darning techniques that don’t show and wear like iron! That alone has saved me tons and tons of knitting time for all those other projects with fingering weight yarn you’re talking about!
Like.
For anyone looking for great darning techniques when those marvelous socks start to wear thin or get a hole – the Little Knits website has some videos on darning socks that will save your life and sanity – and give you lots more wearing time for those beauties!
Judy, Could you post a link to the darning video? I couldn’t find it on the Little Knits website. Thanks!
Until January this year, I was like you about knitting socks. It was something on my “one day” list…..no rush or great desire to knit them….especially when I lived in Australia. Half way through my second NC winter, as I was sorting my stash (it arrived from Australia in December last year) I came across some self striping yarn. I have NO idea how it got there! So, I quite innocently thought to myself “why not knit a pair of socks? They might come in handy when I’m walking out in the snow (nine flakes and I am out there!). So I cast on my first pair. By the end of the first sock I was hooked! It was fun to knit down the leg. There was the magic of watching the first heel turn and a sense of achievement at learning how to pick up stitches. Then there was learning Kitchener stitch…that was completely wild infatuation! By the time I had finished the second sock, I had organized my sock yarn into a queue and had bookmarked patterns from my sock knitting books (which I had previously been using for the pretty patterns on the legs to make scarves. I’m on the second sock of my second pair…..and I’m afraid there is no going back for me…..sock knitting has me completely transfixed and there is no turning back! So beware, Kay, once you do start knitting socks you may find yourself enraptured!
Welcome to the Cult of Sock Knitters, Sue! I wish I had started counting when I made my first pair. I know I’m in the triple digits by now. Mom, dad, best friend, and I all have lovely wooly handknit socks. I’m VP/program chair for my knitting guild, and I declared socks to be our next knitalong. Many members have made some, but I hope to initiate the rest by teaching them, step by step, that socks aren’t scary. Like I say, nine year old girls in Scandinavia knitted them while herding sheep. Any knitter can do it.
The first time I turned a heel, I felt as if one of the true mysteries of the universe had been revealed to me!
I have the book and have started the smokey zickzacks. So much fun. I plan to try most of the socks in the book – that should help with my sock obsession.
Socks are my favorite portable project, and considering today’s wind chill, I’m glad I have a drawer full from which to choose!
I love sock knitting! When my fingers ache, I pick up those tiny needles and can keep on knitting without pain. They are my travel knitting go to as well.
I almost feel as though I wrote some of that post- I don’t knit socks, but I do have fingering yarn in my stash for shawls … though alas and alack, I don’t own a pair of hand knitted socks.
but a coupon just came to my inbox for a book … and I don’t own the “Handy Book of Sweaters” … hmm…
The “Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns” is the only book that I have used more often then the Modern Daily Knitting books 🙂
I agree with the above comments. Once you start, there is no going back. Those socks look amazing. They might be interesting enough to help out with the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome. Go ahead. Jump In, Kay.
I have never knit a sock. For one, knitting on DPNs is my least favorite kind of knitting. And I just find myself skeptical that they would work well, as in not get saggy and baggy. And we are hard on them in my family, as in, I have seen them padding around outside. Not sure why the legions of passionate sock knitters have not convinced me I should try it. Normally I can easily be swayed by a hearty recommendation. Sure would be a great way to get a color fix!
Knitting on DPNs is horrible. But but! Magic loop!
I used to be a sock skeptic but I caught the bug a few years ago.
Try magic loop! No dpn, more portable.
I long to complete short row heels. My first attempts were totally unsatisfactory…
Check out Ann Budd’s blog (http://www.annbuddknits.com/blog/); she recently started knitting her way through the entire book and chatting about it. I am one of those people who loves knitting socks – even Plain Vanilla second socks entrance me. If I don’t have at least one pair on the needles at all times, I just don’t feel right.
I knit a child’s sock once and it was pretty darn cute: bulky wool in bright orange. But then I realized I didn’t have enough of the leftover yarn to do the second one, and that was the end of my sock-knitting career. I’m not a big fan of the second one of something you just did, so usually I knit sleeves and mittens flat so I can do two at once (and they’ll have at least a prayer of matching). I believe there’s a sock-knitting method that allows you to knit both at the same time but can’t remember what it is or where I heard of it… That might make me reconsider. I don’t actually wear socks, but groups like A4A are always looking for them.
I use the books by Melissa Morgan-Oakes 2 at a time socks. She uses one needle and has toe up book. It’s awesome
Thanks for this recommendation! I’m trying the MDK summer socks kal, but I’m struggling with the cast on for the toe up method using do needles. The videos I’ve found thus far are ALL different, don’t explain well the “why’s and fors” and lack continuity to the progression of the process. I can read between the lines usually, with much trial and error, but it’s becoming a downer. I hope this book helps. Thanks
I’m not sure how many socks I’ve knit. One year I knit a lot of tiny ones for Christmas ornaments. Turning the heel is like magic.
I have knit multiple pairs of socks, but they are not my favorite knitting project. Some of the things that others find entrancing, (small needles, heel turns, gussets, Kitchener, etc.) I find fiddly. I love the Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns and use it often. However, the sock book that really spoke to me was one of the Teach Yourself Visually books, specifically “Sock Knitting” by Laura Chau. I discovered “easy toe” toe-up, afterthought heel socks (among multiple well-photographed and explained methods), which really work for me. I do most of them two-at-a-time to minimize counting and measuring! But I think I’d still rather knit a hat…
I AM knitting my way through New Directions in Sock Knitting. I have been knitting plain Jane socks for years but recently, because of a personal loss, I thought I needed something more complicated to keep my mind off things. I’m up to Crystalline ( casting on today) and I think it will go perfectly with House of Cards ( Kevin Spacey scares me a little so having a distraction is a must!). I will let you know when I complete all the patterns.
I have several (well, actually more than several) sock books but have only ever knit 3 socks. Still, this book has been tempting me lately. It’s comforting to hear that another non-sock knitter finds it equally intriguing.
As a veteran sock knitter, I find these sorts of books to be anti-productive. I have memorized the proportions and stitches required for toe up and top down socks in fingering, sport and worsted weight yarn. I also know the preferred sizes and styles of my family.
That kind of intimate knowledge is priceless and not easily adapted to new sock architecture. Call me a fuddy-duddy, but I’ll stick with the socks I know.
If anyone needs a reason to take up sock knitting, here’s one: they are the only socks that I can put on easily, now that I’ve broken my left wrist!
I have knit two pairs of socks and don’t love it (but love them). That said, I felt compelled to by the book also and have been debating trying the spiral heeled ones. I do have some lovely sock yarns. I also love the handy book of knitting patterns and handy book of sweater patterns………
I’ve only knit a few pairs of socks in my life ( the last pair was for my daughter to wear in the cold delivery room – her socks were the hit of the night!), but I feel as if they’re like homemade bread for your feet! Sheer delight!
i have knit many socks from the Yarn Harlot’s basic sock recipe in her ‘Knitting Rules’ book. I have often added cables to the center for variety. There’s nothing better than bright wool socks when the snow is flying and you are sick of winter.
I have knit several sweaters from the “Handy Book of Sweaters’ . The last one was inspired by you, Ann, the sweater from the many cream colored yarns you had. I put all my cream colors in one pile, and all my blues and greens in another pile. Most of these were the leftovers from other projects. I took one cream, and one colored yarn, figured out my gauge, ( 3 stitches to inch) and used the sweater book to ‘ bang out a sweater’ . I intend to use it as a house sweater for the above mentioned nasty weather. I was great fun. I started it the day after Christmas, and finished it about the first of February. Life got in the way of a speedy finish. Alas , I still have to weave in some of the ends. Thanks for the great idea, Ann.
Can we see your sweater? Please! Are you on Ravelry? What a cool idea!
I have knit lots of socks; these, while beautiful and intriguing don’t look like they’d fit very well into a pair of shoes or boots. So I should just wear them like slippers until the bottoms wear out?
I really like sock knitting. I started my first pair on the car ride while taking my first child to college. I figured it would distract my mind from missing her (and it pretty much worked because it required some focus but wasn’t too hard).
I knit socks on dpn’s, and I used to knit the first sock and then the second sock, keeping meticulous notes so the two would match. And they did, but it did seem like a drag to start the second one. Now, I start and knit the ribbing band, then start and knit to the same point in the second sock. Knit to the start of the heel on one, then do the same on the other. I keep doing this on down to the toe, breaking it down into each area that needs some remembering (like how many rows on the heel flap, how many stitches to knit before turning on heel flap, how many stitches to pick up on each side of heel flap, etc.). This method works for me because I don’t stress about whether they will match and when I get to what feels like the end of a sock, I have a pair!
And, every time I kitchener the toes, I pull out Ann’s book “Getting Started Knitting Socks” for the easiest to understand tutorial, with pictures. I have her handy book of patterns, too. Thanks for the reminder – I need to pull it out and use it.
I liked the the colored stripes sock. It’s good.
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I was delighted to sit and knit with Ann at the MDK Getaway – such a lovely lady.
I have that 2002 book and I adore it. I knit socks constantly but I’m not sure I’m ambitious or crazy enough to pick up the book. I’ll certainly check it out when it hits the library for a look-see.