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kniteracyYesterday, my copy of Crazy Toes and Heels arrived in the post. It was really cool that it arrived so quickly. Things seem to get to Singapore from the United States much more quickly than anything ever got from anywhere to Atlanta when I was living there. I suppose some places really are "two weeks from everywhere."
But Harper, why do you need another sock book?
Well, three reasons. First, I'm fascinated not just by sock patterns but by the way socks are put together. Second,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
otherdeb, whose knitterliness I do admire, keeps recommending this book in knitting forums to people with questions about socks. Third, I admire any author who's willing to deal with the hassle and headache of self-publishing and promoting, and I want to support that.
Now, I would love to tell you that I immediately got sucked in and spent the whole afternoon learning cool new-to-me sock techniques, but alas that was not to be. The afternoon was full of interruptions and stuff I had to do, and it wasn't until well after dinner-- in fact, after everybody else had gone asleep, 'til I got some time to really sit down with the book.
This book teaches you how to knit two socks at once on two circular needles. I already know how to do that, but this one promises different kinds of heels and toes, and it delivers. So now I'm working on a pair of toe-up socks using some leftover Artful Yarns Jazz (in Thelonius, Billie, and Louis), and her technique to knit a toe-up, two-at-once toe that looks like a regular wedge-shaped knitted sock toe is just wow. The cast-on and first increase is really, really cool. I love this technique. Maybe it's not as simple as the socks from Simple Socks, Plain and Fancy, but it's versatile and works with just about anything. The toes I'm knitting look as much like the wedge toes you see on socks handknitted with flaps and gussets from the top down as anything I've ever seen.
Here's what I've done so far. I only made a couple of pairs of gusset-style socks (socks with clocks) before I got hooked on peasant heels and short rows, but I admit I really like the look of the classic handknitted sock. You can see it in the photo below; that triangular bit below the ankley-leggy part is the gusset, and this kind of sock is said to have a "clock" because of the way the borders of the tringular thingy (the instep and the heel flap, if you're interested) look like the hands of a clock. It's nearly always about twenty after six on a sock, I think.
Anyway, that's enough blathering about socks for now; I have a million things to do today. Unfortunately, two-socks-at-once are too bulky to take on the train, so I'll have to bring the Opal rainbow sock along.
But Harper, why do you need another sock book?
Well, three reasons. First, I'm fascinated not just by sock patterns but by the way socks are put together. Second,
otherdeb, whose knitterliness I do admire, keeps recommending this book in knitting forums to people with questions about socks. Third, I admire any author who's willing to deal with the hassle and headache of self-publishing and promoting, and I want to support that. Now, I would love to tell you that I immediately got sucked in and spent the whole afternoon learning cool new-to-me sock techniques, but alas that was not to be. The afternoon was full of interruptions and stuff I had to do, and it wasn't until well after dinner-- in fact, after everybody else had gone asleep, 'til I got some time to really sit down with the book.
This book teaches you how to knit two socks at once on two circular needles. I already know how to do that, but this one promises different kinds of heels and toes, and it delivers. So now I'm working on a pair of toe-up socks using some leftover Artful Yarns Jazz (in Thelonius, Billie, and Louis), and her technique to knit a toe-up, two-at-once toe that looks like a regular wedge-shaped knitted sock toe is just wow. The cast-on and first increase is really, really cool. I love this technique. Maybe it's not as simple as the socks from Simple Socks, Plain and Fancy, but it's versatile and works with just about anything. The toes I'm knitting look as much like the wedge toes you see on socks handknitted with flaps and gussets from the top down as anything I've ever seen.
Here's what I've done so far. I only made a couple of pairs of gusset-style socks (socks with clocks) before I got hooked on peasant heels and short rows, but I admit I really like the look of the classic handknitted sock. You can see it in the photo below; that triangular bit below the ankley-leggy part is the gusset, and this kind of sock is said to have a "clock" because of the way the borders of the tringular thingy (the instep and the heel flap, if you're interested) look like the hands of a clock. It's nearly always about twenty after six on a sock, I think.
Anyway, that's enough blathering about socks for now; I have a million things to do today. Unfortunately, two-socks-at-once are too bulky to take on the train, so I'll have to bring the Opal rainbow sock along.
