Book Review: Interweave's Favorite Socks

As promised my review of Interweave Favorite Socks (or rather the correct spelling Favourite, but for now let us amuse our American friends) (Random thing #9: dropping the u's from words and changing the s to a z, it really picks my ass. 270 million people does not make it right.).




So anyway, ..... I love this book. If you are a sock knitter go and buy it. Simple really, enough said. Bye.











God I crack myself up.


You want more convincing right?


I expected to like this book but I really like this book. It is not a "how to knit socks" book. It would be terrible for a beginner or as a stand alone guide. It is simply a pattern book, nothing more, nothing less. And yes if you have been an avid collector of IK you will have most of these patterns so all you are buying is the convenient little package they come in. But the package, ahh, the package is really quite lovely. Why are not all knitting books spiral bound? Cause you see when they are you can read and knit, at the same time, no worries. Isn't that great? And yes I know that some among us rush out to their nearest Kinkos and spiral bound their knitting books on a regular basis. But I must tell you those are the same people who dust the places no one can see like the top of shelves and besides my nearest Kinkos is California and that may be a little too far..... But back to those spiral bounding knitters - good on them and yes I will be happy to become best friends with you if you spiral bound for me too. Okay. I am getting distracted today, aren't you pleased I am not a podcast and you can skim through these mumblings of mine.


The book, the book, oh yes. Spiral bound, terrific, great idea.

Photography and layout, nice.

Cables, lace, colourwork, plain, for men, for women; the bases are all covered.

The patterns, lovely.


You know they are kinda quiet in their way too, maybe this is why I am feeling a connection. They aren't flashy but they just grow on you in all their cleverness. You look then you read and then as if a light comes on you realise why there is a shrine devoted to Nancy Bush in the Sock Knitters Hall of Fame. What there is no shrine? Well there should be she is one clever woman. Lets do something about that shall we. But bless I am a chatty Cathy today so shut up Tanya and do some show and tell. That's what they came for.


Retro Rib Socks by Evelyn Clark. Aren't they just lovely in their elegance and simplicity. As always.


Ilga's Socks by Nancy Bush. I love these ones. They look fun to make don't you think?

Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt. These socks along with the Waving Lace Ones on the front cover are the popular kids in the class. But you can see why.......

Two-yarn Resoleable Socks by Wayne Pfeffer. So cool. You knit the sock without the sole and then pick up and knit the sole in a different colour or more durable yarn as suggested by the designer. The idea is when the sole wears out you can easily rip it out and knit a new one. Clever huh.

Austrian Socks by Candace Eisner Strick. Be still my beating heart, these socks are so pretty.

Padded Footlets by Mary Snyder. These ones have double thickness for cushioning on the sole. Now I am not so big on the short length but I think I may "borrow" this idea for a pair of hiking boot socks. I just think it would be so comfy.

Hidden Passion Socks by Jaya Srikrishnan. These ones have a really interesting construction. Check out Grumperina, she made a pair and blogged the progress. There is a secret message in them. oooooooo. Am I the only one who thinks I could do better than X and O? Damn I just gave away the secret!

Eastern European Footlets by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts. Seamless intarsia in the round. I am not telling you how, you will have to buy the book (or winter 2003 of IK).


They have a nice range of socks in different weights. I think Ann Budd (the editor) chose well.

I do have one complaint and I think it is kinda a big one. There are 6 previously unpublished projects in this book and for some reason they are all Ann Budd designs. I think Ann Budd is a really talented designer but not only do I think this is odd I also think it is inappropriate. She is the editor. All 6? I can't really think of a reason she wouldn't have seized this opportunity to showcase one of the hot new designers, Cookie or Eunny both spring to mind. You know while we are at it, why only one knee high? Now I know it is being said that knee highs are just a flash in the pan and only for women who want to dance around like underage school girls. Give me a flippant break. Have these naysayers ever heard of boots, more importantly have they ever tried to wear regular socks with boots. That's right, big pain in the ass. Knee highs good. Underage school girls, oh never mind. Buy the book.

Book Review: Lace Style

Lace Style oh how I wanted to love thee..............

But I don't.

See it is an okay book and to be honest it arrived with Victorian Lace Today so maybe it never stood a chance. As my library grows I realise I need more from a knitting book than just another pattern book. I need it to educate me, I need it to challenge me, I need it as reference material for whatever technique it is covering, I need it to be comprehensive, I just need more. Lace Style doesn't meet that standard. It is a very nice book with some nice patterns, great no, but nice. I loved Scarf Style, did not buy Wrap Style as I felt it was underwhelming and find Lace Style to be between the two. To give Interweave credit the photos are far superior to Scarf Style, they aren't blurry and they do show the garments front and back (big, big improvement). In normal Interweave fashion the patterns are well laid out and clear. This would be a great book for a beginner. There is the usual line up of designers. No one really pushed the envelope on their designs. Interweave did not go outside the box on this one, not at all. If you were to only buy one lace book I would recommend Victorian Lace Today if you can afford two then this is a definite consideration. There is a very nice design notebook at the back with some useful information on different lace techniques, a few stitch patterns, how to do some easy fixes, blocking, etc but it really skims over each section and perhaps would not be adequate if you truly had difficulty. It is nice that it is the same style and size as their others in the series (Bag Style and Folk Style are to follow in the fall) so it would look good on the shelf as a part of a library. Boy now I am stretching for good points. You know what there are simply too many great books being released at the moment that it is hard to feel excited about this one. If you only have limited dollars (and who doesn't!) then check out Victorian Lace Today, The Natural Knitter, No sheep for you or Knitting Lingerie Style first, these are great books. This is simply cute and nice.

A show of a few patterns for all those still interested.

The essential Tank Top

Shetland Shawl Turned Vest

Lacy Waves Top (another Norah, very nice)

Peek-a-boo Cloche (a maybe knit, it has a plain layer underneath the lace)

Katharine Hepburn Cardigan (the only knit I am truly considering and in the shorter version. This one seems to be disliked by many but I don't understand why, I think it is lovely. I really like the shorter length with a longer top underneath. This could be because I am short but for some reason it makes me feel taller. Lets not go into what I think great shoes do.....)

It's a Norah Gaughan Love Fest around here.............

Okay this is mostly a post of why you should purchase The Natural Knitter but I feel I have to start with an ode to the genius that is Norah Gaughan. It seems that lately every time I am struck with the cleverness of a pattern it is Norah. Her pattern in The Natural Knitter continues that trend.

First off, what a gorgeous book. This was my sleeper hit. I don't know what I expected from this book but I far underestimated it. It is a tasteful, well designed, well photographed book with some lovely patterns from some talented designers. But it is so much more than that, it also feels like a natural fibre textbook. It completely addresses natural fibres; the animals/plants that produce them, how to knit them, and how to care for them. There are wonderful snippets of small producers and their yarns. It is inspiring and beautiful and a wonderful tribute to Barbara Albright (I feel so sad writing that).

So to the projects. This is only a few as I don't want to overload this post with so many photos. I really would only consider knitting a few to be truthful but I feel inspired by many different parts of all of them.

Little Sit-sters: what a great way to add a quirky touch to a gift and to sample a new yarn


Back home in Vermont Sweater: finally a sweater that a man would actually be interested in wearing and that I wouldn't have to die of boredom making.



Shetland Fern: look at that colourwork, impressive. No I'm not going to make it but I would love to see someone else's version of it.



Memories of Ukraine



Mod Socks



See what I mean; tasteful.


Finally Norah with her Architectural Rib Pullover. Fabulous.



Let me explain its brilliance. I'll take it slow, as it took me a couple of times to click.
So you start at the bottom and you decrease up to the cable crossover then you cross your cables and start to increase towards the shoulders, you at this point have an hourglass kinda of thing. Separate for the neck and over the shoulder we go and start to decrease to the cable cross again. Then we increase until we hit the bottom. Now we go back and pick up all the stitches on one side; the front and back and start knitting outwards including the sleeve. Do the same on the other side. Pick up the stitches around the neck and do the turtleneck, cast off, block, done.


Damn even I am a little confused over my directions. Better yet just follow along in person. For you people this is what I will do-

I will take this


and turn it into a Norah Masterpiece.

No thanks are necessary. God I'm selfless.

When it rains, it pours....

I ordered some books (ooooh tax return!).

I can only last for so long. Books are my first love. I ordered too many but never mind, is money ever truly wasted on books? I feel like I waste my money when I buy and consume 8 oz of hot flavoured water with a little milk for $5 but books, never.

Unfortunately they all came within a few days of each of other so we will take the reviews a little slow. I am still in my lust at first sight stage so I need to settle down a little before we talk.


This is a sneak peek:

Lace Style: (mmmm, give me time, a little underwhelmed at present)

The Natural Knitter: (my sleeper hit!)

No Sheep For You: (such a ridiculous cover for such a glorious book!)
Victorian Lace Today: (whoa, I am not sure I understand most of it yet)

Knitting lingerie style: (lovely, really lovely)
Stephanie Pearl McPhee Cast Off: (haven't even opened it yet, I bought this out of reader loyalty and because I loved her earlier 3, her competition is stiff for my reading time!)
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World: (aka: getting ready for winter)

I am told that cupcake blogs are the hottest blogs around now don't you know.

That's me; happening.

The long promised book review........

After promising a book review so very long ago today I decided to kick myself into gear and write about Yarnplay by Lisa Shobhana Mason. This book review business is much harder than you would think. I find myself not wanting to say anything that may hurt the designer's feelings should she come across my lowly blog but on the other hand I don't want spout bullshit. A rock and a hard place people.

This was a book that I was really excited about receiving, one that while has merit was unfortunately disappointing. Lisa Shobhana Mason is an incredibly talented designer but this book feels rushed. It feels as though there was much filler put in in order to meet a publishing date. It seems that more and more of the new books are this way. Not many of the new books are as whole as "Knitting in Nature" and that is okay, that book is a masterpiece, but do we really need another washcloth and purl scarf pattern? I am not sure if I would have bought this book if I was able to view it beforehand (and this coming from a book junkie, well former book junkie now the finances will no longer support this habit).

This is a beautiful book with moments of Lisa's talent shining through so lets get the bitchin' out of the way first then finish with the good stuff.

1. Like I mentioned too many basic patterns; washcloths, bathmat, table runner, cushion cover - all in plain garter or stockinette, no pattern needed. The designs that are the most appealing are the sweater patterns but there are simply not enough for the cost of the book. For this I blame the publisher not Lisa. I don't think publishers are giving knitters enough credit and failing to see that we are original creative beings who want this reflected in the books we purchase. Most publishers think they can take a designer with a few great patterns then put together a book and throw lots of filler patterns in and we won't notice. Well guess what, we do. Why can't they allow the designer to take the time needed to truly develop a full range of patterns? Now Lisa's main theme on this book is colour and she does have a great colour sense but this still does not excuse the basic patterns. One of the patterns is for a K2 P2 scarf. The pattern instructions read to cast on the required stitches, do the required length in K2 P2 and then cast off. Is it really okay to even publish this pattern? It isn't original for goodness sake. Oh by the way this is given an intermediate skill level. It does come with a basic hat that requires knitting in the round and picking up some stitches but for intermediate knitters?

2. When are publishers going to allow the designer to direct the photography? The photos in this book are beautiful but entirely inadequate for viewing the design. Lisa notes this on her blog. I love Chelsea. It uses some techniques I have a bad attitude about (dropped shoulders, reverse stockinette, too long sleeves) and it pulls them off. However look at this picture, it is the best photo of the sweater and tell me how long this sweater is or what the bottom looks like. The photographer decided to tuck up the sweater because it would look better, yeah thanks for that.

Have publishers learnt nothing from the complaints about Scarf Style. This book is right up there for being as hopeless in it's photos. This one doesn't even show a knitted item, it is for the shawl can't you tell! The photo is as bad in the book.

The best photo of the shawl

Of the table runner

Of the copperhead scarf

3. Why oh why do all of these new knitting books put how to knit in front of them? No one can learn from the directions given and it takes up valuable room. Do the right thing and just direct newbies to the books that can really help, the ones that are truly designed to teach someone how to knit. Give us another pattern or something interesting to read, a new or more difficult technique, another reason to buy the book.

Okay now the good stuff:

The sweaters are adorable. I love Poppy on the cover. I am just mad about Everything But The Kitchen Sink. I definitely plan to make this one.

She makes sweaters that are very flattering for most women.

Her use of colour is great.

It is a beautiful book; glossy photos and beautifully laid out. There are schematics for all of the sweaters which is helpful.

My verdict: If you are buying this for men's, kid's or baby's sweaters don't bother there is only one of each and while nice are pretty basic. For household items stick with Mason-Dixon Knitting. But for some lovely women's sweaters it should be considered. Lisa Shobhana Mason has a point of view and it does come across in her work. I would be interested in seeing her future work though I would be more inclined to purchase it as individual patterns. I think I am tired of pattern books at this point and feel as though I need more in my book purchases. For those who have this book or have seen this book do you agree? Am I on the money? I would love to hear what you have to say.