Folk Socks, the History and Techniques of Handknitted Footwear by Nancy Bush, assuming you believe the describing paragraph on the back of the updated 2011 copy, “Originally published in 1994, Folk Socks kicked off the sock-knitting phenomenon, as it taught knitters in North America all about how to knit socks with a heritage, using Nancy Bush’s careful instructions, charts, and illustrations.” I have a sneaking suspicion that knitters in North America were knitting socks with a heritage long before 1994, but I do think this book had a lot to do with the persistent popularity of sock knitting. Other than cold feet.
Taking a flip through it, I’m drawn to the patterns that have a little bit of intricate detail to off-set a plainly textured background, like the Estonian Socks that are featured on the front cover. The patterns are evenly divided between solid-colored socks with detail in the knit texture, and socks that are more about color and pattern. The first few sections are especially valuable, as Nancy Bush describes multiple techniques for knitting sock toes and heels, and the patterns in the later sections put the techniques to work.
Nancy Bush being Nancy Bush with a love of historical detail that reminds me of Cheryl Oberle, she spends the first few sections writing about the history of knitted socks, from their origins, methods of construction, and details of British and European sock knitting.
The only thing that I noticed, and that Nancy herself brings up, is that most of the patterns are designed around an “average” sized foot, which in this book means around a size 7-8. Now, I never thought of my feet as particularly tiny, but as a size six I’m going to have to adjust every pattern in this book. Luckily, because my gauge runs large that’s an easy fix, as I can use my usual 00 sock needles and stick to sock yarn and that should do the trick without having to adjust the actual patterns much. The majority of socks in this book call for larger needles like ones and twos, and some even call for thicker yarn so that’s an easy shift. Having said that, and not having forgotten my other projects but realizing that life is short, after I got home from work, took out the trash cans, let out the dog, and got dinner started, I cast on for a pair of Egyptian Socks. Just couldn’t help myself.