You have no idea how bad I wanted to call this post Love in the Time of Coronavirus, but all I had ready would be another picture of the back of my Ruby, after having messed it up yet again by not reading the directions properly. The back mirrors both fronts only up to a certain point, as it turned out. I did wonder why I was knitting bust increases for the back of a sweater. Only took me about an hour to really think about reading the pattern. Maybe I’ll save that gem of a title for when I’m actually done with the cardigan, instead of posting another suspiciously similar picture of a pile of knitting.
Instead, I give you The Sock Knitter’s Handbook. It’s different from the million other sock books I’ve talked about in that it’s less about the patterns and more about the separate components that make up a sock.
“The humble sock — knitting that we all gladly walk on — offers rich diversity in technique. This little carry-along volume is designed to be a handbook for sock knitters. It offers instructions and alternatives for knitting socks, including casting on and binding off, working heel variations, and knitting toe alternatives. Plus, our stitch dictionary gives you lots of options for decorating your socks.” -Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrott, The Sock Knitter’s Handbook
I have to admit, I’ve never thought about a stitch pattern being ‘decoration’, don’t ask me why. As the introduction states, this book describes in detail different techniques for knitting each part of the sock as they relate to the whole thing. They start with the basic toe-up and top-down approach, then go into detail about each component. This book is especially useful for seeing all the different construction options in a more detailed manner, and to me, considering more deeply the benefits of each option.
This is more of a ‘seeing how the components add up to a whole sock’ book, and less of a pattern book. There is a stitch dictionary for the ‘decoration’, but they are more about adding to a sock instead of the purpose of the knitting. I guess that’s why I never thought about using that term for a stitch pattern on a sock, because I consider the knitting of the sock to be more about how they will look at the end then how they are built. I think this book will expand my horizons quite a bit.