Once again, I’m on a full blown sock-knitting kick and I may have Alice Yu to blame. I recently purchased her latest book, Socktopus: 17 pairs of socks to knit and show off, and it’s brimming with tempting patterns. I thought I’d take this opportunity to write a little review about it:
To start, I really like that Alice Yu gives a thorough introduction to sock-knitting. She covers all the basics like fiber, common sock fibers, yarn construction and yarns from around the world. Some of the information even applies to other aspects of knitting. I especially enjoy how she talks about yarn ply and then has photos of swatches to show how ply effects gauge. Very helpful!
I’d say Socktopus is for the adventurous knitter, interested in experimenting and learning how to make more than one kind of heel or toe. It might also be for someone who enjoys or just getting into lace-knitting. Socks are small and a great starting point for this. There are a few patterns like Om Shanti, that are knit from the toe up– something I’ve been wanting to learn!
Right now, I’m knitting a pair of V Junkies and loving every stitch! The pattern’s honeycomb-texture looks like it’s pretty complex but believe me, it’s no Cookie A. It’s surprisingly easy to memorize and looks great knitted up with the hand dyed sock yarn I’m using.
I really want to knit almost every sock in this book– but from a reviewer’s perspective, here are my top 5 patterns picks:
You can check out all the patterns from this book on Ravelry.
Check out Alice Yu’s web site, Socktopus.co.uk and get your hands on a copy of Socktopus: 17 pairs of socks to knit and show off on Amazon.
Through The Loops, Mystery Sock 2012
