Trish Knits.com

Tonight I decided to try something new before blogging. We’ll see if it helps me get back on track. I realized today that one of my stumbling blocks (and there are many) is that there is now shared demand for my computer, what with the now-high-school-aged daughter having hours of homework and an appetite for Facebook. So I decided that I would sit down with an old-fashioned pen and a blank journal book, where I will begin to record and collect “blog notes” that can then be turned into posts when I’m ready. For tonight, anyway, while the daughter was struggling with what seemed like hours of history homework, this blog post got sketched out, after me trying and failing for nearly a week to write it.

So, with thanks to the old-school approach, here is my review of “Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders: 101 Patterns That Go Way Beyond Socks!,” edited by Judith Durant. I admit I waited for this book for a long time. I am a professed Not-Sock-Knitter, and yet, I have bins of beautiful sock yarns with nowhere to go. I like a beautiful yarn as much as the next knitter, and so many of them these days are sock yarns. I have amassed many skeins, and have a total of ONE pair of socks in my Finished Object collection.

(Why, then am I taking an all-day sock workshop with Lucy Neatby in just three weeks? Ok, I know HOW to make socks, but have never been excited by them. I am, however, very excited by the prospect of learning from Lucy Neatby, and who knows? Maybe after spending a day in her company I WILL get excited about socks, and then… well…)

So. In the meantime, there’s this fabulous little book. I have the other books in the series, and by far, a thousand times over, this one is my favorite. There are so many patterns to choose from, as with the other books, but for some reason, the quality of the patterns seems such that I would be apt to make many more of these than many of the designs in the other books. I can’t say why. Just a gut feeling.

The book opens with a chapter on hats, mitts and socks. Several of the hat designs are ones I would make, and the mitts, mittens and gloves are almost all interesting. I do have to admit that I wasn’t expecting sock patterns in this book at all, given that there are so many sock pattern books, but there aren’t many, and well, I guess I should expect at least a few sock patterns from a book all about sock yarns. So I’m not complaining.

The scarves, wraps and shawls chapter has so many lovely patterns that if I only ever knit from this book it would probably take me three years or more to get through the ones I want to make.

The chapter on baby, toddler and doll clothes has so many adorable options including dresses, hat and bootie sets and adorable little sweaters.

Then there’s a chapter called, “Bag It and More,” for which I found the “more” part to be quite interesting. everything from a lampshade to a netbook cozy, to beautiful Christmas ornaments, to a filet crochet window curtain. I loved them all.

This book is definitely worth the Amazon price of $10.99. In my opinion, it’s a steal at that price. Get together with all of your knitting friends and order a bunch of copies among you to get free shipping. I believe this is the must-have book of the season.