Socks Done, Socks To Be

Sister Carrie's birthday socks are done and on their way to her in North Carolina.

The Panda Cotton was a new experience in knitting socks. It was pleasant to knit although a little splitty. I had to watch each stitch to make sure there weren't any stray threads looping up, and sometimes there were.

I have some reservations on how it will wear and wash, but otherwise no reason not to use it again except for my personal preference for wool socks. But then, I live in Michigan.


Pattern: Retro Rib Socks by Evelyn Clark from Winter 2004 Interweave Knits.

Modified to use 56 stitches instead of 64 by reducing the purl 2 to a purl 1.

Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Cotton. 59% bamboo, 25% cotton, 16% nylon.

Color: Mood Indigo.

Needles: Options 2.5mm circulars.

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch.

Seems like every sock knitter in the world is getting Cookie's new book, Sock Innovation. And with good reason. The 15 sock patterns are beautiful. There isn't a single one I wouldn't happily knit. The technical section is well written and full of good advice and technique on designing socks, but even someone who never wants to do that will get more than their money's worth with the patterns.

Having never knit a toe-up sock and thinking I might want to learn how, I bought Wendy Johnson's book, Socks from the Toe Up. The patterns are nice, but nothing that makes me want to cast on immediately. I bought the book for the technical information and I think it will serve well for that.

The book wasn't expensive and now I can toss pages and pages of how-tos I've printed off the internet and thrown into an unorganized file. It's so much nicer to have all the information in one book on the shelf.