Book Review – Operation Sock Drawer: The Guide to Building Your Stash of Hand-Knit Socks

Knit yourself a drawer of beautiful socks with the Knitmore Girls

Inspired by the gorgeous sock drawers of Susan B. Anderson, Jasmin and Gigi of The Knitmore Girls podcast started the hashtag #operationsockdrawer in an effort to knit a collection of socks just as photo worthy. Tens of thousands of knitters have since joined the campaign to knit more pretty socks and the hashtag has grown to more than 200k tags on social media.

Think of Operation Sock Drawer as your sock knitting survival guide. In it you’ll find:

• 20 original designer sock patterns–more than enough to fill your first drawer.
• Great how-ton information on knitting a variety of toe shapes, heel styles, options for comfortable ankles, and more!
• Darn it! Don’t toss old socks, repair them with simple darning techniques.
• Bonus information on knitting socks two at a time, how to make great yarn to pattern matches, and how to overcome second sock syndrome.
Grab your needles and a skein of yarn, and then join The Knitmore Girls on their mission to expand sock collections around the globe.

Knitting and travel are two hobbies that are highly compatible. Travel often involves waiting or time spent on planes, trains, boats, etc., time that can easily be filled by knitting, a portable and productive craft you can do most anywhere (and yes, you can take your knitting on a plane most of the time).

Krista Ann combines knitting and traveling regularly and ended up visiting every continent in 2022 with her knitting needles along for the ride. The Wandering Knitter explores travel, knitting and learning new knitting skills no matter where you are.

This isn’t a book for beginners, but if you’ve wanted to learn techniques like brioche, cables, lace, colorwork, mitered squares and short rows, there’s a set of more beginner level patterns followed by ones that are bigger, more detailed or required a little more skill. For example a brioche washcloth is the beginner pattern, while a brioche sweater (with unexplained exceptionally long sleeves) is the stepped up project. A basic mesh lace scarf becomes a more complex lace kerchief. A giant mitered square cowl graduates to a mitered square tote bag.

Interspersed among the patterns are essays about traveling to different continents and what she saw there. There are also tips for traveling with your knitting and tips for reading charts, but no tutorials for knitting skills (other than a written explanation of how mosaic knitting works).

Some of the projects would be useful to have when traveling, such as fingerless gloves, a warm headband or a colorwork hat. The travel angle is an interesting hook for a book, but I would have enjoyed essays more about specific incidents or shopping for yarn in a different country or something more than the general essays about things she’s liked and places she’d like to go back to.

Still, if you’re looking for a skill building book that doesn’t focus on the basics but gives you some wearable, attractive accessories, this book is a good one to check out. Just maybe make the sleeves shorter if you knit the sweater.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 20 patterns. Published 2026 by Quarry Books. Suggested retail price $24.99.

Have you read?