Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Giveaway: Magpies, Homebodies and Nomads

by

magpies, homebodies and nomads giveaway

The winner is kajubo!

Cirilia Rose’s new book has a funny name, but it makes a lot of sense when you understand it. Magpies, Homebodies, and Nomads are all parts of the knitter’s personality. We’re magpies in that we love hoarding little bits of special yarn. Homebodies because most of the time we’d rather be at home knitting and hanging out with friends than anywhere else. But also nomads because many knitters like to travel to festivals and other events to meet like-minded fiber fanatics and show off what they’ve been knitting to people who will truly appreciate it.

This book celebrates all three of those personalities with 25 different patterns, plus tips and ideas that can help you develop your own sense of style, whether you’re working with garments you knit or things off the rack.

The book explores color, thinking like a stylist, finding inspiration, substituting yarns, even shopping smartly at the thrift store. And the patterns are pretty, too, including great hats, sweaters, cowls, tops, projects for the home and more than include sweet little details that allow you to make your projects as unique as you want.

I’m giving away one copy of this book this week. If you want a chance to win, leave a comment on this post before the end of the day Sunday, December 7. Why don’t you tell me how you would describe your style? I try to do a little better than classic mom slouch, but jeans and a sweater are my uniform. This book really does make me want to do better, though, and it might just inspire you, too.

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing, and good luck!

Next Pattern:

Comments

  2. Comfort, definitely. Nothing better than being cozy and warm with a cup of tea and my family nearby. Even if they interrupt me while I’m trying to count. 🙂

  3. I would like to be more stylish, but I think I always just fall back on my comfy clothes (I have a closet full of high heels but usually just wear flats these days). I also have a couple of cardigans that I knitted that I wear pretty much all the time.

    thanks for the giveaway!!

  5. Upscale thrift store: I find a lot of very nice styles that are classy yet comfortable without breaking the bank!

Have you read?

Book Review: No Fear Sock Knitting

I feel like when it comes to things that people are afraid to knit, socks probably top the list. I’ve heard people say they would never knit socks because they look too hard, but really you just need to know a few basic things (and trust the pattern even though it sounds wrong the first time you do it) to master socks. 

Denise DeSantis aims to take the worry out of knitting socks with No Fear Sock Knitting. Based on a class on her YouTube channel, it includes all the basic information you need to make sock knitting feel easier, along with eight patterns for both top down and toe up socks. 

The book generally covers types of needles and yarn you might use to knit socks, as well as other supplies you will need. It looks at the parts of the sock, different knitting needle configurations used to knit socks, how to read a pattern (including abbreviations and terms you might find in sock patterns), discussion of ease, how to measure your foot and choosing the correct size to knit.

It includes two options each for casting on cuff down and toe up socks, as well as four options for cuff treatment. It explores the heel flap and turn method for top down and toe up socks, as well as short row heels using a shadow wrap (worked with a leg from the stitch below) and a square heel. There’s a discussion of avoiding holes and fixing other problems in heels.

Likewise with toes there are several options, including a wedge toe, round toe and anatomical toe (different on each foot) for both cuff down and toe up socks. There are also tutorials for grafting and Jeny’s surprisingly stretchy bind off, depending on which direction you’re going. There’s also a tips section that covers things like avoiding ladders, changing colors. matching stripes and more. 

After all that preparation, there are eight patterns to choose from: short socks worked from the top down that are a perfect first-sock sock, a basic ankle-length toe-up sock, a DK weight sock worked from the top down with different length options, a “vanilla” sock with a short row heel worked top down, an ankle sock with a garter stitch cuff, one with a leg worked in alternating colors with a contrasting heel and toe, a sock worked in a helical stripe pattern and a striped sock with a garter stitch heel. 

Three of the patterns are rated at skill level two on a scale of three, while the rest are level one. They’re all pretty straightforward, they just use different techniques you might not have tried before. Since only one is made to be toe up, there are also tips for converting the other patterns to toe up if you’d rather work that way. Each pattern includes three size options. 

This book is a nice introduction to sock knitting, with lots of techniques to reference and simple patterns to take the fear out of the process. I’m not sure these are patterns you’ll come back to time and again but they are a good place to start if you’ve never knit socks before. 

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 8 patterns. Published 2025 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.