Review: Easy Knitted Socks

I’m sort of doing a sock week over at About this week, so it seemed appropriate to review a little sock book over here as well.

Easy Knitted Socks, compiled by Amy Palmer, is a booklet containing 14 projects. It starts with tips on knitting in the round and making jogless stripes and then provides a nice variety of patterns for socks rugged and romantic, for kids up to adult men. Many of the projects have multiple sizes, though they don’t always say which size corresponds to what sort of foot, so you may still need to measure the foot you want to fit to find the ideal pattern and size.

Some of my favorites include the Ribby Retro Socks by Chrissy Gardiner, which look like classic athletic socks (but in a cute way); Jennifer L. Appleby’s Uptown Boot Socks, featuring a delicate allover cable pattern; Gardiner’s toe-up Wooly Toe Socks, worked in stripes and sized to fit kids and adults in crew length or knee high styles (they use an afterthought heel, too, which is pretty fun); the Tyrolean Stockings form Ann Budd, which are pictured on the cover; and the pretty, lacy Socks for Véronik by Mona Schmidt.

None of the patterns are rated by skill level, and there isn’t a plain Stockinette sock in sight, so this may not be the best book for beginner sock knitters. But if you have a couple of pairs under your belt and you’re ready to try something that’s a little bit more challenging but still not difficult, this book has a great collection for all sorts of styles and all kind of feet.

[Photo via Interweave/F+W.]

Looking for more knitted socks designs and patterns to keep you warm this winter? Check out these knitted sock patterns Etsy. And these Knitting Pattern books on Amazon.

Looking to buy your Yarn online? Check out these online yarn specials.

Next Pattern:

If you’re looking for a sweater knitting pattern that uses up some of your stash and allows you to make just the sweater you want, the Marlina Rib by Shay Johson might be just the thing.

It’s worked with two strands of fingering weight yarn held together to make a DK weight gauge, so you can use the same two yarns throughout or change one or both regularly for an even more colorful look.

The pattern has options to make it either a crewneck or a henley style with buttons, tapered or relaxed sleeves, and a straight hemline or a split hem with buttons (which sounds so cute if you do the henley with split hem and match the buttons on both parts).

It’s also knit from the top down so you can make the body and the sleeves as long as you want. There are 10 sizes available in the pattern, with a chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 81.5 to 172.5 cm. It’s meant to be worn with 4-6 inches/10-15 cm of positive ease at the chest.

The pattern page on Ravelry includes tons of measurements and yardage estimates so you can make sure you’ll get a good fit for your body before you even buy the pattern. Shay also shows a few variations of the sweater so you can see how different options look before you decide how you want to put them together.

The stitch pattern is 1×2 ribbing, which is really easy to do and gives a look almost like fisherman’s rib that’s relaxed and easy to wear.

This sweater looks like a great option for people who are somewhat new to sweater knitting or those who love to have lots of customization options (because it’s like getting multiple sweater patterns in one!).

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself at Ravelry.

[Photo: Shay Johnson]

Next Pattern:

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