Review: Knit a Box of Socks

The thing about sock knitting is, if it grabs you, it’s probably going to really grab you. I don’t know a lot of knitters who are mild-mannered when it comes to sock knitting. They either never knit socks, they’ve knit one pair to say they’ve done it and never intend to do it again, or they’ve knit (or are on their way to knitting) lots of socks.

You might guess I fall into that last category, though most of the socks I’ve knit are pretty plain, and I would like to up my sock knitting game with some fun new styles.

Enter Knit a Box of Socks by Julie Ann Lebouthillier. This book includes the techniques you need to get started knitting socks if you don’t already know how, as well as 24 patterns to get you started on your dream sock drawer.

The book opens with a quick overview of needed tools and essential stitches, such as knit 2 together, slip slip knit and working German short rows. You’ll also learn how to measure your foot and adapt patterns if needed to get a better fit. There’s also a pattern for a plain stockinette stitch sock worked from the top down, as well as general instructions for converting a sock pattern to work from the toe up.

After that follow the 24 patterns, rated in difficulty level on a scale of one to three socks. Nine of the projects are rated one sock, 13 are two socks and two are three socks.

In addition to patterns using single strands of sock yarn, there are a couple of patterns with sock yarn held double, a few DK weight socks and one pair of short bulky socks that could be worn more like slippers.

There are a couple of fruit-themed patterns (pineapple and watermelon) as well as motifs like sheep, snowflakes, hearts and leaves. There are patterns with stripes and fades, and a little bit of lace and cables along with a variety of colorwork.

Some of my favorites include April Showers, which uses a kit in shades of blue and gray to make rain clouds on the leg and stripes on the foot; Feeling Sheepish, one of the more difficult patterns, which has a round of sheep, checkerboard pasture and colorwork fencing; Snowflake Dreams, the other harder pattern, with snowflake motifss on the front and checkboard stripes on the back; Scrappy Faded, worked with leftovers of different sock yarns held together; and The Other Side of the Rainbow, a shorty sock with a black background and rainbow stripes. (You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.)

This would be a fun book for someone learning to knit socks or for the sock lover in your life looking for some new options and ways to use up sock yarn leftovers.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 24 patterns. Published 2024 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

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Tif Neilan is a known fan of herringbone stitch as a design element in her patterns. I love it, too, and have written a couple of posts about herringbone stitch and other ways to make herringbone designs in knitting.

Tif uses a herringbone stitch on the cuffs of her Ebbs & Flows sweater, a top down raglan design that also features a bit of mosaic colorwork at the hem and on the sleeves.

The herringbone bit is optional, as the pattern also includes instructions for working twisted ribbing instead, but the herringbone gives such a different textured look that I think it’s worth the effort of learning how to do it for this design.

It is worked in the round except for some German short rows for shaping after the neckline. It’s meant to hit at the high hip but you could make it longer or more cropped as you like.

The pattern comes in 10 sizes, with a finished chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 80 to 170 cm. It is designed to be worn with around 4 inches/10 cm of positive ease at the chest.

It calls for three colors of DK or worsted weight yarn, though you’ll need a relatively small amount of the contrasting colors since most of the body is worked in a solid color. Because of the different stitches used you’ll need a variety of knitting needle sizes and the pattern notes recommend having a set of interchangeable knitting needles to make this easier, but you can always use what you have.

You can find out more about this pattern and grab a copy on Ravelry. There are already a good number of finished projects in the gallery there so you can see how it works with different colors and different body and sleeve lengths (they’re meant to be long but I spy a couple that look like three quarters).

[Photo: Tif Neilan]

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