Review: The Big Book of Socks

The Big Book of Socks: The Ultimate Beyond-the-Basics Guide to Knitting Socks by Kathleen Taylor
Genre: Sock Knitting
ISBN: 9781600850851
Published: September 8th, 2009 by The Taunton Press

Rating:

The Big Book of Socks has some pretty amazing sock patterns. There are tube socks, patterned and textured socks, Fair Isle socks, lacy socks, beaded and decorated socks, socks from the toe up… all sorts of socks. 75 different kinds of socks, actually. The variety is great! There are socks for everyone, in all needle sizes, all yarn types, all patterns that you can possibly imagine.

There's also lots of tips and suggestions in the front of the book, a list of resources, and a glossary with every definition in the back.

The book is just a little hard to figure out. There are some pictures, but not quite enough for me. Some of the patterns are just variations, so they don't have their own pictures. In some cases, there is one sock, and four or five ways to make it: for instance, there is one basic tube sock, and variations like picot hem fingering weight, contrast cuff fingering weight, ribbed fingering weight, worsted weight, etc.

Also, some of the patterns say "do this and then follow the toe pattern on this page" and then when you go to that page, you have to follow the pattern in this category starting on this number row, and you have to work it like this pattern over here… and it's a little confusing. It would have been better if it had just had the pattern printed right there with the rest of it, instead of jumping from page to page to find the rest of the pattern.

If you adore socks and are looking for one book with every pattern for every occasion and every person, this is the way to go.