The Knitter's Book of Socks: The Yarn Lover's Ultimate Guide to Creating Socks That Fit Well, Feel Great, and Last a Lifetime

This book, like all of Clara Parkes books is an absolute Must Have. I own several of her books, and have read even more. I enjoy her smooth, clear, style of writing and the information it provides is so clear and useful. Her books are some of my favorites. You should give them a try. This book will help guide you to selecting the proper sock yarn for your use and how to take care of it. This book will help you with the decision making on the socks you want to knit. I’ve only been knitting regularly for about 5 years, from what started out as physical therapy following some orthopedic surgery in my hand. The knitting keeps the parts of my hands moveable, I enjoy doing it, and I get to keep and use or gift the items I make. Clara Parkes books have made it so much fun learning more about yarn and knitting, that I wish I would have been doing this all my life instead of after I reached 60 years of age. Careful though, reading this author’s books can be very addictive and cause you to want to know more. I am enjoying learning so much about fiber and knitting that I’d like to do life again, and this time focus on everything fiber, knitting, spinning, etc, and the rich history it has. Clara’s books will cause these sorts of thoughts, so be careful. Reading them causes joy and happiness too. 🙂👍

Exactly what you would expect from yarn expert Clara Parkes: a sock knitting book that focuses on yarn selection! The book starts with an explanation of what a sock needs. This is (1) lasting elasticity, (2) strength (tensile strength and ability to withstand abrasion), (3) moisture management (absorption and wicking), and (4) a willingness to be worked and worn. With these requirements in mind, Parkes then talks about the structural differences in various fiber types (protein, plant, regenerated cellulose, synthetic); and about the role that yarn construction (singles, 2-ply, 3-ply, 4-ply, S-on-S cables, true cables, core spun) plays in the choice of good yarns for socks.Parkes includes a full chapter on stitch tricks for maximizing elasticity (using ribbing, stretchy increases, cables, faux cables), and for maximizing strength (using twisted stitches, fine gauge, slipped stitches, stranding and double knitting). In this chapter Parkes also discusses (1) the pros and cons of using nylon reinforcing yarn; (2) the choice of heel types for greater or lesser durability; and (3) the basics of ease required for proper sock fit.In the remaining three quarters of the 208-page book, Parke presents 20 wonderful sock patterns, mostly charted, by famous sock designers: Cat Bordhi, Jane Cochran, Cookie A., Stephen Houghton, Jennifer Hagan, Norah Gaughan, Marlaina Bird, Anne Hanson, Jayme Stahl, Melissa Morgan-Oakes, Sivia Harding, Nancy Bird, Sandi Rosner, Cirilia Rose, Jared Flood, Lucy Neatby, Kathryn Alexander, A. Karen Aifke, Ann Budd, and Clara Parkes herself. There are descriptive introductions to each pattern, and there are brief designer biographies in the back of the book.The most common size is Women's Medium, but many patterns include more than one size. The patterns include the finished measurements of the socks. Knitting skill level is intermediate to experienced (because socks are knitted in the round), but adventurous new knitters should be able to knit the patterns that have simple charts or no charts. Most of the patterns are written for a general type of yarn (usually fingering weight) but then include specific suggestions for commercial yarns (the yarns used in the models).The only thing not to like about this copiously illustrated book is that the text and photos are not printed on glossy paper. Because this book is both a useful technical reference on sock yarns and a great collection of designer sock patterns, I give it an unqualified 5 stars. I also highly recommend Clara Parkes' first book on knitting yarns,  The Knitter's Book of Yarn: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Using, and Enjoying Yarn .

A+ It didn't occur to me all of the crucial factors involved. This helped explain why certain attempts may have succeeded or failed with the relevant important aspects of the materials, spins, stitches, techniques combined to make socks work and fit well. Several nuggets of information are shared for the particulars of sock knitting. And then a bunch of patterns to show how it works in the real world. Read through the first half and then decide which one(s) to cast on first.

This book does give a great explanation of which yarns work well for socks, and why. I was hoping for a few more patterns with needles over size 1. That's a bit small for me.

The most exciting part about knitting these days is the information that is available to knitters about how yarn and fiber perform. Clara Parkes has led the way in collecting and presenting information so we can make informed choices as we put time and effort into our projects. If you are a knitter you want your projects to function the way they are supposed to and last. Let's face it when we knit we are in a competition with store bought items. Sure we knit because we are driven to it but at the end of the day our items must hold up, be beautiful and do their job better than what we could run out and buy. Clara's new book gives us ALL the information we need so that the socks we knit do that. It is detailed, readable and a "go to" for information as we make decisions about knitting socks. This is a must have reference for any knitter who wants to understand our craft and knit with the best results possible.

My thoughts are very similar to other people's who say that they expected more. The information the author is covering is mostly about yarn, and a little about practical design features. It's very good information, and it's laid out clearly. It's a specialized type of info, which is always interesting and I can tell that the patterns are good ways to learn a technique or understand a design feature. But the chapters on yarn and design seem a little shorter than what I thought I was buying. Still, I can tell I'll be refering back to this, and as I like to keep physical books around, it's a good add to my crafting library.

Nice book to read but need a variety of knitting needles as patterns are in straight or dpns or circular all in different sizes. Great book for a seasoned sock knitter which I am not.

Full of information initially but without an easy access glossary of photos of the patterns to follow, it doesn't work well as a kindle read

This book is definitely for experienced knitters and those with a real interest in the science behind the way socks work and the best wools to use with it. The first 50 pages are teaching you all about wool - written in a very accessible way. Being an avid knitter I found this very interesting, but I can imagine some people would just want patterns to knit without all the know-how. Also the author is American and so there are a few "translations" required for English knitters - but nothing any experienced knitter won't have come across before.I found the patterns very exciting - some of them quite a challenge but very satisfying when done - much more so than the plain socks I had been knitting. Needle sizes are given in U.S. and in mm, but yarn is in American weighting, so again, some translation required. This is easily worked out by the needle size required and then doing a tension square, so don't let it put you off what is a fabulous book for sock-knitting fans, giving the confidence to reach out beyond the normal run-of-the-mill patterns!An added bonus is that the socks look beautiful to wear, and would make a special present for someone.

This book is fabulous.I have recently returned to knitting and the info on yarns and working towards the perfect sock for the purpose is really inspiring with modern techniques which is refeshing and gives one the confidence that the sock is going to be the best possible in terms of elasticity, wear and design.The patterns are exquisite, really trendy yet maintain traditional elements of design and are easy to follow once one understands the abbreviations which are fully explained.The style is very readable and fact-filled and I am on my second pair of socks ever, the first pair being a confidence buliding success.Because I knit fairly loosely I would suggest a tension sample because I use a smaller guage needle than suggested

The technical information was fascinating. The patterns themselves look fairly interesting. Unfortunately the size of the actual pictures of many of the socks themselves are a bit too small for me to choose between them using my Kindle Fire. Yeah, I know, it's not a completely insurmountable problem - I'm sure a quick visit to Ravelry will let me work out what the detail on the finished articles looks like (and I've already seen enough of a couple of pairs to add them to my queue while I'm there). But it would be nice if the publisher came up with a way to get around the problem from within the book, like a larger zoomable picture on the pdf downloads for the charts.