Chicken and Egg, sales, socks

Work has been kicking my ass all over the place this week and I’m super tired but I just wanted to take a moment to say that I love this Mochimochiland reversible chicken and egg so! much! I might buy the issue of Craft (I usually think they’re too expensive) just for that pattern.

Also, I thought I’d point out a couple of sales I noticed lately.

25% off EVERYTHING (including books, patterns, needles) at Sakonnet Purls/letsknit.com, with an extra 5% off on red yarns. Ends today. They have a really good selection, including Hanne Falkenberg kits!
25% off clearance sale at The Knitting Hutch. It’s for sad reasons, the owner got laid off and decided to close her store. But they have nice stuff, too, Habu and Handmaiden.
Tons of stuff on sale at Knit Purl through Monday, including 25% off all Classic Elite yarns, 20% off all RYC yarns, 20% off various Lorna’s Laces yarns, and 40% off Jo Sharp Classic DK and Rare Comfort mohair. But the list goes on and on.
20% off pink yarns at Two Swans Yarn through the end of the month.

My Amazon order with Hollywood Knits and a couple of other things in it finally shipped! My book club book (the original reason for the order) wasn’t going to be in stock till March, weeks after the meeting. So I canceled that and put in a lace knitting book and a back issue of CRAFT instead, for the free shipping. Only after doing so did I realize the absurdity of this since I had originally only ordered Hollywood Knits to get free shipping for my book club selection. Silly. But I’ll have some nice new books soon.

I have decided I want to learn more about socks. Even if I don’t end up making them for myself, the construction techniques are valuable, as I realized when I was trying to kluge together some baby booties and kept having to look up the stitch and row counts for the heel flap, and where to pick up stitches, how much to decrease the gussets, and so on. Any suggestions for good overview sock books? I put the Vogue Ultimate Sock Book and Nancy Bush’s Vintage Socks on hold at the library. I’m interested in overviews of construction techniques and general recipes/formulas to help me understand various ways of putting them together, rather than straight stitch by stitch patterns. I know there are a lot of free patterns in Knitty with interesting construction, too, so that will be my next step.

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February 15, 2008 at 1:37 pm

leah

i’m a newbie sock knitter as well and am using charlene schurch’s ’sensational knitted socks,’ which has tons of great information, but i find it too textbook-like. the other day i found ann budd’s ‘getting started knitting socks,’ and i wish i’d have found this book first. it’s extremely easy to understand and also has lots of info, though it might be too ‘dummy’s guide’ for seasoned knitters.

February 15, 2008 at 2:22 pm

Sara

get thee a copy of sensational knitted socks, stat. it sounds exactly what you are looking for.

February 15, 2008 at 3:03 pm

Robynn

I’ve just got the new Cat Bordhi book (New Pathways for Sock Knitters) and highly recommend it. It won’t teach you the traditional sock shapes, but if you’re interested in understanding the construction possibilities, it’s fantastic.

February 15, 2008 at 3:43 pm

chemgrrl