New Pathways for Sock Knitters may actually be functional as well as pretty. I’m not sure how I ended up with so many sock books, but this is my fourth, and I think I like it better than the Vogue Ultimate Sock Book. It certainly does what I was disappointed that book didn’t do: deal happily and evenly with top-down, toe-up, one circ, two circs, dpns, whatever you like. And Cat Bordhi’s central revelation, that the gusset increases/decreases can go wherever you like, leads her to various interesting and attractive kinds of sock. There are at least three socks in this book that I want to knit, but more than that, I’ll find the mix and match toes, heels and cuffs really useful. I’m cautiously declaring this my favourite sock book.
The crown might not stay there, though. A contender is in the wings. Those books that were cheaper on Amazon? They were also just about enough between them to qualify for free postage, and once I’d identified them as the spinning books I wanted, there was no good reason to wait. Hands On Spinning is not very interesting in anticipation, although it looks set to be the basic spinning book that I want. The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, on the other hand deals with dyeing, spinning, designing and knitting socks. I can’t wait. And I have 100g of undyed BLF fibre just waiting for this book.