Introduction

Knitting has been a part of my life for so long that it’s hard to remember when the adventure began. Like most knitters, my lessons began with learning to knit and purl and evolved into using those two stitches to create a variety of textures and designs in knitted fabric. Very early on, the technical aspects of knitting fascinated me, and my time was spent discovering things like how one simple flip of the wrist can affect the outcome of a project. Whenever knitting instructions said something like, “Be careful not to twist the stitches,” I would cast on and deliberately twist the stitches just to see what happened. In addition to learning why not to do certain things, these exercises uncovered ways of putting some of these “don’ts” to good use.

While planning a book on sock knitting, my mind was flooded with thoughts of various cast ons and bind offs, of multidirectional and multicolor knitting, of different styles of heels, soles and toes. Being limited to a dozen sock designs, my goal was to vary the styles and offer as many techniques as possible. There are knee-highs, ankle socks and everything in between, and of course you’ll find various heel turnings and toe shapings. One sock even has a leg worked in a different direction from the foot! If you’re a knitter who follows patterns word-by-word, you’ll find specific instructions and plenty of variety, with a sock style for everyone on your list. If you like to pick up features to mix and match with others, I hope you learn a few new tricks and techniques to add to your collection.

Enjoy the adventure, keep good notes and share what you learn!