Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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94 of 95 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly inspirational, August 18, 2007
Some people have commented on Cat Bordhi's other books about the impracticality or too-edginess of some of her projects (a tentacular purse?), but this book hits right at the heart of practicality. We sock knitters are a zealous bunch, and anything that puts a new spin on our favorite obsession gets our attention. Bordhi discovers one day while working on a toe-up sock that surprise surprise, the gusset increases can go *anywhere* on the foot, not just at the division between instep and sole stitches. This is 'eureka' at its best, and the master sock patterns put these necessary increases in varying locations on the foot--ridgeline puts them top and center of the instep. Coriolis spirals them up the foot in a band. The master patterns are ingenious and the patterns she demonstrates are simply inspiring. She discusses the benefits of each pattern in terms of where one might add a design element per that model, which gives the knitter a chance to make their own innovative designs based on her new ways of spacing the gusset.
My only criticism, as someone without children and sick of books chock full of babies and kids' patterns, is that there are a lot of baby patterns. Yeah, yeah, I can knit up a baby sock in an evening, but...ummm...what for? I'm happy Cat knows so many babies and toddlers and is getting them hooked on fine fiber footwear, but I wish a FEW of those patterns could have been replaced with more of her wonderful adult designs.
Also (okay, two criticisms) I like thin socks. I knit many socks on size 0s or smaller with fingering weight, and more than a few of her designs use fingering weight doubled. That's not only going to be (in my mind) a bulky sock, but also an expensive one. Lang Trekking XXL (which she uses a lot) is about $18 a ball here for 100g--using two to make a chunky pair of socks would be $36 per pair! I like to pamper my feet, but.... Us sasquatch gals don't need any more bulk on our tootsies!
All in all, I do warn you: do NOT have a pair of socks on your needles when this book arrives. You WILL want to sit down and knit immediately. That kind of inspiration doesn't come along very often. So, even with my criticisms, this book will be looking pretty ratty from use in a very short time in *this* household.
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69 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A pathway you should definitely take time to follow!, August 22, 2007
Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One has broken the mold for sock books. Seriously.
In this book, the first of a what will no doubt be a highly-anticipated full series, Bordhi has presented eight sock "architectures" with master patterns that can be infinitely customized for any size (both human and needle) or yarn. There are twenty-plus additional patterns, and each of the eight master patterns features a baby-sized sock you can test-knit to teach its basic principles before moving on to a larger size. At a recent needlearts tradeshow, I saw quite a few of Bordhi's students showing off their baby-sized samples on the show floor, but the book itself goes to a whole other level altogether.
My favorite sock (at the moment -- it's tough to pick just one) is the Coriolis. It swirls and swishes around the foot, giving a whole new perspective on the effects of hand-dyed yarn in sock knitting.
How often do you hear -- and I'm quoting -- "This chapter empowers you to knit socks to fit anyone using your favorite needles, yarn and gauge. After some practice, I hope you won't even need the book anymore."? Not often. I think this attitude is why so many knitters treasure Elizabeth Zimmermann's books -- having learned the basic principles for something (such as EPS for sweaters) you're free to knit as you please.
Bordhi not only gives you the tools you need to make a sock, but to make truly unique and beautiful socks that look much more complicated than they actually are. An amazing, entertaining book densely packed with solid and useful information, it's worth every penny of the cover price.
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42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic sock manual, August 21, 2007
I fell in love with this book almost instantly. Many sock books inspire me to make only one or two or the socks, and even then I only need the stitch pattern and not the whole sock pattern. But this book teaches you a new way - several ways, actually - to construct socks. You can learn new methods so you can build your own favorite socks, or you can follow the patterns exactly as provided and create fun, interesting new socks!
More than just a 'follow along' pattern book, this book invites you to understand the concepts underneath the sock and its pattern. It feels like reading a knitting book written by a maths or engineering graduate. The precision and attention to structural detail gives me a confidence to trust the patterns and ideas in a way that I find sometimes lacking in other patterns and books which have a more casual bent. That is not to say you have to follow each pattern absolutely precisely! Once you get the hang of each type of sock, you can adjust it however you desire. But the foundation upon which the socks are built is solid.
The instructions are clear and easy to follow, and the layout of the book is extremely easy to use. I adore this book and will eagerly await the next two!
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by Cat Bordhi
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