Customer Reviews

New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

I'm an expert knitter (30+ years) and I've created my own patterns and taught knitting. I've mastered the art of knitting back backwards and I've created several of my own cast-ons when I found other cast-ons too constrictive or too complex.

And yet I was starting to think that there was something wrong with me that I found this book confusing and overly complicated. I'm so glad to know there are other people who feel this way. The "choose your own adventure" aspect - where page 51 tells you to turn to page 9 and you get to page 9 and it tells you to look for box 10 - is unnecessarily complicated and, frankly, lazy. Make the instructions clearer - even if it means making the book longer.

The second, and almost as annoying, aspect of this book is the way she makes up terms. What the heck? Is there something wrong with "SSK" and "K2tog"? I don't see the point, unless you're teaching a rank beginner with this book, and if you are, she's going to go off to other books and patterns and come back to you: "What?? Help! I don't understand!"

I wanted to like this book. I really did. I'm a process person, not a product person. But while the ideas in this book might be wonderful, the execution is so flawed as to make the book virtually worthless. I've had it for almost two weeks and I still haven't cast on a sock from it. This is unheard of for me: I've been known to cast on an interesting pattern on the way home from the knitting shop.

...then just sit down, be calm, start at the beginning of the introduction of "New Pathways", and move forward. Certain aspects of Cat's "New Pathways" will seem familiar, and some will seem wondrous, and with your brain free to roam over the topography of your new sock (and faith in Cat's preparation for a gentle trip into a new stitching of an age-old shape), you'll find yourself in a world that is both familiar and brilliantly new.

I look at knitting books in several different ways, but my favorite is books I can treat like a master class. The best invite you into not just a new way of knitting but also a new way of thinking. "New Pathways for Sock Knitters", as well as the moebius amusement park that is Cat's "A Treasury of Magical Knitting" and "A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting", are such books for thinking knitters. By "thinking knitters" I don't necessarily mean "advanced" knitters, but knitters who are ready for some adventure and some new vantage points will find themselves both boldly moving ahead and most comfortably at home.

For Cat's "regulars" this book will be much like the arrival of a new Harry Potter book -- we're thrilled to have "New Pathways for Sock Knitters" in our hands, knowing that it is "Book 1". "Book 2" will certainly be even more eagerly awaited.

I bought this book because of the great reviews, and I had already purchased a book written by her. Well, she starts out with many "baby" socks, for you to try different ways of making the sock patterns she has featured. These are all considered practice socks, so that when you start one of her patterns, you are already familiar with the instructions. Her patterns include doing socks "toe-up" as well as my favorite way, starting with the anklet.
I'm sure this is a great book for many, but it's still too difficult for me. She uses her own "terminology" for many explanations, such as, the daughter/mother/grandmother stitches, of which I found confusing. She explains this as an easier way to remember things, but I do not concur.
I'm still a novice making socks with circular needles, so I basically was looking for a book that would give me another perspective - actually, I was hoping for easier!
I wouldn't recommend this for the novice, unless (s)he had the basics down to auto-pilot!

I was watching Knitty Gritty and saw Cat Bordhi demonstrating knitting a coriolis sock. I've been knitting off and on for over 20 years, but never had a desire to knit a sock. After the program I was drawn in. I printed the pattern and tried it out, but found that the book was a better explanation for the pattern not only that pattern but many, many more. I've just completed 2 learning socks, but find that the book will be so useful for many years to come, as I find that I've just touched the tip of the iceberg. I'm hoping that Cat will write one for mittens on circulars. The book also makes use of using 2 circulars as well as four double pointers. I find the circulars much easier to use. Great book!

Unbelievably brilliant! This is by far the best knitting book I've ever owned. Cat Bordhi easily guides knitters through mathematics that will "knock your socks off". You end up with a perfectly customized sock. I am not new to knitting, but "socks" are new for me and this book is outstanding. Two thumbs way up! Thank you Cat for a knitting book I can't seem to put down!

I have been knitting for many years, and knitting socks of all types almost as long. I have bought several copies of Cat Bordhi's first book as gifts to my daughters and friends I have taught to knit and would still highly recommend it, but I was so disappointed with this book. The book is beautiful to look at, but the patterns and instruction are VERY complicated and unfortunately quite frustrating to follow. I love a pattern that takes me to new places in my knitting, but when it drives me to losing my patience, as this book did, something is very wrong. Unless you are into complicated knitting architecture, this is not the book for you.

Beautiful socks, innovative methods and ABSOLUTELY the best written directions that I have ever seen! Fun! Logical and beautiful illustrations and photos. Working my way through this book is improving my knitting knowledge in so many ways. I have read and worked through Cat's other knitting books but this is above and beyond her other books. Every step is described and illustrated. She recommends knitting little mini- socks to understand the new ideas that she introduces and they are the CUTEST little little practice (or baby) booties.


If only it came wire-bound and laminated - this is a book that I fully intend to wear out. Save postage: order two!