Folk Socks: The History & Techniques of Handknitted Footwear (Folk Knitting series) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Join the sock knitting revolution! Many knitters today, too pressed for time to knit large garments, are turning to knitting socks-- thanks in part to this lively book with its easy-to-read directions for socks from many European traditions. An hour with this book will have most knitters hunting up their needles to begin a pair of Scottish kilt hose or colorful Estonian socks. Includes precise techniques for various heel and toe shapings, along with a wealth of information on the history of sock knitting. A wonderful book for your collection or as a gift for the knitter in your life.

Product Description

Nancy Bush culled museum archives in Europe and the British Isles to present 18 great sock patterns from a host of folk knitting traditions. Sturdy boot socks, lively Birkenstock socks, handsome knicker socks, white Greek socks with colored heels and toes, lacy stockings, kilt hose, cabled socks, clocked socks_they're all here, they're all fun to do according to the careful directions, charts, and illustrations. A chapter on techniques presents a collection of heel turnings, toe shapings, and top ribbings for knitters at all levels of experience.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Interweave Press (October 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0934026971
• ISBN-13: 978-0934026970
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 8.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #280,735 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for the experienced sock knitter, March 25, 2002

By	M. Cain "maggiecain" (Glendale, WI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book is beautiful, and has great history. The patterns are very interesting, but if you don't have sock experience I don't know how you'd work them. I have experience, but have never had this many problems. My first pair (light blue and white ones) had the weirdest heel. It made the sock almost completely straight, but since my foot bends at the heel, it was horribly uncomfortable. My local yarn shop couldn't understand how it would ever fit a normal foot so I rewrote the pattern and ripped back. The second pair (grey with off-white heel, toe, and top) was huge, although my guage was correct, and I had to restart that one, too. Then I did the ones on the cover, and the heel, though very interesting in concept, is way too big and forms basically a bubble jutting out from your foot (I just knitted every other row and it came out great). The last ones I did, the red cabled pair, came out very well (but cables give a sock more 'give,' so it's easier to fit them correctly). I'm tired of knitting 3 socks every time, so I'm going to be very careful about the patterns in the future. Here's what I suggest: knit a pair that fits your foot (preferably from a different book), and get the measurements of it, especially at the top and at your ankle. Then figure out the measurements of the pattern as it's written in this book, and change the pattern liberally until it is in normal human proportions.

They are beautiful when you finally get them right. My feet are always the prettiest in the room!

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing - The Title is Misleading, December 2, 2003

By	Lilinah "bibliophiliac" (San Francisco Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I bought this book hoping to learn the traditional techniques involved in the production of the wide variety of beautiful socks from many cultures featured in tantalizing color photographs. I was deeply disappointed to find that this was not the case.

The first edition had many factual errors in knitting history, of which some were corrected in subsequent editions. And Bush teaches few of the actual traditional techniques. In fact, her "reproduction" socks were all highly simplified modern inventions, based only in part on some of the colors and patterns of the original socks, but not truly involving their techniques.

While many of the socks were traditionally knitted from the toe up, in every case Bush knits them from the cuff down. The photographs are just teasers that left me frustrated and unfulfilled. I finally stopped looking at her directions for her simplified socks. Instead I analyzed the socks in the photos to attempt to knit them as they were originally made.

While it is a good book to learn modern sock knitting and in it Bush does cover a wide variety of techniques, it doesn't cover what its title says. If you want to knit modern socks, you may like this book. But if you're looking for the traditional knitting techniques of other cultures, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts' book "Ethnic Socks & Stockings" will actually teach you how, while Bush will not.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What! YOU don't own this book? This is THE sock book, January 21, 2001

By	Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

The title is misleading in a way; while the book really does have genuine folk designs (and lovely ones too, I might add) the real value of this book is the beginning pages. These pages catalog different sock heel and toe styles and tell you essentially how to design any kind of sock for yourself.

If you want to knit socks, or if you love knitting socks, you really should have this book. For me, this is my most essential and most used reference book on sock and stocking knitting. Gottahaveit!