Others have said it, and still more will, but Cat Bordhi is a genius. She spent the time, effort and research and deciphered entire new ways of putting socks together. Her techniques are still catching on around the sock-designing world and it is really fascinating to see the bits and pieces show up in patterns.
I very much enjoyed putting together her two pair of practice socks. They're sized for infants and done on DK-weight yarn (5 sts/inch) so calling it a fast knit is a vast understatement.
I've had a couple done for a while now, and decided to finish off the ball of yarn knitting the second sock of each so that they could be given away as a pair, rather than just sitting around doing "nothing" (other than looking darned cute). I used a single ball of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino (cashmere, merino, microfiber blend) in a periwinkle blue. It was the last ball of a particular dye lot at our LYS and they mark those down significantly--perfect for experimental knitting. The yarn is just luscious.
The book itself is pretty interesting and I recommend it as a good read--if you're the kind of person that likes to read knitting books that is! The side-panels are good resources of tips and tricks that can be taken into any other project. Cat's left and right increases are very easy once you get the hang of them, and quite attractive. Her method to conceal wraps works well and is explained with great images to convey all the details. I'm not sure the patterns themselves do a whole lot for me, but they're a lot of fun to look through!
The practice socks are entirely worth the effort. I'm pleased to have done them, as I've already put what I learned from them to use in my own designing, and in patterns I've received recently from other designers employ Cat's techniques.
No comments:
Post a Comment