Ruthless Knitting

Though I like to knit socks now and again, I wouldn’t say that I’m a “sock knitter,” since my level of fanaticism is fairly low, and I’d usually prefer to knit a sweater. Moreover, though I have one of Cat Bordhi’s previous books (Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles), it hasn’t proven to be an important one in my collection, and I haven’t been tempted by any of her other popular titles. So when I say that I bought New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One (Friday Harbor, WA: Passing Paws Press, 2007) as soon as I had an opportunity to flip through it at the yarn shop — and despite the fact that it cost $28.95 — I hope you’ll take that as an indication of how truly innovative and interesting this book is.

With this volume, the first of three in a planned series, Bordhi has begun an exploration of sock “architecture” — which is to say that she’s begun detailing ways in which socks can be knit to fit the human foot that are different than what we’ve grown accustomed to. In her introduction, under the heading “Five hundred years, two styles of socks,” Bordhi explains that hand-knit socks “have been dominated by two architectural styles” for a very long time, but that in fact “sockitecture” is infinitely variable.

This first volume introduces eight new architectures, or “pathways,” for knitting socks. These pathways all begin at the cuff or the toe. In Bordhi’s second volume, the pathways will begin elsewhere, i.e. mid-foot or leg. The third volume will explore “ancient pathways” for sock knitting inspired by Bordhi’s research at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto.

What really impresses me about this book is not that Bordhi came up with new ways to knit socks but rather that she came up with exceedingly clever ways to teach others how to knit these new architectures while simultaneously encouraging them to make these socks their own. Following the introduction, New Pathways for Sock Knitters contains a set-up chapter that orients the knitter to Bordhi’s book and the symbols she uses and then offers patterns for two differerent baby socks as a way of introducing the basic techniques used in the book. Each sock architecture then gets its own chapter, which explains how the sock is shaped, offers another orienting baby sock pattern or two, and then provides at least one adult sock pattern (often stunning) in the new architecture, as well as a “master pattern” for that architecture that the knitter can adapt to suit.

I love this method of using baby socks as a teaching tool, since they are quick, cute, and satisfying to knit. And I’m thrilled that Borhdi has provided master patterns for each of her architectures, because while I do occasionally like to follow other people’s patterns, I’d usually much prefer to do my own thing.

This book also shines in its design, illustration, and photography, all but the last of which Bordhi was responsible for herself. Self-published books are often not as attractive or easy to use as professionally published ones, nor are they usually edited well, but this volume is an exception. It’s visually appealing, and a great deal of thought has clearly been put into the layout and illustrations. It’s also packed with beautiful and inspiring photographs of socks.

New Pathways for Sock Knitters has been getting a lot of praise lately from knitting bloggers, and in this case I’m happy to jump on the bandwagon. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes to knit socks and is interested in learning new constructions to expand their repertoire. I imagine it will become an essential volume in many knitters’ libraries.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 at 6:06 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.