As promised, a couple book/magazine reviews.

First: Charlene Schurch's "Simply Sensational Socks." I declared this book "awesome" even before I had a chance to look at it. That assessment stands. She shows how to knit several different "kinds" of socks (let alone with different stitch patterns): the typical top-down (which she says she prefers; I do as well), toe-up with the shortrowed heel, toe-up with a flapped heel (which I suppose would fit me better than a short-row heel; one reason I don't do toe-up socks is that short-row heels slew all over my foot and don't stay in place like a flapped heel. The other reason is I hate binding off but don't mind kitchenering.). She also shows how to do a "forethought" heel, which is a bullseye-type heel (for self-striping yarns) like the "afterthought" heel, but done as the sock is being knit, rather than after.

She has several chapters - different kinds of rib, knit-purl patterns, lace patterns, cables, colorwork, mosaic, and a chapter on using chevron-type patterns with self-striping yarns. (If you're like me, you've got tons of self-striping yarns - I'm so fascinated by the concept, and I keep buying the new ones as the companies come up with new innovations, so I am looking for something "different" to do with them).

I keep flipping through this book but I feel like I still haven't seen all there is to see in it. And I'm inspired to start a couple new pairs of socks - I have some nice bluegreen Shelridge Farms yarn that's looking for a pattern; I think one of the lacy or cably ribs from this book will work nicely. And I want to dig out my skeins of "Hamburg" Regia and try out one of the chevron patterns.

It IS an awesome book. I think it deserves a place on the shelf next to "Folk Socks." In fact, I think if a person owns only two sock books, it should be "Folk Socks" and this one.

in other words, two thumbs (maybe that should be big toes) up. (Or two thumbs and two big toes up).

Next up: Knitscene from Interweave.

I grabbed this quickly on a run-through of the Books A Million (it was getting late in the day and I just got the books I figured I wanted, without really looking hard at them).

Read it when I got home. A couple of things, up-front:

It's a different size. That bothers me somehow. I like all my magazines to be of a size because they look neater on the shelf. It's a bit smaller than the standard Interweave Knits (but not as small as the TV-Guide-sized "Knit.1"). The font is also smaller, and it feels kind of "squished" or claustrophobic on the pattern pages. I don't know if it's simply a smaller font, or if they reduced the inter-letter space to fit more text onto fewer pages, but I don't really like it. (But then again, it's aimed at 20-somethings with "young" eyes, I guess).

I was prepared to strongly dislike the magazine. I read the editorial first, and a line in it caught my attention. It went something like, "These patterns are long on style, but not long on technical know-how." and I thought "Uh-oh. Here we go. Another 'let's dumb down knitting for the people who say 'I'm doing it because it's popular right now, but I don't want to expend any of my precious memory space on actually LEARNING a skill.'' magazine." Yeah, a bit snobby, I admit. But you must remember - I'm a college prof and learning stuff is my stock-in-trade, and I also find myself (unhappily) sometimes dealing with people who would rather expend their precious memory space on Paris Hilton's latest exploit or what's going on on "Survivor" than actually learn something of lasting value...

But I didn't hate the designs. In fact, some of them are quite clever, and others are pretty classic. There's a nice, classic styled pullover vest (which is a free online pattern as a .pdf here. There's an interesting lace-edged coat that combines knitting and crochet. There's a hat that I'd probably leave the pom-poms off of but I still like, and there's a man-tailored raglan pullover that I particularly like, as I have just enough balls of 127 Print in my stash that have been waiting for a project since I bought them, and that's the exact yarn this pattern calls for.

(I also liked this sweater but I don't think it would look so hot on someone my size, especially considering the fact that the Fair Isle design falls right over a part of my body I'd rather not highlight. Now, if it were over the bust, maybe...)

Some of the accessories - especially the slippers - don't move me that much, but then again, regular Interweave has its share of clunkers.

I just wish they didn't make the print so small in this magazine.

Last review - the new Knit It!.

Meh. That's about all I have to say. Lots of pillows and lots of scarves. Pillows - as I said before, I don't "get" knitted pillows - why put in that much time when you can sew one, considering that pillows get dusty and sometimes have mugs of tea upset on them and the like? And scarves - I have far more patterns for scarves from the Internets or from books like Scarf Style than I have time to make now. And they're more interesting. (Of course, Knit It! is more about beginning knitting, so maybe that's the reason for my "meh." Then again, Knitscene is positioning itself as a "learn to knit/crochet/embroider and combine those skills" magazine and the patterns in there are ones I'd actually want to do. But whatever, your mileage may vary, as they say.)


As for knitting - worked some more on Fibonacci (speaking of classic wearable designs that have a little extra something to keep me interested) and also on the second pair of giftsocks for my mom.