For those who love knitting, this past Saturday would have been bliss. A cold blustery day outdoors, and eight of us gathered around the dining room table with skeins of gorgeous yarn and handmade bamboo needles, sipping herbal tea and learning to knit socks! We had Nicole (from the local K-W Spinners and Weavers Guild) back to lead this session. She is an avid spinner (led a spinning workshop here in the fall) and knitter, not to mention beekeeper, gardener, etc. Knitting socks have become somewhat of a passion for her, and she brought an assortment of wonderful socks she has created, from simple stockinette stitch knee-highs, to intricate patterns like "cascade". She walked us through all the tricky details, like knitting heel flaps and reducing gussets, and got us started on our own pairs of socks. The workshop group decided to meet again in a month, to see where we've all gotten to with our socks, with Nicole generously offering to come back to help with any questions.
Tips for sock knitting - use tiny (set of 2.24 mm double-pointed needles), and fingerling weight yarn that preferably is not 100% wool or socks will felt in the wash!
Keep a small crochet hook on hand for picking up dropped stitches, and a tapestry needle for grafting and weaving in the ends.
Recommended Reading:
Teach Yourself Visually Sock Knitting, by Laura Chau
Knitting Vintage Socks, by Nancy Bush
New Pathways for Sock Knitters, by Cat Bordhi (more advanced)
Useful sites for knitters:
www.ravelry.com
Recommended local store to purchase yarn and supplies - Shall We Knit in New Hamburg
Wow, sock knitting. That is really awesome. I hope you do really well with it. What a lost art.
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