New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One Perfect Paperback – July 20, 2007

I am determined to make socks. You see we actually wear wool hiking socks, wool dress socks, wool knee socks and love Smartwool socks but the cost, oh the cost is just so high. So, I am a beginner knitter. I so far have knit/purled about 10 scarves and one Einstein coat by Sally Melville. I am not experienced in sock knitting in any way.After buying a few sock books and patterns and struggling with DPN's I decided to research sock knitting, which is thankfully in a renaissance. I found on YouTube vids of all types with partial directions for DPN's, one long round needle, 2 short round needles, toe-up, cuff down and any combination therein. I tried a few techniques and found some I liked and some not so good.The Cat Bordhi youtube videos taught me alot and so I bought this book based on 2 things: the simplicity of the techniques, and her willingness to share the techniques online for free. Her teaching style is simple in the videos and I easily retained all the information. A big plus is that Cat also gives credit to anyone who invents techniques or designs and I think that is also just a nice thing to do in a time when many people don't give credit where its due.So back to this book review - I got it and started knitting the first and the second sock in order as she suggests. I made both and they both came out as promised. The toe-up cast on is easy and brilliant. I like the concept of knitting tiny socks as practice projects. They knit up quickly and if you make a mistake so what, not much time lost. Before this I kept trying to knit adult sized socks and by the time I messed up for the umteenth time, and ripped out mistakes and re-knit, I was discouraged and gave up. The next step is to make myself and my husband an adult sized sock.The downsides of the book.1. I wish there was one simple basic sock that is something not quite so artsy that my husband could wear to work. Most of these patterns are a little too textured.2.The other thing I wish for is that she would explain about using smaller than worsted wool. Hopefully, I can figure that out on my own with some help from my sisters that knit.

I am so pleased with this book. Cat Bordhi discovered a new amazing way to make socks while covering the history of sock making thousands of years. You won’t be sorry you bought this for yourself or as a gift for a sock knitter.

Some people have commented on Cat Bordhi's other books about the impracticality or too-edginess of some of her projects (a tentacular purse?), but this book hits right at the heart of practicality. We sock knitters are a zealous bunch, and anything that puts a new spin on our favorite obsession gets our attention. Bordhi discovers one day while working on a toe-up sock that surprise surprise, the gusset increases can go *anywhere* on the foot, not just at the division between instep and sole stitches. This is 'eureka' at its best, and the master sock patterns put these necessary increases in varying locations on the foot--ridgeline puts them top and center of the instep. Coriolis spirals them up the foot in a band. The master patterns are ingenious and the patterns she demonstrates are simply inspiring. She discusses the benefits of each pattern in terms of where one might add a design element per that model, which gives the knitter a chance to make their own innovative designs based on her new ways of spacing the gusset.My only criticism, as someone without children and sick of books chock full of babies and kids' patterns, is that there are a lot of baby patterns. Yeah, yeah, I can knit up a baby sock in an evening, but...ummm...what for? I'm happy Cat knows so many babies and toddlers and is getting them hooked on fine fiber footwear, but I wish a FEW of those patterns could have been replaced with more of her wonderful adult designs.Also (okay, two criticisms) I like thin socks. I knit many socks on size 0s or smaller with fingering weight, and more than a few of her designs use fingering weight doubled. That's not only going to be (in my mind) a bulky sock, but also an expensive one. Lang Trekking XXL (which she uses a lot) is about $18 a ball here for 100g--using two to make a chunky pair of socks would be $36 per pair! I like to pamper my feet, but.... Us sasquatch gals don't need any more bulk on our tootsies!All in all, I do warn you: do NOT have a pair of socks on your needles when this book arrives. You WILL want to sit down and knit immediately. That kind of inspiration doesn't come along very often. So, even with my criticisms, this book will be looking pretty ratty from use in a very short time in *this* household.

This book changed my life! I knew how to knit socks and was intermediate level at best when I found this book. It opened up my imagination and showed me just a few of the many possibilities that swirls in the imagination of the knitting genius of Cat Bordhi. It was amazing! It spoke to me. I wanted to knit all of her variations. And this is the thing: is all about the gusset. That piece of the sock that has many knitters af all skill levels in a quandary. But what if the gusset didn't have to be hard? And better yet what might happen if you moved the gusset somewhere else? My new favorite place to put the gusset is on the bottom of the foot. Huh? Really?.... REALLY! And what if you placed that gusset on the top of the foot and created a new space for design. Now that would be something. Cat shows to how to do this step by step using her new method of gusset ratio: knit row to increase row. Yes there is math. But there are a TON of charts in the back to help you through each sock architecture with a master pattern. All of it spells a trip through the imagination and a perfect fitting pair of socks. It's all there. Cat Bordhi is a master of invention.

Really pleased A very good book came quickly although it came from America and very good condition as it was second hand

Absolutely amazing. I've never imagined there could be so many other ways if knitting socks. Excellent customer service.

Adds new thoughts and gives graphs etc.