Ratigan - Knitting the perfect pair: secrets to great socks

Knitting the Perfect Pair

Knitting the Perfect Pair: Secrets to Great Socks. Copyright 2009 by Dorothy T. Ratigan. Manufactured in China. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Krause Publications, an imprint of F+W Media, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45236. (800) 289-0963. First Edition.

Other fine books from Krause Publications are available from your local bookstore, craft store or visit us at our Web site at www.fwmedia.com.

13 12 11 10 09 5 4 3 2 1

Distributed in Canada by Fraser Direct
100 Armstrong Avenue
Georgetown, ON, Canada L7G 5S4
Tel: (905) 877-4411

Distributed in the U.K. and Europe by David & Charles Brunel House, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 4PU, England
Tel: (+44) 1626 323200, Fax: (+44) 1626 323319
E-mail: postmaster@davidandcharles.co.uk

Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link
P.O. Box 704, S. Windsor NSW, 2756 Australia
Tel: (02) 4577-3555

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Ratigan, Dorothy T.
Knitting the perfect pair: secrets to great socks / Dorothy T. Ratigan. -- 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-60061-052-3 (alk. paper)
1. Knitting--Patterns. 2. Socks. I. Title.
TT825.R332 2009
746.432041--dc22

eISBN: 978-1-44022-134-7

2008053902

Editor: Jennifer Claydon
Designer: Rachael Smith
Production Coordinator: Matt Wagner
Photographer: Ric Deliantoni
Stylist: Lauren Emmerling
Illustrators: Toni Toomey and Kara Gott
Technical Editor: Alexandra Virgiel

Metric Conversion Chart

About the Author

Dorothy T. Ratigans career in fi ber artsspans thirty years. As a shop owner, shesold needlecraft supplies and taughtclasses in knitting, crewelwork, crochet,needlepoint, bargello, embroidery,cross-stitch and weaving. As presidentand co-owner of Pine Tree Knitters, shedesigned knitted skiwear, oversaw aproduction staff and marketed fi nisheditems to L.L.Bean, Eddie Bauer and others.As a designer and technical editor, shehas worked for Brown Sheep Company,Inc.; North Island Designs; Knitting Worldmagazine; Knitters magazine; InterweaveKnits magazine; and Piece Work magazine.Dorothy has also worked on countlessbooks, including the One-Skein Wondersseries (Storey Publishing, LLC), the BondCollection and many Interweave Presstitles. One of her designs is featured inVogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book(Sixth&Spring Books)

Dedication

This book is dedicated with love to Mike, Steve and Austin for sharing their love, humor and patience.

Acknowledgments

My adventure with needlework began with the skills that my mother, Peg, and her sisters, Nell and Delia, brought from Ireland and passed on to me; I am grateful for my good fortune.

My family and friends provided prayers, support and comments, solicited and unsolicited, constructive and otherwise, which helped to put things in perspective.

Thanks to Jay Staten and Jennifer Claydon at F+W Media for their optimism, indispensable assistance and for keeping me focused.

Without the knitting help of Judy Warde and Don Bean, who stepped up to the plate when things went south, Id still be working on this book. And Im grateful to Charlotte Tanson for always having the time to look and listen.

Special thanks go out to my friend and wordsmith Judith Durant who is always only a phone call away, even when were on separate continents. She is invaluable to my success.

Last, but not least, my heartfelt thanks go to Bob for being there daily with laughter and encouragement to keep my spirits soaring.

Contents

Chapter One
Materials and Tools

Chapter Two
Techniques

Chapter Three
Projects

Introduction

Knitting has been a part of my life for so long that its hard to remember when the adventure began. Like most knitters, my lessons began with learning to knit and purl and evolved into using those two stitches to create a variety of textures and designs in knitted fabric. Very early on, the technical aspects of knitting fascinated me, and my time was spent discovering things like how one simple flip of the wrist can affect the outcome of a project. Whenever knitting instructions said something like, Be careful not to twist the stitches, I would cast on and deliberately twist the stitches just to see what happened. In addition to learning why not to do certain things, these exercises uncovered ways of putting some of these donts to good use.

While planning a book on sock knitting, my mind was flooded with thoughts of various cast ons and bind offs, of multidirectional and multicolor knitting, of different styles of heels, soles and toes. Being limited to a dozen sock designs, my goal was to vary the styles and offer as many techniques as possible. There are knee-highs, ankle socks and everything in between, and of course youll find various heel turnings and toe shapings. One sock even has a leg worked in a different direction from the foot! If youre a knitter who follows patterns word-by-word, youll find specific instructions and plenty of variety, with a sock style for everyone on your list. If you like to pick up features to mix and match with others, I hope you learn a few new tricks and techniques to add to your collection.

Enjoy the adventure, keep good notes and share what you learn!