And now for a brief foray into yarniness….

Sock Yarn Studio by Carol J. Sulcoski.

I’m a big fan of sock yarn: you can get just one skein and know you’ll be able to knit a pair of socks or mitts from it. It’s easy to carry around in progress, and ends up with something useful. But even if your yarn isn’t superwash or blended with nylon for durability, or in case you’ve tired of knitting socks, there’s still plenty to knit with sock yarn. Here is a whole book of non-sock patterns to knit with sock yarn, most modeled in hand-painted yarns. The patterns are from a variety of designers whose names were familiar to me, including Wendy D. Johnson, Veronik Avery, and Franklin Habit. There are patterns for scarves, cowls, gloves, little shawls, hats, sweaters for babies and children, and even a magnificent but intimidating full-sized patchwork blanket. My favorites included the Furbelow shawl, a simple triangle knit in a tonally variegated cashmere blend with ruffle in a contrasting mohair yarn; the sweet and simple Poppy Beret; the Alexander street hat, which alternates vertical stripes of solid and handpainted yarn; and the Habitude scarf, an argyle scarf done in lace to form the only manly lace scarf I’ve ever seen. Each pattern included beautiful photographs and charts when used, along with the instructions and notes. The book is separated into “one-skein” and “two-skein projects and so on, but I noticed that those numbers referred to the number of different kinds of yarn called for, rather than the total number of skeins. That was a bit confusing for me, but a small downside to a book that I really enjoyed and which was eagerly passed around my knitting group.