Sock Innovation: Knitting Techniques & Patterns for One-of-a-Kind Socks

Take your sock knitting off the charts! Cookie A., pioneer of the unconventional sock - think traveling stitches, mirrored pairs, twists on the heel, cables and lace - shares her secrets for making rule-breaking socks in Sock Innovation. Even if you haven't been bitten by the sock bug, you will find fascinating technique information!

Sock Innovation aims to increase the skills of any sock knitter by exploring design and advanced stitch manipulation. Fueled by Cookie's unique approach, you'll be able to make modifications to suit your needs and aesthetics (and not just in sock patterns). Sock Innovation goes beyond the basic sock and explores complex stitchery, treating the sock as a knitted canvas where elements are strategically and intentionally placed.

Cookie guides you through the details of her design process, which include:

• Choosing a stitch pattern to adapting it to be worked in the round, turned upside-down and inside-out, widened or narrowed
• Stitch manipulations covered in detail including resizing, texture modification, and converting between flat and in-the-round
• Plus, clear and thorough inventive instructions, accompanied by photographs and illustrations, so you'll learn to invent your own socks with unique details

In addition to a thorough exploration of her own techniques, Cookie presents 15 original new designs with floral lace patterns, angular geometric shapes, and unusual cables. Inspired by women and men among her friends and family, these socks display an incredible range of style and complexity, from sweet and simple to delightfully imaginative.

"Cookie A's sock patterns have been so popular that I know expectations were very high for this book. Having spent some time with it, I can say that the book meets and exceeds every expectation I had. This is a brilliant and valuable book that every avid sock knitter will want to own.

It's also a steal. You'd need an entire weekend workshop—which would cost you at least $100—to absorb what she presents in the design and technique section. And you get 15 gorgeous patterns that would normally retail for $6 to $6.50 apiece—adding another $90 to the tab. Instead, you get Cookie's wisdom, guidance, and inspiration for a mere $22.95. And best of all, it's captured on physical pages that you can leaf through again and again as you journey along your sock knitting path."

 - Clara Parkes, Knitter's Review

• Sock Techniques - The basic pattern for a sock knitted from cuff to toe can be adapted in any number of ways for a truly original sock.
• Stitch Techniques - Master the basic techniques and learn to read charts to create a unique sock.
• Sock Design - Easily learn to create your own designs.

• Glynis - These are the perfect socks for trepid knitters interested in lace, because they are much simpler than they appear!
• Eunice - These short-cuffed socks have cables, lace, jogs and an interesting pattern to transition to the slipped-stitch heel.
• Sunshine - Bright and perfectly peachy, these socks are straightforward with simple vertical repeats.
• Devon - These playful socks have stitches divided asymmetrically for the heel and instep so that one repeat on one side is cut in half.
• Vilai - The stitch pattern for these socks was inspired by a Japanese book and named after Cookie???s mother.
• Angee - You will love to knit these crazy colorful pair of socks that feature an interesting textured pattern and a wonderfully funky bright orange.
• Wanida - The simple and elegant diamond pattern for these socks was tricky to design, but when knitting them it will seem like they just instantly fall into place.
• Sam - These socks start out daring and adventurous with a bit of traveling cables and texture, but then transition easily to a simple stockinette foot.
• Bex - These unique socks will keep you interested. The stitch pattern is staggered horizontally, and the top of the foot cuts into some cables that are converted to plain stitches.
• Cauchy - A famous mathematician Cauchy (koh-shee) known for the inequality principle, inspired these socks with a simple knit/purl combination to form lines that resemble those inequality signs.
• Rick - Mirrored for contour shaping, these socks evoke racing stripes by combining fun diagonal lines with twisted rib.
• Milo - Made up of smaller parts of simple knitting, these socks will easily impress with how complicated they look. The cable down the back echoes the larger cables throughout.
• Lindsay - The perfect comfy textured socks! Combining garter stitch with a stockinette wedge makes the stitch count vary from round to round and the vertical stripe is an interesting visual element.
• Kristi -Learn to cable without a cable needle will help you knit these quickly! These socks use a large twisted-stitch panel, which is staggered and mirrored within each sock across the pair.
• Kai-Mei - These socks combine various elements such as a ribbed cuff and a sweeping lace pattern that starts at the gusset stitch pick-up. Shifting the gusset decreases to one side of the lace panel causes it to angle across the top of the foot, demonstrating that the path taken need not be traditional.

Cookie is a knitting addict living in Northern California. She is particularly prone to sock yarn impulse purchasing and knitting, has a darling cat named after a mathematician, and is in search of the most whack haircut ever. She has designed socks for Knitty and the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin’ Sock Club as well as for her own pattern line, which debuted in 2007 and was an immediate hit. She has appeared as a guest demonstrating her sock-knitting techniques on Knitting Daily TV on PBS and Knitty Gritty on the DIY Network and has taught workshops around the country, including the knitting vacations and camps at Blue Moon Fiber Arts Camp Cockamamie, the Spindlicity Cruise to Alaska, and Sea Socks 2008. She sells her patterns at TNNA and Stitches, and they are distributed internationally.