Wednesday, April 13, 2011

I Don't Understand It: a rant

I'm sure any knitters have heard of Cookie A. She has designed countless pairs of socks over the passed few years & is now the author of two books. I can not for the life of me understand the fascination people have with her patterns!!!! They're socks!!!!! Ordinary, cuff down, square-heeled, wedge-toed socks!!! There is absolutely nothing new here!!! She has not reinvented the wheel!!! She uses some lovely stitch patterns, but that's it!! The basic construction method is just that: basic! I love to knit socks. But I like to find something different. For example, I'm currently working on a pair of "Twisted" by Jodie Gordon Lucas ( http://www.knitty.com/twisted )Pretty basic to start but the decreases that wrap around the foot are definitely something new to see. Beautiful.
Lucy Neatby has a book titled "Warm Feet, Cool Socks". In it she gives various options for toe-up & cuff-down starts, heels & toes that you could knit probably 40 pairs without duplicating the various parts! Brilliant!! This is innovation, people!!
Nancy Bush has written countless books on socks & the history of various construction details. Not really innovative but interesting when one reads the historical info she gives. Fascinating. I knit the "Gentlemen's Socks with Fluted Pattern" from "Knitting Vintage Socks" for my favorite flautist several years ago and added a note to the card saying that the original of the pattern was published in 1883; he was impressed. This is something different! This is something to get excited about!
If someone can explain this idea that Cookie A. is the queen of socks to me, please feel free to comment. I don't get it.

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