There are over a dozen free events on our calendar this week. Let us know about yours at craftyliving@jg.net.Carol Sulcoski's introduction to Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn lays it all out there.
Handpainted yarns are unique and special, but can also be frustrating when they don't behave as the knitter wants. When the colors in a sock form a zig-zag pattern, it's called pooling or flashing, and it really REALLY bothers some knitters.
Carol's advice: If you know pooling bothers you, you can avoid it.
1) Use yarns with shorter segments of color.
2) Or, use yarns with super-long segments of color. Striping yarns will be able to last at least one full repeat of your sock, making pooling impossible.
3) When using yarns that are neither of these, just be careful. I'm not going to give it away here, but Carol offers 5 different ways of handling this situation, three of which I've never heard before.
Over 20 sock patterns are then given, from designers ranging from Ann Budd to Nancy Bush. Sizes given aren't always wide in range, but the socks are beautiful and would be very fun to knit.
Overall, a hard book to pass up, especially after watching the cute video Interweave made for it.
I looked at the paperback, but an ebook is also available.
