Break out your knitting needles as you won’t be able to resist the fantastic sock patterns in Toe-Up Socks for Every Body by Wendy D. Johnson of Wendy Knits fame. The 21 patterns in the book cover everything for sock knitting including the basics from cast-on, toe, heel, and bind-off options. You’ll also learn how to knit up your own socks with intricate lace, cables, and beautiful colorwork. Plus these projects in the book perfectly portable for your daily commute or an afternoon on the beach. And can I say these patterns are super stylish? I now understand how sock knitting is so addictive since they are quick projects that you can take virtually anywhere. Knit up socks for all your family and friends this season because the patterns in this book span from child to adult!
Tiptoe Through the Tulips Socks and Sneaky Argyle Socks
Check out more projects from the book, the free pattern, and enter the giveaway after the jump!
Fair Isle Socks and Critter Socks
Sanquhar Socks and Bob and Weave Socks
Bouquet Socks
As a special treat, we’ve got a pattern excerpt from the book! Knit up a pair of these beautiful bouquet socks featuring a lace pattern. Charts of the pattern are also included.
Download the Pattern PDF
(Right click to save the PDF to your desktop. See directions.)
Book Giveaway Time!
Three lucky CRAFT readers will each receive a copy of the book, Toe Up Socks for Every Body. Just tell us why you would like this book in the comments. All comments will be closed by Noon PST on Friday, April 23, 2010. The lucky winners will be announced later on the site. Good luck!
224 thoughts on “Book Review + Giveaway + Pattern: Toe Up Socks for Every Body”
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I’ve recently started knitting socks and would love to take my skills to the next level! This book looks lovely!
I’d like this book because, just like you can’t have too many pairs of handknit socks, you can’t have too many sock books. Each one reveals even more deliciousness about knitting socks.
I volunteer at the YMCA in my area and teach a knitting class!
Socks are the one thing I haven’t mastered yet, it would be great to learn and to share my new techniques with my class and friends!
Thanks!
M
There is no such thing as too many sock patterns!
I’ve been needing some inspiration to really get in sock knitting. This book could be it!
I’ve only ever finished one sock. Not one pair, one sock. I need the help and motivation to actually finish a pair! This books looks beautiful and would encourage me to go for it again!
I am *completely* addicted to knitting socks.
I love hand-knit socks!!! Nothing compares to them! Unfortunately my family agrees and they’ll accept nothing else… hence my need for this book.
Thanks!
I would love to get to knit myself some new house socks, I don’t wear shoes in my house but my feet are always cold. It would be nice to have a variety of patterns, I don’t know why but I really love socks and yet have no books that have knitting patterns for socks.
I’ve always been intimidated by turning the heel on socks, and would love a book that “baby steps” me through through the process.
I’ve already made plenty of scarves for my friends and family up in Wisconsin. I’d love to be able to treat them to some cozy socks.
Oooooh I have socks like those in my Ravelry queue! I would dearly love to win a copy of that book! The socks are amazing and I need to expand my repertoire!
I have a few skeins of sock yarn that I’m dying to knit with. Would love some new patterns to try out :)
I like socks!
I’d love this book as a first in a collection of sock books I plan to start– am taking my first sock class soon and can’t wait to have a great sock book like this to work from so I can give socks as gifts to my loved ones.
I like socks!
I like socks!
I don’t know why I have a fear of sock knitting…i have tried tackling complex sweaters, intarsia, etc…but socks scare me. Perhaps this book would alleviate the phobia.
I’ve had this book on my Amazon wish list since I first read about it. I am DROOLING over the argyles, TINGLY over the Tulips, and Bob and Weave makes my pulse quicken. YAY KNITTING BOOKS!
I like socks!
Two words:
Wendy
(and)
Argyle
*swoon!*
Seriously, I’ve had this on my wish list for a while. Cannot wait to get my hands on a copy! Come on, CRAFT, help a sister out…
I am making all my Christmas gifts this year (as my husband has been laid off from work) and would love some new patterns. My father and stepmother have requested socks, something I have never made before. i think the book would be a great resource for me. I hope I win!
Wendy has such beautiful socks. I am currently engaging in a “one pair of socks a month for a year” challenge for myself, and this will definitely be an awesome way to finish off the year! Thanks for another great giveaway!
I love socks! There are so many fun color choices and styles. I would have so much fun with this book!
Id like this book because I’ve always loved a good pair of socks, even before I knew how to knit. I think theres something nice about, in a world full of assembly line plain white socks, taking the time to create your own, even though you know very well that they will inevitably wear out. Its the kind of knitting thats not just about the finished product (which we love too!) but also just for the love of the craft.
Besides even if I’m wearing pants and cant even see my socks, it still makes me smile to know they’re there :)
I have never knitted socks before and would love to get my hands on this book. My father and stepmother have requested I make them some socks, so the book would be perfect. I hope I win!
I love knitting toe up socks and it is wonderful to see a book that is dedicated to them. Plus the patterns are gorgeous! I would love to make the argyle and the tulip socks.
I like socks!
This looks like such a wonderful book! I promise to give it a good home!
because I’m a crazy top-down sock knitter who secretly wants to go toe-up but i’m a-scared. :)
I like socks!
because i’m a crazy top-down knitter who secretly wants to go toe-up but i’m a-scared. :)
This looks like so much fun. I still haven’t tried it. Maybe this book is a jump starter to a new collection of socks!
I love knitting socks for gifts for my loved ones, young and old! This book would make a great addition to my collection of knitting books, and a first sock book for my collection :)
socks… yum! all my toe-ups so far have been failures, but I’m willing to try again with a good book.
Having recently learned to toe-up i am now addicted and need more ideas . Please send me a copy of your book today and save me from a boring sock drawer!
I’d love to have a few more toe-up sock patterns to try out. I’ve finally gotten the hang of basic toe-up socks and I’d love to branch out.
I’d love this book because a good argyle sock pattern is hard to find!
Knitting socks are so satisfiying. Small projects with so many design oportunities (like in this book!) Socks are the perfect little treats for the feet and those who receive them!
I’ve only tried to knit a pair o’ socks once and I gave up. I think it’s time to try again. Those argyle socks in particular seem worth a try!
I’d like this book! I started toe-up socks once but didn’t finish them. I finally took them apart and this book would spur me to try them again (which I’ve been wanting to do). Toe up just make so much sense to me, as when I get close to running out of yarn, I can just finish them off!
As a new mom and knitter, socks are one of the few projects I can pick up and get going on quickly enough to make actual progress! I’d love a copy of this book.
oh, how i love knitting socks. they are the one and only thing i’ve actually knitted for myself. the projects for my kidlets always seem to take priority! i’d love this book as i’ve never tried toe up socks and have been wanting to learn! ♥ absolutely lovely!
I prefer knitting socks from the toe up so this book would be perfect for me!
I prefer knitting socks from the toe up so this book would be perfect for me!
My husband has been blessed with size 15 feet so about three quarters of his socks have been knit by me because practically no one sells size 15’s. I’ve always knit my socks toe up and I think this book would be great for new patterns to try out on my husband. It’d be awesome to get out of the ribbing rut and work on using up instead of always adding to my yarn stash! :$
I’ve recently learned how to knit, and I would really love to learn how to knit socks. I think having a book would make me less afraid of trying them. My fiance really loves socks and I would like to be able to knit him a pair.
After 12 years of being an interior designer it was time to develop a hobby after being laid off. Turns out I love knitting! No matter what project I am working on I always have a pair of socks on the needles. Knitting allows me to still feel like a designer because I explore the yarn properties and modify or create my own designs. I would be thankful for the book but if it’s not meant to be I’ll still use the wonderful resources of Wendy’s blog and the local library. Thanks.
Every time I have been at the craft store lately I have stopped to look at this book. I have not yet tried sock knitting, but I have been meaning to. I would love for this book to be the one that gets me started.
The argyle socks look awesome. I’ve only knit toe-up socks once, semi-successfully. Would love to have some guidance for another go!
I usually do top-down socks. When my friend tried to teach me toe-up socks my brain melted trying to figure out the heel. I’d really hope this could tell me what I need to be able to do toe-up socks.
Socks and sweaters are just about the only things I haven’t tried yet. I’m excited to get started on a great pair of socks, and these definitely look amazing.
Because I am scared of socks and I heard Wendy makes knitting socks less scary!
I just finished my first pair of socks and I can see how addictive they are!
Because I’ve never knitted socks before, and I’d love to learn!
I like knitting socks, but have a lot of trouble with toe-up. I would love to make the argyle pair.
I’d love this book! I fell in love with toe up socks via her first book and would love to expand my skills with color work and more advanced techniques!
maybe toe up would do the trick? I’d love to learn it.
Thanks for the pattern!
I’ve made one pair of socks for a baby that outgrew them before I finished! I’d would love to learn toe-up techniques and become a sock knitting addict. Wendy’s patterns look so fun.
I made one pair of socks successfully and the baby outgrew them before I was finished. Wendy’s patterns are beautiful and I’d love to have this book and be inspired to become a sock knitting addict.
I would love to learn how to make these beautiful socks!
This book would be awesome to own! All the socks shown here are so stylish and fancy. I’ve been knitting for a few years now and learn new stitches and patterns every December that I visit my grandparents in Oregon. It would be great to have a teacher (this book) close by to help me learn new things and bring socks with me this holiday to surprise my Grandma with my progress. Also, it’s great that these projects are easily commutable to carry around. I would be able to throw the book and supplies in my bag for class and work on knitting socks between my courses (sometimes an hour and a half time slot). My fiance and I are also having a traditional Scottish wedding in a year and it would be amazing if I could add to our DIY budget by knitting the boys socks for their kilts. Thanks for the opportunity :)!
My family ranges from 2 year-old twin grandsons to my 57 year-old husband. Imagine a book with socks for all of them in one place. Also, I read magazine from back to front and the endings of books first; so why not knit socks from the toe up.
Love Wendy’s patterns, & making a sock toe up is my top knitting priority to learn this year!
I’m new to socks and would appreciate all the help I could get and if I happen to gain a super cute pair of socks out of it, then I’m all for it!
Wow! I’d like this book because I’m currently knitting my first pair of toe-up socks and finding it quite difficult, cuff-down being more natural for me. I’d love to get deeper into this technique!
Entering in for Kittenwithawiplash
With all those lovely patterns, who wouldn’t want this book? I plan to knit some socks for family members and this book will be very useful.
Mostly because if you are, hypothetically, a spinner — and therefore have an extremely finite quantity of yarn — they are darn useful for making sure you can complete both socks.
And I think I’ve only got one or two toe-up patterns in my library, which saddens me.
QED
Have made several topdown socks but would love to start making some toe up ones!
I hate to sound gushy, but this sounds like a solution to my recent question of what I can do (on some scale) to help others. Knit socks for cold feet!
I have been trying to decide which sock pattern I wanted to try next… maybe this book will do the trick! Judy
I’ve been looking for a good book on toe up socks
I would love to win this book because, well, I don’t have a sock book and would like one. But also because I follow Wendy’s blog and really enjoy her patterns and the ones pictured here look great. i’d alos like to try some toe up socks – I like the concept but currently knit top down.
I would love to have this book. I have knit many pairs of socks all from the cuff down. I knit 1 pair of toe-up and they aren’t that cute. maybe I just had bad directions…
I need this book so I can knit up all the sock yarn I’ve accumulated lately.
I’ll admit, I’m a die-hard sock knitter. Toe-up, cuff-down, converting socks to go in the other direction, inventing new heel flaps, you name it, I’ll try it. I even teach sock knitting classes at the local yarn shop. So why do I need a sock book, you may ask?
Because I don’t have one! My sock development has mostly been thanks to the magnanimity of publishers of online patterns (thank you, Knitty!), but books have their own appeal. Extra tips, extra dialogue, and pages of pretty illustrations.
Besides, if I win this book, when I go to teach my sock knitting class, I’ll show the book off, telling everyone that it fell into my hands thanks to the all-powerful and lovely CraftZine. Promise.
I’d love this book because Wendy is a genius and if I don’t knit those Sanquhar Socks, they will taunt me and appear in my dreams, and consume every thought of every waking minute. Golly, they’re pretty!
of ever growing sock knitting books. I adore Wendy’s first toe up book, I think it needs it’s sister.
My mom has been aching to learn how to knit toe up socks. She is a sock master already but the toe-up technique has alluded her. I would love to be able to share this book with her.
I would love to win this book! I’ve made only three different sock patterns (five pairs total), but I’m already hooked and am always on the lookout for new patterns to try. Thank you for the giveaway! :-)
I have to get my hands on this book. I love to make socks and would like to try making them from the toe up. The patterns are beautiful and I MUST GET THIS BOOK.
I have her other toe-up book and I love it! I also have 3 kids and I would love to knit them socks too.
I love the way Ms Windy explains things in her books. I would love to see how she goes about fair isle for socks and argyle.
As a mom to four kids ages 5-16 and one husband I need sock patterns that I can make for the whole family! This book would be a welcome addition to my library!
This year I have the ambition to do as much as possible myself, with my own hands. I have made butter, cheese, bread, I start growing vegetables in the backyard, I have sewn my first pair of trousers and now try to make a cocktail dress.
With knitting I got stuck with a simple scarf and a cap. But I want to knit more challenging things – so toe-up socks would be the perfect next knitting thing. And it’s always more fun with someone cool to teach you, like Wendy D. Johnson. The socks look lovely and “must-have”-like.
My fingers are crossed.
I’m learning to do socks. Perfect timing!
To date, I’ve knit only plain stockinette socks (with a bit of ribbing at the top). I’m ready to branch out–and this book looks like a great place to start!
I really want to make some toe up socks, but I need to learn a bind off method that leaves a little give.
I want this book!
toe-up is the best (least-wasteful) sock construction there is– I’m so delighted that a whole book is devoted to this!
and i’m just itching to make those bob & weave socks.
This spring I had the opportunity to go see my mother and her new husband. I was a little nervous about visiting and brought my knitting (shawl) and some yarn to try socks. When I arrived- low and behold my mother was waiting at the train station with her knitting- trying to learn to knit socks on two needles. The conversation flowed easily from there and over the weekend knitting together restored the bond we had been neglecting. We giggle over my first attempts, reminisced about patterns she had tried for us kids, discussed changes we had noticed in the craft/patterns/yarns over the years and compared notes and frustrations on our socks. We even both signed up to Ravelry! We are planning a knitting trip together this summer and this book would give us a perfect plan for our adventure, knitting each pattern as we move down the coast.
I love knitting socks as it is one thing I can knit for everyone in my family. The book looks great!
I’d love to win this book. As a new mum of twins, socks are about the most in-depth project I can forsee for a long time, but you can still experience bits of complexity, like cables and whatnot.
Perfection!
Because socks are one of my primary addictions: SOCKS, jackets, and Fringe! Please and thank you.
And Maryland Sheep & Wool is in a week! Obviously this book is needed to help with the inevitable overflow.
Well, that and the socks are beautiful.
I’ve been knitting for about a year now, and haven’t had the chance to knit up a pair of socks yet! This book would be perfect for teaching me how!
I’ve been knitting for about a year now, and haven’t had the chance to knit up a pair of socks yet! This book would be perfect for teaching me how!
I have looked at this book in the store–and really want to learn to knit socks this way! and her instructions are very good and easy to follow–so I would love to win this book! plus many of the patterns are so lovely…
the patterns in the pictures look great!
I love knitting anything and I am wanting to start socks toe-up! I need this book and want to knit everything in it!!
I am Knitting monsters now and will try to make socks to match my monsters…
Love this site so much and I never miss reading it everyday LOVE it!!!!!!
I love knitting socks and recently learned the toe-up method. I really want to win this book because I only have one book dedicated to sock knitting and have been in a bit of a sock knitting rut. Toe-up Socks for Every Body can provide some new inspiration.
I’ve made a pair of socks that look great, but the gauge is so loose they’re painful to stand in! I would love this book & learn to knit them right!
I make all my socks toe-up, and I would love the patterns in this book!
I am dying to learn toe up. Thanks for the chance!
I would love to have this book because I recently bought a shelf full of yarn for socks. My daughter & her BFF want some, my sister wants some, my BFF wants some, and I do too!
The book would be wonderful to have, so that all of the socks were not the same pattern!
thanks~
I’d love to win this book because I promised my husband I’d make him socks for Christmas and well… it is now April. I haven’t started yet.
A few months ago I finished my first pair of socks. For many this feet happened years ago, but it took me a while. I enrolled in a sock-making class at my local yarn store after I made the promise, good or bad, that I would make a pair of socks for my husband. I picked out a beautiful wool/silk mix and got started. As my companions in the class proceeded with their dainty size 6 socks, I worked long and hard on his size 13 glodhoppers, knit on size 0 circulars done one at a time. Many months and stitches later, I finished the pair. I am proud to say they looked fabulous, even if they were a very basic sock in self-striping yarn. But I still get a smile whenever I see him wear them. So to make a long story short, I am excited and up for the challenge of making him another pair, using a fun new design.
I’ve been knitting socks for years now but I’ve never tried the toe-up method. This book would be a great introduction to the technique.
I am still working on my first sock (that’s right, the first foot of the first pair), but soon after I started it, I knew I was in love with it! I can’t wait to finish the first pair, and I want to learn other ways to do it – I’m knitting from cuffs down, so a book about toe up socks is what I need next! Also, the patterns are so beautiful I just have to have this book. Besides, there are no sock yarns here in Brazil, so I could use a little incentive, am I right? ;-)
I would like this book, because I have never knit socks from the toe up. I’ve knit several from the leg to toe, so this would be a new experience for me.
I’d like to get more into toe-up socks.
Putting in my comment for the draw!
Z