I love this part
Published On: May 12, 2016

So as I mentioned, Curls 2 is off at the printer (yay) and will be out this summer (double yay).  And that means it’s totally time for me to diving in to the next book.  One of the first steps is always getting yarn.  I flashed some of the other pretty yarns for the new one a few days ago, but the mail fairy has brought me more in the meantime!

DSC_6123That’s Mrs. Crosby Hat Box in Roasted Chestnut.

DSC_6127And that’s Lorna’s Laces Solemate in Manzanita.

Both awfully yummy, and a good illustration of something I’m considering for this book.  The Solemate is your classic skinny minny sock yarn, you’ll generally want something like 8.5 or even 9 stitches per inch with it to give you nice sturdy sock fabric.  The Hat Box is more of a sport weight, you’ll want something more like 7 or 7.5 stitches to get a good fabric with it.

There’s a lot of yarn like this these daysyarn with a good fiber mix and a good construction for socks, but a little bit thicker than classic sock weight.  I love them and they’re totally what I reach for when I want to make socks, and I don’t think I’m alone in that.  But then again, I know plenty of people who love a good skinny sock yarn and will reach for it every time.

So for this next book, I’m considering offering sizing information that says something like ‘If you’re using a fingering-weight yarn and getting a gauge of 8.5spi, the sock will fit a foot or leg of w [x, y, z] inches.  If you’re using a sport or dk-weight and getting a gauge of 7spi, the sock will fit a foot or leg of a [b, c, d] inches.’  Of course I’d tell you which the sock in the pictures was knit in (and I’d explain in the intro what was going on with the sizing and emphasize that you need to match your gauge to your yarn).  But I really think a lot of folks don’t realize they can adjust the size by adjusting their yarn and therefore their gauge, and this could be a good reminder.

So what do you think?  Helpful? Overkill?  I do it with a lot of my individual patterns and get good feedback, so I suspect it could work, but I’ve not done it in a book yet.  But it’s not that much extra work to include it, and if it will help folks, I think it could be nifty.

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