Socks Books

A wonderful satricial sci-fi comedy that moves you along a clever but strange plot line. The author isn't afraid to poke fun at his protagonist, the world we live in, and even himself.

I would definitely recommend this book as a quick, easy, and amusing read. I literally laughed out loud at several points throughout the novel.

Scott Janus has written a funny, witty, and entertaining sci-fi novel in Trick Lever Hens. I have not yet finished the book, but I am enjoying it sufficiently to want to post this review. An update will be added when I do finish.

The novel offers obvious tongue-in-cheek pokes at hi-tech gadgets, gizmos, and corporations. While satirical, Trick Lever Hens is not mean-spirited. Anyone who has worked for corporations or know someone who does will be able to identify with Harrold, the likeable, though at times unlucky, hero.

Though I can't help but compare the novel to Douglas Adams' Universe series, Janus is proving his own individual voice in TLH. I think the book will appeal to those who look for light-hearted, entertaining reads and for those who are humorous sci-fi buffs. I might have given a 4.5 stars if that were possible because there are some editing typos. But they are not enough to warrant losing 1 star.

Anyone that's ever had a bad day at the office should read this book. After reading the hilarous encounters the main character Harrold has with everything from weapon welding gardening robots to an outbreak of self-replicating lemon-cheesecake-flavored frozen yogurt, that trivial tiff with your co-worker just won't seem so bad.

This is the best sci-fi comedy I've read in a long while - didn't want to put the book down. Witty asides about technology gone wild and a character who's actions are partially driven by the desire to "make chicks dig him" certainly makes for a good read.

Definitely check this one out!

I really enjoyed the author's humour and writing style. The story was very entertaining and parts of it made me laugh out loud; it was a lot of fun to read and I highly recommend it. Very creative!

This book is adorable and enjoyable. The mystery of missing socks is finally solved! The characters come to life and the illustrations are outstanding. I had a wonderful time reading about Annie Nell and her friends in this book and would recommend it to anyone.

I loved this book!

If you or your child has ever wondered what happens to the socks that seem to disappear with no trace, this book will be of interest to you. You will love the story and the characters will draw you into their special world.

This book would make a perfect gift for children and parents alike. When I read it I didn't want it to end! I hope we hear more from this gifted author and also Annie Nell, Bip, and Angus!!!

This is a must read!

Jena Reeves

This book is so cute!!! Everyone old and young should read this book. It helps to describe what happens to those missing socks instead of getting frustrated over the unmatched pairs we still have in our drawers.

This book is great for parents to read to their children and laugh together!!!!!!

The author is clever and brilliant in delivering a cute message that almost is convincing!

Robin Kirby-Gatto

I love all the Klutz books. This one is great because my 2nd graders like it as well as my 3 year old. They all just love making different scenes and figures with the foam shapes. There are lots of different shapes, some that you don't normally see in foam shape varieties. You can order more from Klutz too! You can even add googly eyes and draw extra things with a pen. The possibilities are endless! Using a glue stick is great because it isn't all that messy. Overall, a great product!

Grandaughter made some super pictures with these shapes. Easy to follow directions. Great book.

This book is great! It comes with a packet of zillions (over 200, it says) of precut foam pieces in a wide variety of colors and shapes, and a glue stick. The book has very little text, so it's fine for pre-readers. It's all colorful illustrations of different pictures a kid can make with the foam cutouts, sparking their imagination and showing them how to do it. Some of the illustrations are numbered steps showing how to make a particular picture, such as a simple car or a face. Most show a completed critter, vehicle, or whatever, but the illustrations are so clear that you can see what shapes were used to make each item.

On the child development front, it develops art intelligence - the ability to see how to portray a 3-dimensional object with a 2-dimensional picture; spatial reasoning (like Legos or jigsaw puzzles - how do parts fit together?); fine motor skills manipulating the small pieces; and the usual benefits of preschool crafts - the kid learns to use standard tools such as glue stick and paper. What I especially like, though, is that a preschooler can learn from it that books can teach us how to do something. He (she) can figure out for himself (herself) how to do something by looking at the illustrations even if (s)he's too young to read. If (s)he asks you how to make a lion, tell him (her) to go look it up in the book!

The age range is 4 and up, per the publisher. Amazon.com says 4-8. That looks right. The small pieces are a choking hazard for children under 3. A kid needs the intelligence and finger skills of a 4-year-old to fully enjoy this book, counting skills to follow numbered steps. Somewhat older kids would enjoy it, too, as long as they're at an age where they still enjoy this sort of arts and crafts - elementary school age - and don't mind a preschool book. I bought it for a Christmas gift for a 4 yr. old. Waiting for Christmas ....

This is a wonderful book if you've become fascinated with knitting socks. Priscilla covers the traditional, knit from the toes up socks of Central Asia. She also covers spinning your own yarn, East/West hybrids, and working sample socks to learn the techniques.

The book is well written, well laid out and the socks are fabulous! It covers some of the same territory as Fancy Feet and Anatolian Socks, but I'd recommend this book if you could only have one!

Aspiring and experienced Eastern sock fanatics! This is your book! Full color photos and charts and sketches of how to knit Eastern socks. Shows many historical beauties in enough detail to copy. Here are my thoughts on knitting these socks. They are dreamy and historically compelling--but the foot of yesterday's Eastern women is shaped totally different than my foot. I need Western socks with western shaping. Would I ever knit a pair of these socks? Why sure--when I die and go to knitting heaven and get 20/20 vision and magic knitting needles that lead my hands to create these art socks. Do I reccomend this book? Of course. I've spent many wonderful afternoons in the hammock with this book, dreaming which ones I'll knit. I usually pick the Eastern Anatolian stockings as I think the lovely russet shadings will look great on my feet as I hop from cloud to cloud. Now--down to earth ! The best part of this book is there are directions for minature samplers of the major sock styles in this book. You could knit these as a collection and display them as an art grouping--or sew them into quilt squares for a stunning wall hanging. I think it's a very pratical application if you desire to try your hand at knitting these intricate designs successfully. This is a beautifully well thought out book and has given me many hours of pleaure reading and viewing these socks and the directions for making them. :)Miz Socks Cox

I'd recommend this book to anyone who's been knitting for a while and wants to learn new techniques - NOT "just" sock knitters. It's certainly not a "how to knit" book, but it covers subjects that could improve any knitter's technique.

The subject of the book is the Art of sock knitting, as practised in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The Art section of the book is well researched and well presented. The pictures make it fun to read.

The focus of the book is on the Craft by which these works of art are created. This book includes a compendium of cast on techniques, analysis of knitting styles, detailed instruction on how to spin yarn which will wear well and maintain its shape, and great information on designing, especially with multiple colors.

The section on knitting intarsia (multiple colored pictures) IN THE ROUND is worth the cost of the book by itself. There are multiple options for shaping toes and heels, and for solving typical sock knitting and fitting problems as well.

Love this book. The art is captivating. Kraus combines her artist touch with great design and has come up with a winner. Anyone who has ever had a sock monkey will be interested in this work of art!!

B.K Connelly's book has it all! Loaded with history and beautiful imagery, "Everything's Coming Up Sock Monkeys" is a joyful tribute to the American Sock Monkey. This book is a must have not just for Sock Monkey aficionados but also for anyone who is young at heart.

160 pages of "cool" illustrations are the focus of Bonnie Kraus Connelly's coffee-table book Everything's Coming Up Sock Monkeys: Art, History and Business of The American Sock Monkey. Without doubt these images convey why this truly American folk art toy with its never-ending smile is, as the front inside cover states, "not just about those lovable monkeys, but about the very things and attitudes that the sock monkey owners embrace."

Readers who are familiar with sock monkeys will immediately connect with the herd of these colorful and uniquely effervescent images that have been contributed by over 80 artists, photographers, collectors, museums and gallery exhibits, vintage and non typical monkey makers, published books, comics and craft magazines, and businesses of the American sock monkey. And this is what makes this book sing!

Organized into six sections, the book contains an amazing assortment of photos illustrating sock monkey characters that have been created over the past fifty years such as Zoë Architect's characters as Private Volunteer Taskmaster MacKinac, Bo Jockson, Three Monkeytees, Joe Monktana (with a football helmet) Malakahini, Manuel de Mauo, Amigo Murphy and Ming-Ling Manchu. Then there are the images taken from cartoonist and writer Tony Millionaire and his Collected Works of Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkeys Volumes Three and Four and The Adventures of Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey as well as images from various book covers as The Mystery of the Sock Monkeys and Sock Monkey Blues.

As noted in the book, there are many collectors of sock monkey socks who consider them to be part of pop culture artifacts. One such collector, William Swislow, Vice President of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art succinctly sums in up when he states "that sock monkeys are one of those folkish arts & crafts (like bottle-cap figures) in which regular Jill and Joes exercise their creativity using materials and instructions from commercial sources-in this case the either in the package or in crafts magazine such as the inimitable Pack-O-Fun."

To understand where the idea of sock monkeys originated, Connelly has provided an introduction that briefly gives us a history of the sock monkey that began with the invention of the parallel-row knitting machine developed in 1872-3 by Nelson and William Worth Burson. This machine could automatically close the heel and toe of a sock. As mentioned in the Timeline, Nelson's son William and his friend FR Brown purchased some unused machines from Nelson and they began manufacturing socks as the FR Brown Company. Eventually, Nelson Knitting Company was incorporated and they went on to absorb the assets of FR Brown.

In 1932 the company came up with the ideas of the "De-Tec-Tip" (the name given the distinctive red heel) to its socks. In 1951 Nelson Knitting learned that its socks were not only for wear but are also were being used to make monkey dolls and in 1955 they were awarded the design patent for the sock monkey doll. This led them to include the pattern for the doll in packages of Red Heel socks. Regrettably, Nelson Knitting received bad legal advice when they invented the tube sock in 1967, as it did not take out a design patent and within months its competitors began manufacturing this very popular sock. Nelson Knitting is no longer around as it filed for bankruptcy in 1985 and its Red Heel trademark was purchased by Fox River Mills which continues to make the Red Heels.

This book is certainly a "celebration of creativity" as mentioned to me in my interview with Connelly, and moreover its perfect union of picture and text pull the whole book together.

Incidentally, if you are wondering how to create a sock monkey, there is even included a page taken from the Nelson Knitting Company Original Sock Monkey Instructions that clearly explains how to go about producing your own sock monkey friend. And as the instructions mentions, "there are many variations from this basic pattern."


Norm Goldman, Editor Bookpleasures

This is such a wonderful story to share with all the young kids and old souls!!

Original, imaginative, entertaining, and instructive in a clever and inventive way. A delightful story with just the right amount of gleeful suspense.

This story moves easily from Filbert's "normal" world to a fantasy realm filled with toothless sock snakes who devour threatening dust-ball monsters and teach the young hero a valuable lesson: tidying one's room isn't nearly as hard as it may seem. What makes the tale especially intriguing is that we never know for sure if these events really happened, or if Filbert imagined them as he was cleaning his room. The illustrations add an amusing dimension to this whimsical adventure which young and old readers are sure to enjoy.

My niece LOVES this book! She's an animal lover and slept with it under her pillow for days.

We loved this book!! It was so funny when Goldy brought Dad's underwear to us! It was really nice when Goldy had her kittens. We recommend that any and all children read this book, as well as their parents.

Thanks to this author for giving me the opportunity to read this wonderful book to my children. It was warm and heartfelt and left us all with happy feelings. Would be great to have a series of books on Goldy.

I have taught many to knit, and many to knit socks. Most sockknitting books leave a lot to be desired. This one does not. If you want to use double-pointed needles, instructions are in here. If you want to try making socks with a single circular needle, (aka "magic loop") instructions are in here. Several nice designs are here for further sock adventures.
I do recommend that someone wanting to make socks learn to work in the round first, on a hat followed by a pair of mittens.

The thought of knitting a sock has always scared me, but finally I decided it was a mountain I had to climb. So I bought this book, sight unseen, & Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. Between the two of them, I knitted a sock!! A real sock. Me!! I wish I could say that I bought two books but could have managed with just one of them, but I about wore BOTH of them out going back & forth for clarity. Perhaps I am just dense, but if you are also afraid of trying a sock, it can't hurt to invest in both of them.

For some reason I am fascinated with knitting socks. This book provided me with the basics of how to knit socks and the techniques used for such an endeavor. The instructions are well-written and easy to follow. For me, this book has been a terrific "how-to" for sock-knitting.

I absolutely love this little book! Who doesn't have dozens of single socks lying around? Over the years, I've accumulated bags full of socks that have lost their pairs, and now I have an entire book of fun projects and simple--but practical!--uses for them!

One of my favorite uses is socks-turned-kneepads for my crawling baby! I also love the finger-knitting project! I never could have come up with even half of these clever ideas. What a fun, hilarious, and charming little book!! Everyone should own a copy - it makes a great gift!!

This is an adorable book! Not only is it delightful to read, but it's full of practical (and entertaining!) ways of using all those single socks left behind, abandoned by their twin! after a run through the washing machine! This is a great stocking stuffer and a wonderful gift for every househould!

I LOVE this book! I bought LOST SOCK for my daughter as a joke because she is constantly losing socks, resulting in a heap of single socks the size of Mt. Everest in her laundry room.

As I started to glance through it, I fell in love with it and grabbed an extra one for myself!

This little book is such a fun (and funny!) read and it is filled with such charming illustrations that I immediately loved it. After the first few pages, though, I realized that it is as helpful as it is humorous! I used one of the tips today when I attached a single sock to the end of a yard stick and used it to clean under my fridge!

This is a wonderful book - I recommend it to all!

My 3 year old daughter loved this book. Although tieing the knots to put together the tu tu were too difficult for her, an adult can do it quickly. When the costume is finished your child can pretend to be a ballerina or fairy or a princess! It comes with punch-out shoe covers, fairy wings, a magic wand, and an assortment of tiaras. All you need to supply is some string. Everything else you need to assemble the costume is included in the book with great embellishment ideas and pictures. It's a great "project in a book" that you don't have to search all around for the supplies.

Gave this as a gift last Christmas to a 5 year old girl. A year later, I'm still hearing about it! She loved making the tutu and the project was age-appropriate. She wore the tutu all around the house daily for weeks, and still puts it on a year later. The tutu was really cute with all the embellishments and she was very proud of her accomplishment -- anything a kid can maker herself is better than anything pre-made and store-bought! Her mom says it was one of the best gifts she ever got. This year, I'm getting her the "Paper Purses" book, also by Klutz Books.

I bought this book so that I could learn to make tutus for my daughter. She's into dressing up, and I just couldn't face having to buy so many dress up clothes and I have no real clothes to spare. This book explained it all, and provides some "bling" to add. Really it's just some decorative paper, but it's reversible and adds accents.

I just didn't like that it didn't come with MORE tulle, as I'm addicted to making the tutus!