Socks Books

I am an avid reader of indices -- the index to "The Meaning of Lost and Mismatched Socks" is truly one of the best I have ever found. (The book itself is a multilayered masterpiece.)

Rapturous. Incredible. Meaningful. Necessary. All children and adults should sway to the power of the missing sock. For yea, it is through missing socks that we may truly approach deeper thought about the multifarious mysteries of the Universe. Thank you, Thank you, good Doctor.

Harry S. Robins, who is also known as the voice of various scientists in Half-Life, and plays Dr. Kleiner himself in Half-Life 2, here expounds on a matter of pressing importance...especially pressing to socks pining for their mates.

For fans of Half-Life, as well as wearers of socks, purchase of this volume is mandatory!

I read this book at Border's while waiting for the 7th Harry Potter book to be released at midnight. My son (10 years old) and It thought it was really a great book. In the book, a little girl uses objects to "draw" her family. For instance....Poor Schmutz, her dog, is as "stinky as one onion" (pictured as his tail), "as nasty as canned fish" (his front paws), "as icky as pepperoni" (his snout), and smelly as a dirty sock (his ears). The final pages instruct kids how to "draw" their own family portrait using "things". I loved the book because it was so imaginative and funny, but also because it encourages kids to develop their own portraits at the end which should definitely stir their creative juices. This is a wonderful book for all ages.

Hanoch Piven's MY DOG IS AS SMELLY AS DIRTY SOCKS AND OTHER FUNNY FAMILY PORTRAITS tells of an artistic little girl who has problems trying to capture her family's fun emotions on paper. Her use of everyday objects to explore and express emotions makes for a fun, lively presentation using rich full-page visual images to reinforce playful text.

As part of my friends and family unit I read this book to my preschool children.They loved the colorful pictures and creative objects used to describe and illustrate family members. The children then created their own art projects to take home and share with their own families using precut colored paper, pastels, markers, painted clothes pins, and glue. I would recomend this book to all educators and parents of young children.

I purchased several Chicken Socks books for my kids to keep them entertained on a long road trip, and this was one of them. Both my kids loved all the books! The books provided many hours of fun. This one was my daughter's favorite.

These are so much fun to make--and just darling when complete. My just turned seven year old made them with grandma and they had fun! Might want to get get extra pipe cleaners:) Enjoy!

I bought kits for my twin girls, they are 4 and had a blast putting them together on their own, spent 2 hours making flower after flower! We now have really cute bouquets all around our home and in my office at work-which is a great conversation piece and a source of smiles for me when I'm away from home! Great rainy day project!

Zounds! Tony Millionaire doing a Children's Book?! He's is one of my favorite cartoonist. I've been a fan of his not-for-kids comic The Maakies (and Sock Monkey) for a while, but I really didn't expect this out of him. Well, I say he pulled it off. Tony Millionaire suprises me once again. I would so do him.

I thouroughly enjoyed the book, as did my 2 year old sister. She kept asking for "more Sock-a Monkey". Awesome.

I bought this book to read to my son because I'd heard of Tony Millionaire- he's a cartoonist in our local alternative weekly and does two strips- Sock Monkey and Maakies. But this is him entering the children's book market for the first time and it's very cool.

It has the feel of a Stuart Little-ish classic- like a min-chapter book with pen and ink drawings. You can read it over two or three bedtimes for best effect. The drawings are amazing- beautfiul, sweet, detailed- and Isaac loves to look at each picture as I turn the page.

The writing appears to Isaac to be just a wonderful children's book, but as a fan of Tony Millionaire's adult work, I can pick up on the cool, inside vibe that gives parents rewards and chuckles as you read. My favorite kind of book- I don't zone out when I'm reading it to him!

I love love love it. And there you have it.

You have to appreciate Tony Millionaire's sense of humor and story telling to really appreciate his books, but in any case, the artwork is astonishing. My daughter and I appreciated it from different perspectives.

I've read all of Mr. Millionaire's work, and recommend it to friends with precautionary statements depending on which ones they want - Maakies will double some people over with laughter and fill others with disgust, for example. The Sock Monkey tales hurt me in a subtle way the same way Velveteen Rabbit hurt me; I've had to go fish toys out of my neighbor's trash cans in the middle of the night because of it. "The Inches Incident" validates my belief in the subtle souls of certain toys, no matter what their condition. Captain Oyster says it best at the end - but I won't spoil it for you. More philosophy than that book with the Tin Man, and graphics that will hit you like a repeating brass nine pounder - go buy this one. Send it anonymously to that flustered looking hippie girl in the mail department. Give it to your Grandfather who was in the Navy to read to your kids. And keep a copy for yourself on your "inspiration" bookshelf. You won't be sorry.

After discovering Tony Millionaire by accident, I bought this book first, since it was available at a little retail comic store near where I lived. I've never read comics though. The drawing here is so interesting and detailed that you can delight in the artwork alone. But the scenes are bizarre and imaginative and manic in their pace. After combing through a few pages I decided it was safe to introduce to my 8 year old daughter, who happens to like slightly twisted stuff. Well, she LOVES this book. We had a great time reading through it together, laughing at the situations and marvelling at the world created in the drawing.

Something has gotten into poor adorable "inches", and she has cast her friends into the sea. Our story begins with Sock Monkey and Mr. Crow attempting their escape from a ship sailed by Oyster Joe. If the first few frames of this don't draw you in and crack you up, then just keep going. The scenes with "giant skunk", "live racoon", and "panda" had my girl in tears. Oyster Joe sailing a piano off to sea while playing and singing, (as if this were just another day at sea), is taken in stride, as are the fragments of dear "inches" that heroically remain at the end of the story. What!?

To me, this stuff is really special because it's weird and beautiful and still safe and funny for a little kid. I don't know whether Mr. Millionaire had kids in mind, but to me, this is (among other things) a kids book like no other! I love it too; this book is a home run!

This book is a fantastic find! This is NOT a coffee-table knitting book, full of beautiful but silly patterns. This one book has ideas and patterns for knitting almost any sort of sock you'd like: from beginner thick-wool simple socks to advanced extremely fine-weight wool lace socks. Entrelac socks are covered, as well as fleece-lined socks ala Robin Hansen, as well as double-knitted socks (reversible), "turkish socks" (from the cuff down), simple fair isle knee socks, etc.

As a spinner, I appreciated the info. given in each pattern for the type of wool used, as well as the wraps per inch and yardage. This is also an excellent way to use your commercial wool; I would highly recommend this book (at its very decent price) for knitters who never spin as well.

However, I must mention that most of the socks have written directions for a woman adult's sock. If you're already a sock knitter, or if you can follow the suggestions given for altering sizes (not difficult), this won't bother you a bit. Although this is a book of knitting patterns, it is also a perfect collection of inspiring ideas for "thinking knitters" and spinners, who like to create/adapt their own patterns.

I am certainly inpsired by this book, and hope to knit/spin my way through all the patterns.

There are a lot of things I really like about this book. It has a lot of basic patterns in it that a relative beginner could tackle, but it also has more challenging (and fancier) designs for the advanced knitter. Most of the designs were originally developed for handspun yarn, but commercial yarn substitutes just fine. One neat thing they have is a little diagram showing the thickness of yarn used in the original socks, so you can compare your yarn to be sure it's compatible. I've made a few pairs of socks out of this book and been very happy. One thing: on some of the patterns, there are no "counts" given for turning the heels. On "Basic Socks" for example, I had to use yarn markers to be sure the heel came out right. But other than that, this is a great sock book. A lot of the patterns are designed for worsted-weight yarn, so if you don't always like to work with narrow-narrow little sock yarn, this might be a book for you.

This book is an outgrowth of an issue of Spin-Off that featured hand-knit socks. Spin-Off is Interweave Press's magazine devoted to the art of handspinning fiber. The sock issue sold out and there was quite a lot of demand for a reprint. So the publishers kindly printed up the socks featured in the magazine and added notes for using commercial wools.

Some of the patterns are particularly useful and are ones you won't find elsewhere. For example, there is a pattern for exceptionally warm and comfy fleece-lined socks. There are also a lot of just plain gorgeous socks, plus advice on Kool-Aid(tm) dyeing, a technique that uses unsweetened drink mix to dye wool in all sorts of shades.

If you are a handspinner, this book will speak to you, but even if you are not ever going to try spinning or have access to hand-spun yarn, the sock patterns here are useful and imaginative.

If first impressions are any indication, I think I am going to LOVE this book!!!!!!!!! It's bigger than I expected for one thing, so the pictures of the various designs are much easier to see than in your typical knitting book...almost life-sized, in fact. Also, unlike the picture on the cover, the flip pages of the book are all depicted in one color yarn, so it gives you a good sense of what the end product will look like. Then at the end of the book there is a "gallery" of socks in different colors. Sprinkled throughout the book are "insider secrets" for knitting socks. All in all a most satisfactory choice for anyone who loves to knit socks, but wants to mix-and-match patterns.

This is a must have sock book! Each page in the book is divided into three parts - tops are cuffs, middles the leg, and feet (obvious). You can pick and choose like a puzzle (flip the different sections and see what it looks like) different tops etc for a different look each time throughout the whole sock. Watch out - it's addictive - I personally can't imagine me using any other sock book since this treasure came along! Buy it - you won't be sorry!

This is the book we've all been waiting for and you've got to ask why hasn't anyone thought of this before?! The book is designed for those of us that prefer visualization over the written word. You no longer have to imagine what a cuff, leg and heel, toe and foot look like as all you've got to do is flip through your preferences. Pick the cuff, the leg and the foot and there it is, all that is left to your imagination is the yarn and colors. The book does talk about the importance of swatching (yes, I'm guilty of neglecting this important step), thus allowing those of us with outrageous stashes to use whichever yarn we'd like. Must admit I do love Tofutsies but also am a handspinner so love handspun as well. The instructional diagrams are lovely as well giving one a choice of using DPNs or circs. There are also more than one cast ons as well as binding off. We all love choices and this is a wonderful book with multiple choices! Well done SWTC!

This is the best of all the sock knitting books released in 2008. In fact, of the socks books out there, this is rivaled only by the Sensational Knitted Socks books.

The gang at SWTC shows us both their creativity and their abiding respect for their customers by putting together a book that is fun to use, easy to read, and contains just the right amount of information without making you feel overwelmed with options.

The actual design of the book is outstanding. It is hard-bound, so it is study enough to hang out in your knitting bag. One part of the book is "flip" pages that allow you to mix-and-match cuffs, leg, and heel-toe combinations. The book comes with an elastic strap that can be used to mark you page, or to hold down the flip-pages. As an aging baby boomer, I appreciate that the size of the pictures and the text.

The book contains a nice variety of cuffs, and a great selection of heel-toe combinations. There are 20 leg/body patterns again with a variety of patterns and skill levels. There is something here for everyone.

The instructions included are sufficient, but I don't know if I would recommend this as your only book for sock knitting. This is more of an overview. I did love the discussion on needles, because there is a very simple, straight-forward and easy to understand comparison of double-points and circulars for sock knitting. I always wanted to try knitting socks on 2 circulars, and I finally have the information I need to do that. Yipee!

I highly recommend this book to all my sock knitting sisters (and brothers), even those who never thought they could design their own socks. Have fun!

THIS BOOK CHANGED MY LIFE!!!

Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish was her pick as the best of the books by Dr. Seuss.

One of the appeals of this book is that it is relatively easy to learn to read, yet has much more variety than most other early readers. So your child will feel like she or he has accomplished a lot with reading this book, which is correct.

The title gives the key to why this book works well as an early reader. One word is changed at a time, with a clear illustration next to it. Most children will read the illustrations like a rebus and later associate the words with the sounds of the name for the pictures. At some point, they begin reading from the words. Very nice!

Here's another sequence: "black fish blue fish old fish new fish."

Then, when he moves on, he uses simple rhymes: "This one has a little star. This one has a little car."

Next, he progresses to substituting "some" for "fish" and adding a single verb to make a sentence as in "Some are read . . . . Some are old."

So almost any child can soon begin to read along with few errors in the first 2 or 3 pages. Whenever the child can go no more, you can just keep going. With repetition, more of the book becomes memorized and the process continues.

There is another reward for you and your child: The book also previews many of the wonderful characters and rhyming schemes that appear in other Dr. Seuss books. As a result, it will be easier to get started reading those books. You will feel like you are seeing an old friend again.

You can also use each rhyme to take off on your own speculations. Our daughter used to love to come up with alternative rhymes that fit the pictures.

Books like this one make it great fun to be either a parent or a child. In some cases, this book will be there for you in both roles over 20 to 40 years!

Overcome your mistaken beliefs about how children can start to learn to read by seeing your child start naturally by associating the words with the pictures as you read this wonderful book to him or her!

Excellent book for children. I use it as a read aloud.

This is the third book in the series about two brothers and their amazing pet plants. I read it to my two boys (ages 6 and 8 at the time) who enjoyed the book just as much as the first two. Even I had to stop reading now and then to give myself a chance to stop laughing! Ms. McArthur does an excellent job of expanding the story to keep it interesting. Dr. Sparks the plant botanist who appeared in book 2 is back again in this installment, and suddenly there are a lot more than 2 plants involved in the story! But Stanley and Fluffy remain in the center spotlight (as I'm sure all the fans of the series would want) and continue to develop new abilities and personality traits.

I was Larry's Wilderness Park Ranger partner in the West Canada Lakes Wilderness Area in 1979. While I was busy filling out official DEC reports, Larry was writing notes for a book later on! He has written a fun, easy to read account of our duties there. Makes me wish I was back there!

This book is so good. It is really something that you can sit back and enjoy a relaxing, fun read. It is plain and simple and I loved every word. I laughed and had a little bit better day because of it. When you spend so many days stressed and running here and there, it is so great to take five and laugh and be happy , even if only for a short time, like until the pasta boils over....It is really worth the price and then some.