I don’t know if I could come up with another 25 wonderful patterns, but somehow Charlotte Stone has done it! And if you are a longtime follower on her Instagram, she also has regular sock clubs with exclusive patterns, too.
Now, you know me- I’m not the world’s biggest sock knitter, not by a long shot. But I still love Joyful Colorwork Socks, because I think these designs are really clever, and open to a lot of interpretation. I might not want to knit an entirely stranded sock, but it would be easy, with these really clear charts and instructions, to take one repeat or two and have them at the cuff or toe, like she has in other designs in the book.
Top row, left to right: Bonfire Night, Fintastic Fish, Retro Gamer Socks.
Bottom row, left to right:Purr-fect Socks, Pizza Night Socks, Whoops a Daisy Socks.
I bet all of these charts would also be brilliant as mittens, or maybe a sweater yoke- think how fun the pizza mittens could be! Or fingerless cat mitts! Bonfire night as a cuff detail or around the hem of a sweater!
All the designs are charted in full colour, with detailed instructions to guide knitters through the colorwork process. Each pattern also has a sizing listed at the beginning that spells out the foot circumference, so once you measure your foot, you’re good to get perfect fitting socks! Stone’s encouraging expert instruction makes stranded colorwork and sock construction accessible, enabling us knitters to expand our skills and fun sock collections.
I especially love how some are bright (some would say, knock-your-socks-off! ha, dad jokes) and some are a more subtle palette, which makes these seem really open to a wide variety of interpretation. Even the skull socks, done in a speckle and black yarn- think how fun they would be if instead of the black yarn, it was a minty blue or a pink?
The other thing that I especially love about these designs is that there’s a lot of unisex designs- I could see especially the pizza Night Socks and the ghost socks being a big hit with men. If you have been wanting to knit socks for the men or teenage boys in your life, there are lots of great designs to choose from in this collection.
These are the ones I’m itching to cast on first- I have a light purple and a speckle that I think would be so pretty in this design!
There’s a lot of sock designs that had me diving through my sock yarn stash- great ideas for using up partial skeins and leftovers! I can see that these would work well with solids, some striping yarns, and speckles. There is also a blank chart at the beginning, in case you are feeling inspired to maybe chart out your own colorwork sock design.
I’m really pleased to have both of Charlotte Stone’s colorwork books- they are really inspiring, very accessible, and make me happy just flipping through them. If someone is looking for a gift idea for the holidays for a knitter in their life, this book would be a great choice. Or you could get both, and really sock-it to them! Ah, sock jokes.
