the quacking fiber addict

I never said I hated it! Ever. I just don't recommend it for beginning or intermediate knitters or spinners. I think Vogel's expectations are a bit high - handspun yarn knit on size 4's! Sheesh, most spinners don't spin that fine. Also, she doesn't give explicit directions for how to adapt an hourglass heel or toe-socks. I used to recommend it to spinners/knitters, but they always have questions after reading it! Poor Emily could not figure out an hourglass heel. And, I don't even think Vogel covered heel alternatives - which I actually prefer, now. She also didn't cover mini circulars or the double circular method - I think Vogel is a bit stuck in her ways. Which is fine for her, but it doesn't expose readers to other alternatives that might work better for them.

I also read, on many of the spinning boards I subscribe to, that many spinners have had problems with her patterns. The heel, in particular. There're a lot of adaptations to her patterns online. I think the real problem is one that Interweave REALLY needs to address: they rush books to publishing. I don't think the book was edited well enough, and it can be reallyreally confusing. They ALWAYS have a list of OOPS! on their website or in their magazines. I notice multiple misspellings and grammatical problems in some of their other books as well.

For socks, I recommend Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. It covers infant sizes to adult men's in gauges 5 - 9. It's more adaptive, I think. But that's just me. I never said it was bad or that I hated it. I just don't recommend it for its diffuculty rating.

I dooo love the dyeing section in it. Lovely. I just think the knitting and spinning sections need to be rewritten before it can really be considered an all encompassing sock workbook. But that's my humble opinion.