Book Review: "Knitting On The Road", By Nancy Bush

If you knit for people with feet, you have to get this book.

"Knitting on the Road" is full of sock patterns that are simple and easy to knit while travelling, one of the advantages being that they don't require much yarn, so you can easily pack it into your luggage or weekend bag. Nancy Bush has meticulously matched yarn, pattern and technique to create flawless socks. I'm going to knit a pair of the most basic style for my husband. I sometimes think that I've met my Waterloo in trying to knit for him.

I swear that he alone is responsible for global warming - he radiates heat like a furnace and refuses to wear wool, my favorite knitting medium. So I will try a pair of socks knit with a fine cotton and see if he will wear them. Meanwhile, I am not so fussy and neither are countless relatives and friends who would love socks as gifts, so I can try out all the patterns and knit something unique for everyone.

However, the simple patterns and flawless designs are not what have made this book a "must buy" for me. Seldom do I feel this way about a knitting book, simply because I could impoverish myself with my purchases if I gave myself free rein. Why has this book found a chink in my frugality armor?

Because not only do I feel I could knit each sock to perfection, thanks to Nancy's impeccable patterns, but her "extras" are worth their weight in gold. From her instructions for casting onto 2 needles instead of one (to avoid that inevitable tightness as you knit the first round), to her charts of conversions and yarn lists that make it super easy to substitute one yarn for another, to her clear photos and charts, to her incredibly readable and easily understood instructions for all those details that make your socks absolutely perfect (such as kitchener's stitch), to -- I love this most of all -- the fact that the book is ring-bound so it lies perfectly flat.

Hallelujah! someone finally designed a knitting book FOR KNITTERS. Hello world -- if I'm knitting, I can't hold my pattern book open, and putting my coffee cup on it usually leads to disaster, or at least to covering up some of the instructions so I can't read them.

And besides all that, Nancy's picture on the back of the book makes her look like someone I would love to sit and knit with.

Yes, I will buy "Knitting on the Road", and if you knit for people who have feet, you should too!

You can also find this book on my bookshelf at Powell's Bookstore.

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