I LOVE this book! Gorgeous photographs, and a wide range of traditional knitting techniques, primarily from Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

This is one of my favorite knitting books, with glorious photographs and techniques that cannot otherwise be found in a single source. Eastern socks differ from Western both in concept and in construction, usually knit from the toe up. These techniques can be used by knitters anywhere for other items, such as hats and gloves.

She opens with "Historical Roots", which covers a very brief, not always accurate, history of knitting. She follows it with knitting structure and basic technique, discussing Western and Eastern stitches, very helpful in understanding the structure of knitting. She also briefly discusses using straight, double pointed, and hooked needles. Next is how the conception of the sock differs in the West and East: Westerns socks generally conceived as having two sides and generally a center back "seam" and knit from the cuff down to the toe; Eastern socks, however, usually have a front and a back, sometimes with a line of pattern stitches going up the leg at each side, and usually knit from the toe up. And the last page concludes with the importance of socks and stockings in the regions she discusses, the use of sock knitting techniques in other items such as hats and gloves, a finally she discusses how and why knowing about these socks and stockings and their techniques should be important to knitters anywhere.

The second chapter, the visual centerpiece, features Alexis Xenakis' gorgeous color photographs of 26 socks and stockings from the Balkans to Afghanistan. Each sock fills the length of a page, shown front, back, and sometimes sideways, often with close-ups of interesting parts. They are absolutely breathtaking. Each is accompanied by a brief description of its origin, the techniques involved, and a color pattern chart.

The third and fourth chapters, on Construction Techniques and Design Techniques, teach a multitude of methods for casting-on, increasing, toe and heel shaping, and finishing. The author includes information on color-stranding, motif knitting/intarsia in the round (!!), traveling stitches, and other patterning techniques, and regional techniques like two-end knitting and Bosnian crochet. These chapters open the mind to new ways to knit and give knitters an expanded horizon of knitting possibilities.

Chapter Five, "Samplers", and Chapter Six, "East Meets West", first teach the techniques via sample socks, then adapt them to practical use for wear with modern Western shoes.

As a self-taught knitter, I find this book endlessly inspirational and informative. It was one of the first books i used to learn to knit. It teaches even the experienced reader a lot about the multiple possibilities in the basic structures of knitting. If you are concerned that there is a right and a wrong ways to knit, to make stitches, and for stitches to sit on the needle, this book will open your eyes and free your hands. If you are already an experimental knitter - a knitting anarchist as Anna Zilboorg calls it, or a knitting heretic as Annie Modesitt refers to it - this book will further you on your path of personal knitting. Like Zilboorg and Modesitt, Gibson-Roberts helps knitters to understand the structure of knitting so they can freely explore and invent with a set of needles in their hands. ( )