No other knitted garment has as many structural demands or endures as much wear and tear. The humble sock must defy gravity, suffer the confines of our shoes, and endure being trampled on all day long. All too often, the root cause of a sock's triumph or failure is the yarn itself. In The Knitter’s Book of Socks, Clara Parkes shows you how to knit socks from yarn up, following the sock yarn life cycle from its foundations to its final moments on a proud foot. By understanding a sock's basic needs—elasticity, strength, and moisture management—you’ll learn how to play with these tools like building blocks, confidently combining fiber, twist, ply, pattern, and clever stitch tricks to construct your perfect pair of socks.  To help put these principles into practice, The Knitter’s Book of Socks also offers 20 fresh, original patterns from today’s sock-design luminaries, including Cookie A, Cat Bordhi, Ann Budd, Nancy Bush, Anne Hanson, and Melissa Morgan-Oakes. The socks presented here run the gamut from simple knit-and-purl combinations suitable for beginners to innovative designs with lush colorwork, swirling cables, and delicate lace. Understanding the elements of yarn is the first step on every successful sock knitting journey. With this book as your guide, you’ll learn how to make any sock yarn shine and love every pair of socks you knit.

    From choosing the best pens and paper and knowing the different styles of lettering, to adding color to your finished pieces--this book covers it all. The book includes templates for labels, cards, handmade bunting, and word collages. It even includes a how to guide for posting your best work on social media. Each lesson builds on itself, unlocking endless opportunities inside the playful art of brush lettering. As a self-taught artist who left her day job to pursue a creative life, Peggy Dean is the ideal teacher for artists and non-artists alike.

    The author instructs in coil, slab, mold, and pinch techniques to produce pots, bowls, vases, tiles, and other decorative pieces. She also advises on acquiring basic tools, mixing and preparing clay, and using coloring agents. Newcomers to pottery crafting will especially appreciate her tips for making projects easier to accomplish, such as use of a hairdryer at regular intervals for drying out too-wet clay, and easy methods for keeping clay soft and pliable. Step-by-step color photos with detailed captions guide handcrafters through each project from start to finish. Many photos are of the cutaway type to show correct hand positions for controlling the clay, both inside and outside the form. Here's the book that takes the mystery out of handbuilding in clay, demonstrating each step in the pottery-making process. More than 400 color photos.

    You'll find patterns to keep your needles clicking whether you're lounging by the pool or taking a break at the beach:5 sleeveless tops4 short-sleeved tops4 lightweight long-sleeved tops6 summer-weight cardigans2 skirts, a sleep set, and a wearable bathing suit9 accessories ranging from a beach hat to a cotton wrap to a beach chairWhether you're new to knitting or a seasoned stitcher, you'll find fresh patterns and compelling designs to create gorgeous lightweight pieces that will make a splash on sunny days.

    Color photos accompany detailed step-by-step instructions for transforming the original square pattern into rectangles, triangles, and circles with eight wonderful designs. Featuring seven unique projects—including an afghan, a basket, a table runner, a hat, and a scarf—this creative manual illustrates how this perfect, two-round stitch offers versatility of color because of its unique, textured color overlap.

    But it's near to impossible to find translated patterns. Or at least it used to be. With Amigurumi, we're proud to present the one of the first two books in our brand new Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts line. Amigurumi features small knit and crocheted creatures so cute you could cry. This book enjoyed huge success on its home shores. The pages burst with quirky color photographs, step-by-step directions, and helpful technical illustrations. At last, the appeal of authentic Japanese content with the ease of English instruction. Stay tuned for more in coming seasons!

    Styled as a cookbook for the beginning miniaturist "chef," the introductory chapters discuss the "basic ingredients" and techniques used for polymer clay and jewelry-making. The remainder of the book offers 20 "recipes" grouped by category: fruits, breakfast, lunch and dinner, sweets and snacks, and holiday foods. Each recipe has a list of "ingredients," step-by-step directions with photographs, and suggested variations. Each piece is presented as a particular finished jewelry item, such as a necklace, but readers are encouraged to adapt the piece into any type of jewelry they choose. Each chapter also includes one of the authors' own cherished recipes for real food, including Sunday Morning Cinnamon Rolls, Grandma's Pasta Sauce, Decadent Raspberry Chocolate Cupcakes, and Mom's Holiday Sugar Cookies. Throughout, the authors--who are sisters--share their enthusiasm for family, sisterhood, and the tradition and feelings surrounding our favorite foods.

    With this book you will learn:Basic stitches like the Purl StitchKnit stitches, such as Diamond Brocade and Seeded TrianglesRib Stitches like the Mock Cable Rib and Fishbone RibLace Stitches, such as the Fishtail and Cubic LaceCable Stitches like the Woven Cable and Waving CablesBONUS: As an added bonus this book includes a knitting glossary at the end, for you to use to help understand knitting jargon!

    This essential guide details every aspect of sweater knitting, starting with instructions for four basic sweater types: yoke, raglan, drop shoulder, and set-in sleeve. Patterns are offered in multiple sizes and yarn gauges for broad appeal. Following the basics for each of the four sweater types are a diverse range of customizing options, including how to add a hood, cowl neck, turtleneck, pockets, and zip or cardigan front, just to name a few. Amy's clear instruction and expert tips expand the many knitting possibilities, creating the essential knitting resource for knitters everywhere"--

    Each project uses just one skein of yarn, many take just a few hours to complete, and plenty are suitable for beginners. Hats and caps, bootees and socks, mitts, dresses, tops and bottoms — plus blankets, bibs, soft toys, bottle cozies, diaper bags, and more — there’s something here for every baby! These original patterns were contributed by 54 designers around the world, and each one comes with complete instructions, charts, schematics, and beautiful photographs.

    Learn how to find the perfect paper to work with your photos. Learn how to place patterns on your pages for maximum impact. You will learn how to mix and match a variety of patterns. Includes great tips on how to store and organize you pattered paper for easy access.

    With over 30 crochet patterns on the menu, there's something here to please every palette. In addition to snack items that can be stitched up in a flash, you'll find: patterns to plan a meal for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even dessert; basic crochet techniques to get you started right away; and short "ingredients" lists to make finishing an item quick and easy. Whether they're play food for the kids or fun projects for you, you'll love increasing your daily fiber intake with Tasty Crochet!

    It's Simple. It's pure Cathy. And it's still totally cool. Cathy Zielske, creative director for Simple Scrapbooks magazine, is back with the sequel to her best-selling book, Clean&Simple Scrapbooking. In her new book, she revisits the core tenets of the hobby: telling good stories, making well-designed pages, letting go of unrealistic expectations, and remembering to have a really good time while you're at it. She reminds us that scrapbooking isn't an obligation, but an opportunity to capture the bits and pieces that make up our lives. From scrapbooking about her intense love of paper towels to her obsession with heavily-tattooed rock stars, Cathy throws open the window on her life and shares how she chooses to record it. You'll laugh, connect, and be inspired to record your own life with pictures, paper, adhesive and above all, authenticity.

    If you’re looking for a deeper connection with your journal, author and artist Kristal Norton sheds light on a more rewarding form of journaling with a brief introduction to art journaling and 20 bonus art prompts. She also shares pages of her creative journal that were inspired by the prompts in the book, showing how each prompt can be used and interpreted in many ways.This book is overflowing with inspiration:• 101 creative writing prompts that encourage introspection, great for traditional journaling as well as art journaling• Visual examples of prompts interpreted by the author• 20 quick and easy art prompts to get you started adding color and imagery to your journal• Bonus video of author and artist Kristal Norton creating an art journal page from start to finish using this book for inspiration• A PDF version of all the prompts in this book so that you can print, cut out, and put them in a jar for easy access when you’re feeling stuck

    Valerie McKeehan, an Etsy standout, teaches us everything we need to know to create gorgeous hand-drawn chalk designs. In over 60 lessons, learn the ABCs of lettering (literally) and basic styles: serif, sans serif, and script. Next, how to lay out a design, combine various styles into one cohesive piece, and add shadows and dimension. Master more advanced letter styles, from faceted to ribbon to “vintage circus.” Use banners, borders, flourishes. And finally, 12 projects to show off your newfound skills, including a Winter Wonderland Snow Globe; a smartphone-themed birthday card to text friends and family; a one-of-a-kind party invitation to create, photograph, and mail; and a bake sale sign guaranteed to put everyone who sees it in the mood for a cupcake! The book is also a practice space, with three foldout “chalkboards”—the inside cover and foldout back cover are lined with blackboard paper.