In February of 2014, Ravelry gained its 4 millionth member. To celebrate, the site released statistical information about its users, and we learned that more than 30 thousand members have uploaded their own original patterns to Ravelry's database of patterns. That's a lot of pattern designers! Have you ever stopped to wonder where Ravelers are learning how to write, format, and photograph their instructions and projects? While the knitting book market has a variety of how-to-design-a-sweater books, there hasn't been a book to date that acts a writing guide for knitters until Kate Atherley's Pattern Writing for Knit Designers. In the pages of this must-have resource, Kate takes knitters and would-be pattern writers through each step necessary to create a set of instructions that fellow knitters will be able to successfully reknit. Kate has poured her years of experience reading, editing and writing instructions as Knitty.com's Managing Technical Editor into Pattern Writing for Knit Designers to aid knitters in creating patterns ready for publication. In addition to a detailed style guide of preferred abbreviations, phrases, punctuation, and number usage, Pattern Writing for Knit Designers also includes sample instructions, schematics, and charts (all with "how to's" along with "how not to's"), templates for the most popular type of projects, and guidelines for photography and layout for those wanting to publish on their own. It's truly everything a knitter needs all in one fantastic resource. Pattern Writing for Knit Designers sets the universal industry standard for pattern writing, taking the guesswork out of how to write knitting instructions.

Whether you knit them toe-up or top-down, getting just the right fit on hand knit socks can be a major challenge! In Custom Socks, Kate Atherley sets out to teach knitters of all levels the skills and tools they need to understand sock fit, and to knit a pair of socks that fit properly. She calls on her years of experience as Knitty's Managing Technical Editor, where she has edited hundreds of sock patterns, to share this information in a way that is easy to understand with patterns that inspire. So go ahead and treat yourself to these 15 original sock patterns that are easily customizable and work with any needle configuration. Your feet will thank you!