This pattern (along with most of my earlier work) was retired in the summer of 2022. However, it may be available for a few days once or twice a year. Read on for details!

In the summer of 2022, I realized that maintaining a back catalog of hundreds of patterns was kind of overwhelming. I couldn’t do it and still release new things. So I took my old patterns down so I could keep doing new work.

Since then, a handful of my favorites have come back, and lovely new things have come out. But the vast majority of the old patterns are retired and will no longer be generally available.

However, enough folks have asked about some old favorites that I’m planning to make many of the retired patterns available for a few days once or twice a year (most likely in late spring and then again in the fall around Thanksgiving).

• If you see the buy buttons on this page, you’ve caught it on one of the days it’s available, and you’re welcome to grab it!
• If you don’t see the buy buttons on this page, then it’s not currently available.
• If you want to hear when the retired patterns will be available, subscribe to the mailing list or patreon, or keep an eye on my instagram.

Updated and expanded, this delightful new edition of Silk Road Socks features sixteen intricate patterns inspired by oriental rugs.

All fourteen of the original patterns are here, each revised to fit my current style and with extra sizes added (that includes sizing them all for both fingering weight yarn and dk/sport weight yarn). There are also two brand new patterns available here for the first time ever. And of course along the way I’ve upgraded all the fun bits (new photos, new charts, beautiful illustrations…all the things that help make a book lovely)!

Every paper copy of the book includes a unique code (look inside the back cover) that allows you to download a copy of the electronic book. You’ll be able to store the electronic version in your ravelry library if you like (though a ravelry membership isn’t required to access the electronic version).

While the other pieces in this book were inspired by various styles of rugs, this one had its start with one specific rug. The Ardabil carpet (named for the town in north-west Iran in which it was made) is a marvel. Created for the shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din Ardabili and dated to 1539-40, it is huge (34 feet by 17 feet), astonishingly densely knotted (340 knots per square inch, or almost thirty million knots in the whole carpet), and would have taken a team of weavers thousands of hours to complete. The carpet is on display at the Victoria and Albert museum.

The rug features an elaborate central medallion and corner brackets, each surrounded by intricately detailed pointed ovals. That lovely pointed shape, full of beautiful detail, was the starting point for these socks.