Are there buy buttons on the side of the page? If so, you've caught this pattern on one of the handful of days every year when it's available! If not, read on for details of where it went and what to do if you want to be notified the next time it's available.

A few years ago I got overwhelmed by my back catalog, retired most of my earlier work, and launched Tiny Nonsense. That gave me space to make Cool New Stuff! But some people missed the earlier things, so I make many of the retired patterns available for a few days once or twice a year.

• If you see the buy buttons on this page, you’ve caught it on one of the days it’s available! You can buy it just like usual.

• If you don’t see the buy buttons on this page, then it’s not currently available. It will probably be available the week after Thanksgiving and for a few days in June or July.

• If you want to hear when the retired patterns come back, 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.