{Knitting Book Review} Colorwork Knitting by Sarah E. White

Colorwork Knitting by Sarah E. White

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to review Sarah E. White's latest book "Colorwork Knitting".  If you read this blog, you know I'm a big fan of color and colorwork in knitting, and so I was excited to see Sarah's new book.

Sarah E. White is the author of three knitting books:  "Picture Yourself Felting Your Knitting", "Quick and Easy Baby Knits," and her latest "Colorwork Knitting."  In addition, Sarah is the knitting editor at About.com and CraftGossip.com, both great sites for knitting news and information.

Sarah's latest book is a great source for explanation, instructions, and knitting patterns for a full array of colorwork.  The book includes 25 beautiful patterns that use a wide variety of color knitting techniques.  Colorwork Knitting is broken down into 5 chapters or sections, each covering a different method of knitting in color.  Sarah begins with the easiest: knitting with self-striping yarns, then moves on to more complex techniques like making your own stripes, slip-stitch knitting ( a favorite of mine), stranded knitting, and intarsia knitting.

Slip-Stitch Tweed Top by Sarah E. White

The patterns in this book include designs for sweaters, hats, scarves and cowls, fingerless mitts and mittens, and socks.  Many of these designs would be perfect for a beginner knitter just starting out with colorwork, but would also be great for more experienced knitters.  One of my favorite patterns is Sarah's Slip-Stitch Tweed Top.  I immediately put this in my queue when I saw it on Ravelry.  I love the vintage look of this top (reminds me of something that might be worn in "Call the Midwife") and so easy to change up with different color choices.  I also love the patterns for "Wear Your Heart on Your Socks" and the "Argyle Style Hat."   

One of my favorite things is the pictorial techniques section at the end of this book.  Here, Sarah includes instructions and photos of all the techniques covered in Colorwork Knitting.  These photos are an excellent guide for any knitter.  Often I look at the illustrations or photos that are supposed to help with a certain technique and I can't make heads or tails out of what they're trying to show me.  Sarah's photos are clear and guide you step by step through each process.  I wish I had these photos years ago when I started knitting :)

I can't wait to cast on for some of Sarah's color patterns.  You can find Colorwork Knitting on Amazon.com.  To see the patterns included in Colorwork Knitting, visit Sarah E. White's Ravelry page.  I hope you check it out!

* The opinions shared on this blog are my own and I received no compensation for posting them.

New FREE Knitting Pattern: Mosaic Baby Blanket or Lap Afghan

In celebration of Spring, and just cause I feel like it, I'm now offering my Mosaic Baby Blanket and Lap Afghan knitting patterns for FREE on my Hubpages!  This pattern includes instructions for both a baby blanket and an adult-sized lap afghan.

I think this pattern is so pretty for Spring, and easy to adapt to any room decor or occasion.  I hope you like it :)  Find the pattern here.

Free Knitting Pattern: Slightly Shifting Knitted Cowl

Just posted my latest FREE knitting pattern for my Slightly Shifting Knitted Cowl.  This pattern is a simple, yet beautiful design that looks particularly lovely in a variegated yarn.  I knit my sample up in Cascade Yarn Pacific in color 508 (Hydrangeas).  This yarn is such a beautiful color, like the gentle hue changes in an Impressionist's painting.  Ans this slipped stitch pattern really shows off these pretty colors.

You can find this new pattern on my Hubpages!

Cotton Candy Cardigan: Crafting the Perfect Sweater

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alice-blue-cardigan

My favorite type of sweater is what I like to call "a classic cardigan."  I love cardigans that have kind of a classic 1950's shape, with tight ribbing at the hem, a flattering fit, and buttoning up the front with some interesting design around a crew neckline.

I came across this free Red Heart pattern, the Alice Blue Cardigan, and thought it was almost perfect.   Just one major problem:  the pattern's smallest size is a 36" chest which is a little too big for me.  So, now I have a new project - to alter this Alice Blue Cardigan into a great fitting "classic cardigan".

  
First up:  the yarn.  I fell in love with this Jojoland Splatter Dash merino dk yarn in a beautiful variegated pink-rose-lilac color.  This yarn is a little more pricey than I usually like to pay, but I wanted a pink cardigan and I love the subtle color change of this yarn that makes it a little more sophisticated and interesting than just your basic pink.

The plan:

1.  Change the rib hem to a tighter k2, p2 ribbing.

2.  Knit this cardi in one piece to armpits, then break into front and back pieces.

3.  Change the button band to garter stitch so I can knit it along with the rest of the sweater, instead of picking up stitches when I'm done.  I like to have as little finishing as possible.

4.  Cast on for my wider hips, but then add shaping to bring the chest down to 34".

5.  To narrow the chest, I'm going to have to omit one column of lace detail on each side of this cardigan.  I'm also going to probably raise the lace detail by not starting this design until I'm past my waist shaping.

I'll be posting my mods and photos as I go.  To be honest, I haven't figured out the calculations for the lace yet, so I've got some work ahead of me.  Wish me luck!

Shawl project: Scraptastic Ombrellone

So happy with my latest knitting project!  This is the wonderful Ombrellone by Melinda Vermeer.

I started this out with just the light purple and darker purple color striping, but I thought it looked too much like 7-year-olds girl's bedroom.  So, I changed the pattern a bit using some of my stash:  I frogged what I had and began again with some KnitPicks Swish DK in my new favorite color, Sugar Plum.  Then changing the pattern, I started my stripes on Row 24 with some Naturally Caron Country in gray.  I continued with these stripes to Row 37.  On Row 38, I switched from the light purple to dark purple stripes (Ella Rae Classics Heather) and continued with the gray.  Then on Row 56, I switched the gray to KnitPicks Swish DK in Lost Lake Heather (green) with the purple.  LOVE this green!

Sadly, I didn't have enough of the Lost Lake to do the full border, so I had to end with Row 83.  I think the border is still wide enough and it looks fine.  I did lose a little length though by not making the border as wide as the pattern stated.

To bind off, I used a semi-stretchy stitch on the next RS row.  To do this:

Knit the 1st stitch. Then,

1.  Slip next st to the right side needle knitwise.

2.  With these two stitches on the right needle, knit them together tbl.

3. Knit the next st.

4.  Bind off next st as normail.

Continue working through steps 1-4 until you have 1 st left.  Then cut your yarn and pull it through the last st.  Ta-da!

  Don't forget to enter my free giveaway, ending on August 8!!

Choosing Colors for Your Mosaic Afghan or Baby Blanket

Thanks so much to everyone who has shown interest in my Mosaic Afghan and Baby Blanket knitting pattern (available for FREE on my Hubpage!).  I really appreciate it!

I've had a number of people ask about how I chose my colors for the samples I created.  The mosaic pattern in these blankets are made up of three different colors.  While I think this pattern would look great in any color combination, I used a little color theory to create a soft semi-Impressionist look to my mosaic pattern.

Color Theory is the study of how colors appear when placed against or next to one another.  The color wheel below shows the three primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) and their complementary colors (green, orange and purple).  And there are, of course, a variety of shades of each of these colors that fall somewhere on this wheel.  For instance, peach would fall between orange and yellow, turquoise would be between green and blue, etc.

image from www.jic.org

For my adult-sized afghan, I used two shades of yellow (a pale yellow and a medium warm brown/caramel color) and then a light shade of purple as the complementary color.  Because these two colors (yellow and purple) are across from each other on the color wheel, I knew they would work well together in my pattern.

I did something similar with my baby blanket.  I had some pale yellow and lavender left over from the larger afghan, so I used a darker purple to complete my color combination.  Again, my two purples (lavender and a darker plum color) are across the color wheel from my pale yellow color.

There are an endless number of color combinations to that will work together in the mosaic design using the color wheel.  Here are a few ideas:

two shades of green and a pretty color of coral red
two light to medium shades of blue and a brighter color of orange
two shades of pink and a teal-green color

Another option would be to use two shades of any color, and then use a neutral as your third color.  Neutral colors would include white, off-white, shades of gray, beige, black, and even brown.

I hope this has given you some ideas about colors to consider for all of your knitting patterns.  I look forward to seeing the colors that people use in their mosaic blankets!