Tag Archives: colorwork

Pop Knitting.

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An inspiring new book has landed at the shop. Pop Knitting: Bold Motifs Using Color and Stitch, by Britt-Marie Christoffersson is a collection of graphic, modern-looking stitch patterns.

Christoffersson combines color and texture in surprising ways, making the book itself a thing of beauty.

The sweaters shown alongside many of these motifs make use of them in beautiful and often pleasantly strange garments. The results are fascinating and exciting, whether they appeal to your personal taste or not.

Come to the shop to take a closer look at Pop Knitting; you’re sure to find some inspiration there.

Hello, Ewe Ewe.

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Once again, Clara Parkes inspired us with a recent Knitter’s Review. She never fails to peak our interest. Sometimes it’s a tool, sometimes a book–this time, it’s yarn, from a new company called Ewe Ewe.

Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted Washable is a squishy, soft yarn which is well described by its alliterative name. With 95 yards of machine-washable merino wool in each 50 gram ball, Wooly Worsted Washable is an excellent choice for accessories and baby things.

The color palette is limited but vibrant, and the pattern support makes good use of it in stripes and colorwork.

This yarn is a pleasure to knit with, with brilliant stitch definition and a springy texture. “It knits itself,” Anne has often remarked since Ewe Ewe’s arrival, and she should know. This baby hat was completed in less than 24 hours, with enough yarn left over to make another with the colors inverted.

Come by the shop to pet Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted Washable, and remember it for baby- and gift-knitting. Find it on the teacart, and find Ewe Ewe patterns in our recently reorganized pattern binders.

Knitting Traditions.

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The latest issue of Knitting Traditions has arrived!

Inside, you’ll find lots of good reading along with plenty of project ideas. Knitting Traditions is always heavy on the history, making it one of my personal favorites on the knitting magazine rack.

Find it on the teacart, surrounded by all the newest books and magazines.

The Color Grid.

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A few weeks ago, our hero, Clara Parkes, posted a particularly intriguing review on her excellent and very informative blog, Knitter’s Review. As soon as Anne arrived at the shop that day, I said, “Did you read Clara today?” Her response: “I already ordered it.”

The subject of that Knitter’s Review post, and the object of our desire, was the Color Grid, a tool developed by hand-dyer Gail Callahan for choosing colors. The Color Grid is a sturdy little pamphlet with a spectrum of colors arranged in a grid, as the name suggests. One of the panels is black, with holes of different sizes.

Hold the largest hole over the color that most closely matches your main color, and the smaller holes highlight the closest relatives of that main color.

A thin, rectangular slot below those holes highlights a contrasting color which Callahan calls the “spark.” A bit of that spark color is sure to make your main color sing because of their relationship on the color wheel.

The color wheel, by the way, has always been on my list of Things I One Day Plan to Understand. Until I take the time to sit down with some color theory and study, the Color Grid will join my intuition in my color-choosing toolbox. And along with the color-choosing comes my favorite part: diving into a pile of knitting books, preferably of the colorwork variety. Many of these books offer more information on color theory, if you’re curious about exactly how the Color Grid is working, and how colors interact in knitted patterns of many kinds.

What a fun toy it is! Come by the shop to snag a Color Grid of your own.

Heritage Fiber Publications.

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This week, we added some new single patterns to the pattern binders.

Heritage Fiber Publications offers a wide range of patterns, from shawls and scarves to hats and socks.

Don’t forget to check the pattern binders as well as the bookshelves and magazine racks when you’re looking for a new project–there are tons of single patterns tucked away there. Dig in.

For the hands and the feet: two new books.

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From Martingale & Co. this week, we received two new books. One will help you clothe your hands, and the other, your feet. Let’s take a closer look.

There are many ways to knit small circumferences in the round, and it’s a good thing, too, because preferences vary from knitter to knitter. Some love double points and some loathe them. Some are happy using the magic loop on one long circular, while the mere thought of magic loop knitting sets others on edge. Some prefer knitting small circumferences like mittens or socks on two circular needles, and this new book is for them. Knitting Circles Around Mittens and More, by Antje Gillingham, is a collection of patterns for mitts and mittens using two circular needles.

Along with the patterns comes helpful information about modifying existing patterns to use two circulars instead of double points, as well as instruction on knitting two mittens at once. If knitting in the round on two circulars is your kind of thing, this book may be, too.

Now, for the feet: Knitting Scandinavian Slippers and Socks, by Laura Farson, is for lovers of colorwork. Many of the patterns use worsted weight yarn to create cushy slippers, but some are for fingering weight yarns, as well. Here are some of the stranded designs you’ll find inside:

Take a look at these and other new books next time you’re in the shop.

Knitting with Two Colors.

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Back in November, I wrote about two of my favorite new colorwork resources: Alice Starmore’s Charts for Color Knitting and Mary Jane Mucklestone’s 200 Fair Isle Motifs. I remember the feeling of contentment I had in placing those two on my bookshelf at home, thinking, “This completes my colorwork library.” That, however, was before Meg Swansen and Amy Detjen’s Knitting with Two Colors appeared. Now, having seen this new book from Schoolhouse Press, gaps appear in my colorwork library where none existed before. Where was the technical detail on preparing for and cutting steeks? The guidance on altering existing colorwork patterns, and designing your own? Ways to incorporate shaping into a colorwork sweater without completely confusing the patterning? The hows, whys, and whether-or-nots of various hems, borders, and necklines? Why, here they are, calmly and clearly explained by these two most experienced colorwork knitters, Swansen and Detjen.

Knitting with Two Colors is neither a book of sweater patterns nor a book of colorwork charts, but truly a book of techniques, a slim paperback volume that is absolutely bursting with information. I can imagine no better companion to Starmore’s Charts for Color Knitting or Mucklestone’s 200 Fair Isle Motifs than Swansen and Detjen’s Knitting with Two Colors. Colorwork enthusiasts, and anyone else who’s curious, should take a look at this book, and take home a copy if there’s an ambitious colorwork project in your future. Find it on the teacart.

Folk Socks.

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Here is an older book, made new this year with revisions and updated content. First published in 1994, Nancy Bush’s Folk Socks is back in print and back on our shelves.

With its long historical preamble, various heel- and toe-shaping techniques, and colorwork patterns, Folk Socks is right up my alley.

In thumbing through this excellent book, I was particularly struck by a simple pair of socks, knit in gray and white with only one small stranded motif.

With the abundance of stitch dictionaries, sock books, and color combinations I have available, I’m likely to add more color, more patterning, more complication to my colorwork socks, all in an attempt to try as many new things as possible in any given sock. These socks, and this book, reminded me that beautiful socks need not be covered from cuff to toe in patterning. One well-chosen motif can go a long way. And oh, this book has me aching for more colorwork socks!

Come by the shop to see Folk Socks for yourself, and be talked into colorwork sock-knitting by yours truly.

Two new colorwork resources.

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It seems we’ve been getting tons of exciting new books this fall, one right after another. I confess, I’ve added about four new knitting books to my collection at home in the past month alone. Two of those have already been carefully reviewed here on the blog, but the other two have not yet had their moment in the sun. Given my proclivity towards stranded colorwork, it may come as no surprise that these two new titles focus on that technique in particular.

Alice Starmore’s Charts for Color Knitting is exactly what it sounds like: a book of charts. Not a book of sweater or hat patterns with charts, just a book of charts. Starmore begins with a chapter on designing simply shaped, drop-shoulder colorwork sweaters, and ends with “A Word on Colour,” but in between, she leaves the knitter alone with pages upon pages of charts. The charts are organized by place of origin, so that in flipping through the book, one can glimpse the color-knitting culture of Norway, then Sweden, then Russia, then South America, and onward. In addition, Starmore also offers charts she’s adapted from ancient manuscripts, architecture, carpets, jewelry, and stonework, and encourages knitters to do the same. Colorwork charts are easily invented, after all–graph paper and a little color knitting experience is all that’s needed.

Mary Jane Mucklestone’s new 200 Fair Isle Motifs is similar to Starmore’s Charts, but focused on the particular Scottish colorwork tradition for which it is named. The book begins with clear tutorials on all kinds of techniques used in Fair Isle knitting, from swatching to steeking to correcting mistakes. For those overwhelmed by the endless possible color combinations (all of us?), there is a little tutorial on color theory. Then come the 200 motifs. Mucklestone has organized these motifs by the number of rows and stitches in each pattern repeat, making it easy to find a pattern that divides evenly into the number of stitches you’re working with on any given project–hat, socks, sweater, etc. Each chart is shown not only in the traditional black-dots-on-a-white-grid style, but also in a color photograph, a color variation, and an all-over version, giving the knitter a jump start on adapting these patterns for many uses.

These two books have me itching to cast on for something new. I am utterly overwhelmed by the number of half-formed knitting ideas rushing around in my mind, which is, by the way, a most pleasant experience. I am so excited by these two books, which complement one another beautifully. Until I figure out exactly what my next colorwork project will be, I’m enjoying simply poring over Starmore’s black and white charts and Mucklestone’s brightly colored motifs, inundated with ideas.

Hello, Briggs and Little Sport.

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Recently I completed a project that had been stuffed in the bottom of a basket for about a year. I’m not a monogamous knitter, but lingering unfinished projects do bother me a bit. Every once in a while, I’d remember this particular project, a half-completed colorwork vest, and worry about it a little. Would I ever finish it? Why did I put it down again? There must have been something intimidating ahead in the pattern, something scary enough that I’d hide the whole thing away and spend a year knitting other things. When I pulled out the pattern, an out-of-print Meg Swansen gem called the Square-Rigged Vest, it was immediately clear why I had stopped when I did. After casting on at the bottom edge and knitting happily round and round in the color pattern, I’d reached the armpit, where I’d have to plan for steeks. I’ve cut my knitting before, but something about the little bit of math and boldness required for this next step tripped me up. Coming back to it a year later, I was pleased to find myself excited rather than nervous at the prospect of steeking, and in a matter of weeks the whole project was done.

The yarn is Briggs and Little Sport, an unsung hero of a yarn. A rustic, single ply, 100% wool yarn, Briggs and Little Sport is quite affordable, comes in an astonishing array of colors, and has a sticky quality to it–all of which make it perfectly suited to stranded colorwork knitting. Once knit, the stitches cling to each other, which is handy for steeking, since it takes some serious pulling and stretching for the cut stitches to unravel.

Briggs and Little Sport is often passed over, I think, because it isn’t soft to the touch. It took some time to get used to it, but soon my fingers were accustomed to the texture of the yarn and enjoying the process. I was promised by those who had knit with it before that it would soften with washing and I can’t tell you how right they were. It’s not cashmere or anything, but then, that’s exactly what I love about this classic, wooly yarn.

If you’re considering a colorwork project, Briggs and Little Sport is certainly worth your attention, but I’ve seen it used successfully in other ways as well. Marion and several of her students have made February Lady Sweaters holding the Briggs and Little doubled to obtain a worsted-weight gauge. When I searched for the yarn on Ravelry, I found that many knitters are using it for socks, shawls, mittens, and hats, as well as sweaters. Come by the shop to visit this unsung hero and consider how you might make use of it. See you soon!