Review: Color Knitting with Confidence

A lot of knitters are intimidated by color knitting, whether because they’re afraid of the techniques or because they don’t want to pick colors they end up not liking together. Nguyen Le tries to take some of the fear and mystery out of colorwork techniques with her book Color Knitting with Confidence (Barron’s, 144 pages, 30 patterns, October 2014, $19.99).

In the interest of full disclosure, my new book coming out in April is a colorwork book, so I might be a little more judgmental than others on this topic right now.

That said, this is a cute book that really focuses on people who are new to colorwork (and, indeed, new to knitting, as there are basic knitting instructions here, too). It covers knitting stripes, slip stitches, stranded colorwork, intarsia and double knitting with a focus on simple, often repeating designs and small projects.

Each chapter takes you through the basics of how to perform the given technique as well as offering some sample patterns you might want to play with. There’s a handful of patterns for each technique, most of which are pretty simple, such as an ombre striped baby blanket worked mostly in Stockinette Stitch, a slip stitch chevron rug, a collar worked with hearts in intarsia, fingerless mitts with stranded knit triangles (both of those are on the cover) and a double-knit belt that’s solid colors on both sides.

There are some more elaborate patterns as well, such as a baby cardigan worked in stranded knitting that involves cutting a steek, but most of these patterns are pretty straightforward, which is great for people new to colorwork but those with a few projects under their belts might find these options a little boring. (But they’re not the target audience anyway.)

That said there are some projects here that are really cute. I actually like those stranded mitts on the cover, and the color wheel pillow is super cute and I wish I’d thought of it. There’s a little bunny (that looks more like a mouse to me) with a stranded knit body that’s really sweet, and the double-sided double-knit cowl is pretty and practical.

So if you’ve been afraid to try color knitting in the past (and don’t want to wait for my book) and are looking for some straightforward patterns to get you started, this is a good book to check out.

Have you read it? Or are you in the fear of colorwork boat? I’d love to hear about it!

Next Pattern:

Many times when I write these posts I will say something like “you can use any yarn you want” or “this would be a great stash-busting project.” That’s just how my mind works. And my stash, too, since I probably have sweater quantity of two or three yarns at most, but tons of singles and odd balls and leftovers.

Blankets are generally a really good way to use up those bits, but in this case, I think you’re going to want to plan it out a bit better.

Looking at photos of the Color Study Blanket from Purl Soho, it looks like it’s made with two yarns held together, and that block in the center is worked with one of each color from the adjoining sides to make a mixed up color.

But that’s not actually how it’s done. This is three separate colors (four, really, with the neutrals in the corners) chosen form a yarn with an expansive palette so they play off each other. The project calls for a worsted weight superwash wool, which is a great choice for a blanket that’s both warm and washable.

This pattern was originally designed by Laura Ferguson and was updated by Hiromi Glover. It is worked in one piece in garter stitch intarsia, which is a great way to learn the intarsia technique if you don’t already know it. It comes in crib or throw sizes.

Despite the introduction to this post, I am going to go ahead and say that, yes, of course you could do this blanket with scraps or odd balls or even just choose five colors that don’t blend together so easily. But I really do love the look of the color play, and I think it would be worth your time to find colors that play well together to get a similar effect.

This pattern is available for free from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

Next Pattern:

Comments

Have you read?