Customer Reviews

Colorwork Creations: 30+ Patterns to Knit Gorgeous Hats, Mittens and Gloves

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I pre-ordered this book months ago, and it just arrived today. When I opened this book up, I kept saying Wow! There are so many lovely patterns, and so beautifully displayed and photographed. What to knit first?

The many patterns feature a wide variety of Sanquhar (pronounced `sankhar') and Fair Isle patterns, including birds and animals, and the patterns are coordinated to match. The patterns are: Hats - 17 (Ski hats and Chullos - 13; Tams - 4); Mittens - 9; and Gloves, Fingerless Gloves, and Flip Top Convertibles - 10 (one is a variation of another). Each of the sections for the Hat, Mittens or Gloves begins with a basic pattern for that item, with options and tips for customizing. Lots of tips are provided throughout this book! The patterns include: Butterfly, Cardinal, Chickadee, Cinnamon Teal, Griffin, Grosbeak, Nuthatch, Reindeer, Wood Duck, Flower and Butterfly, Duke, Star and Tree, Star and Snowflake, Sun and Walnut, and Peruvian Cross.

Charts abound in this book! Every piece of every pattern has a chart. I was particularly pleased to discover that the charts for the larger colorwork patterns have been very thoughtfully worked out, noting the number of stitches of each color in the chart when the number of stitches for a given color is 5 or more. And while there are yarn suggestions, none are difficult to obtain. Yarns include Jamieson and Smith, Cascade, and KnitPicks, and the author notes that most fingering weight yarns work well.

The Gloves and Mittens are of Fingers-to-cuff construction...and I am delighted that this is the case. I enjoy knitting gloves, and top down, although not the norm in glove knitting patterns, is a nice way to knit, producing gloves that fit very well. However, if one prefers to knit cuff-to-finger, I'm sure these patterns would be quite easy to adapt. Even if one has never knit a glove before, it will be easy to accomplish with the easy writing style and frequent suggestions.

If you enjoy colorwork in general, and knitting hats, mittens and gloves in particular, I simply cannot recommend this book more highly!

I, too, pre-ordered this book based on my affinity for woodland motifs and a relatively new love for colorwork. It's one of the few pre-ordered books that has lived up to my hopes! As others have said, the woodland motifs are irresistible and the construction of the gloves is unique. The charts are very clear, and I like the fact that the author numbered stitch counts for anything beyond five stitches. I think that the hats look a bit too tall but am confident that I can modify their shapes if they are displeasing when I knit them. Finally, I enjoyed reading the author's comments about her processes and her tips for the projects. The tone of the writing is warm and comfortable. This book is on my "favorite knitting books" shelf. I'm eager to begin knitting from it!

The patterns in this book are presented in chart form, which makes them very easy to follow and translate to other projects. I love the motifs that the author uses. The basic pattern is presented at the beginning of each section--hats, tams, mittens, gloves--and the rest of the section is made up of color pictures in a gallery format that is inspiring. The suggested yarns are easily found and, happily, not expensive.

However, I do not particularly like to make top down mittens and gloves. The Turkish cast on isn't very stable and casting off the cuff edge makes for either a hard and inflexible edge or an edge that bells out.

The fact that the charts translate very nicely from top down to bottom up saves the day on this book. I've completed a set of mittens and had no problem whatsoever using the charts for bottom up construction. The corrugated ribbing for the cuffs looks lovely, but I detest doing it, so I didn't use it and the mittens turned out beautiful anyway.

Highly recommended book!

I received this book for my birthday (thanks DH) and can't say how delighted I am with it. It's absolutely beautiful...charts to keep me inspired for a very long time, and what I love most is that knitter or not the recipient of any of these knitted gifts will truly be grateful. Following the glove pattern I hope to create my first finger to cuff glove which I'm very interested in, though I have to say that I've never minded making cuff to finger gloves. My only criticism, and since it's my own preference I will not discount it from the incredible contents in this book, is that all the patterns are for fingering weight yarn. None in worsted or even DK that I could see. This is typical in colorwork, so as I said, not a criticism toward the author. Can't wait to get started!!!!

I'll begin with the "But ..."

No. I'll begin by saying that this is a beautiful book that you will be glad you own. You will want to put cardinals, teal ducks, grosbeaks, nutchatches, wood ducks, reindeer, and butterflies on your handknit accessories. The woodland creatures are irresistible. The yarn choices are accessibly priced (even Knitpicks!). The charts and directions are as clear as crystal. Many thanks to the author for the large size of the charts - much appreciated.

Okay, now for the "But" part. There are two.

First, the mittens are knit top down. You start by knitting the thumb, which you eventually join to the rest of the mitten. This is done to eliminate "knitting those few stitches with the weight of the mitten body hanging down, threatening to pull my mitten stitches off their needles." I have never, ever had that problem with thumbs so, to me, it seems like solution without a problem. (I also think Elizabeth Zimmerman's knitting in the round to avoid seaming and purling is similarly quirky, so what do I know.)

The second "But" is the shape of the hats. The author wanted a ski hat with a tam top. This she has achieved. To my eye, the tam top gives it a strange, outsized peak.

That said, a stodgy knitter like me can easily make the mittens into the classic bottom-up, thumbs last with very minimal thought. If you find yourself nodding in agreement with any of this, you'll love this book.

This is a great book the patterns are amazing. I didn't realize how many tams there are in it. I thought it was mainly mittins. Well worth the money.

I love colorwork/fair isle and when I received this book I was thrilled with the beautiful projects inside. The charts are big and in COLOR!!!!!!!!!! Since I lived in Alaska for 14 yrs. I am loving the wildlife patterns. She uses a lot of Knit Picks yarn in their "Palette" line and luckily I have almost every color in my yarn stash!! I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who loves fair isle or colorwork in knitting. It is beautifully done.

Colorwork Creations is a wonderful knitting book featuring patterns for hats, mittens and gloves, all "woodland inspired". The author, Susan Anderson-Freed, "developed patterns and techniques that worked with a variety of knitting traditions, including Fair Isle, knotwork and Sanquhar". The Sanquhar patterns originated in the town of Dumfriesshire, England and the author adapted her own versions of the four Sansuhar designs. She calls her versions Duke, Roses, Rose and Trellis and Drum and Cornet. The author has a fascinating background. She is a professor of computer science and has used her professional experience in her design work. She is also a cancer survivor and has incorporated the small bows "often used to signify cancer survival". The woodland theme is see in the beasts, birds, reindeer, griffins and butterflies in her designs. The book also has patterns that experiment with tams. The patterns for tams have a variety of point. Six, eight, and ten points predominate but there are crowns with points ranging from five to eighteen. The author's "inspiration for ski hats came from A Shetland Knitter's Notebook: Knitting Patterns and Stories. The ski hats have bird and beast designs to match the mittens and gloves. The author's trip to Peru inspired her designs for chullos, while her travels to Iceland led to her designs to hats with earflaps.

The first section of the book is HATS. It's hard to pick out my favorites because they are all so stunning. I suppose if I was absolutely FORCED to name my favorites, they would be the Cardinal Ski Hat, the Chickadee Chullo, the Cinnamon Teal Chullo and the Seven-Point Star Tam. I drooled over every hat pattern and can't decide which to knit first.

The second chapter is MITTENS. The Butterfly Mittens are beautiful and poignant. The design is striking and the cancer survivor ribbons touched my heart. I love the Nuthatch Mittens as well. The Sanquhar Mitten Gallery is drop dead beautiful - museum quality.

The third chapter is GLOVES AND FLIP-TOPS. There are several that are an homage to cancer survivors and again, they are both beautiful and poignant. I especially love the Salt and Pepper Pattern and the Butterfly Flip-Tops. I'm especially fond of chickadees which are abundant in the Alaskan winters. The Chickadee gloves are just perfect for me to knit. The Cinnamon Teal Flip-Tops are beautiful and especially useful as the tops come off so that driving and rooting around in your purse is made easier.

What makes this book special is not just the beautiful patterns, but the quality of instruction and the way the author has a basic pattern for gloves, mittens, hats and tams. When I buy a knitting book, I ask myself three questions:

Does the book contain patterns I will knit?

Is the book a good resource?

Are the patterns easy to read and understand?

The answer to all three questions is a resounding yes. This is a GREAT addition to my knitting library and I'm very glad I have it.

After so many disappointing new offerings lately, here's a real winner. The charts are clear, concise, easy to follow. The designs are original, unique, beautiful. The details are precise and the suggested colors are lovely. This book is everything you could ask for in a knitting book. Add to that the fact that the designs are easily adaptable to other projects such as matching scarves and ski sweaters and you have an altogether amazing book! I for one will definitely be looking for more by this author.

I absolutely love the patterns in this book. I am currently working one of the designs into the yoke of a fair isle sweater. I particularly like the way the designs are shown knit up in several formats. I expect to use the graphs in many projects. No disappointments here!