The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques [Hardcover]

Margaret Radcliffe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2008

At times, a single, perfect color is just what a new knitting project needs. But more often than not, the creative knitter envisions exciting color palettes that make her handmade hat unique or add special meaning to a gift for a loved one. Adding fabulous color combinations to a handknit item can be as simple as working with multicolor yarn or as intricate as applying the technical concepts of knitting intarsia.

Knitting teacher and author Margaret Radcliffe presents a world of color techniques in a single comprehensive reference that knitters will consult every time two or more yarn colors are in play. Stitchers of every ability — from the determined beginner in need of clear instructions to the experienced crafter ready to take on a new challenge — will benefit from the color-combining methods and handy tips and secrets revealed in The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques.

Multicolor knitting techniques are explained with step-by-step illustrations and photographs accompanied by instructive text. Complete chapters on stripes, stitch effects, knitting with multicolor yarns, stranded knitting, and intarsia cover the general theory and how-to behind each method as well as creative solutions for handling tangled yarn, estimating yarn quantities of each color, handling all those ends, and stunning finishing techniques. An additional chapter describes less common techniques such as helix, shadow, mosaic, and modular knitting.

Whether the goal is a softly striped throw in nursery pastels, a pair of cozy socks in team colors, or a sophisticated cashmere wrap in a jewellike pattern, The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques has all the answers for adventurous knitters.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Margaret Radcliffe is the author of Circular Knitting Workshop, The Knitting Answer Book, and The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques. She lives in Virginia and teaches knitting workshops across North America, promoting creativity and independence in all knitters. Her own designs are published in the Maggie’s Rags line of knitting patterns (www.maggiesrags.com).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (December 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1603420401
• ISBN-13: 978-1603420402
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A knitter for 45 years, a designer for 25, and a teacher for 17, Margaret Radcliffe is the author of the bestselling Knitting Answer Book (Storey Publishing, 2005) and The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques (Storey Publishing, 2008). In 1997, Margaret founded Maggie's Rags and publishes a line of knitting patterns under that name.

Margaret's books explore knitting techniques in a depth well beyond what's usually presented and do so in a way that makes both the techniques and their appropriate uses clear to readers. As a designer, her specialty is rewarding garments that look complicated but rely on the simplest knitting techniques. As a publisher, she focuses on patterns that help knitters learn new techniques and improve their skills. As a teacher, Margaret enthusiastically teaches everything from beginning knitting to garment design, and is acclaimed for her ability to help all knitters to become independent and creative.

Margaret's many teaching venues include the John C. Campbell Folk School, The Knitting Guild Association (TKGA), Stitches Expos, The National Needlearts Association (TNNA), The Madrona Fiberarts Winter Retreat, Webs, KnittaPalooza, cruise ships and windjammers, and shops and fiber guilds across the U.S.

For more information on events and knitting patterns visit www.maggiesrags.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

155 of 155 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The title says it all, December 25, 2008

By 

abt1950 "abt1950" (usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques (Hardcover)

I'm not given to superlatives in writing reviews, but this is the best overall book on color knitting techniques that I've seen. There are a lot of good books on various types of colorwork, and most general knitting references give basic instructions. But I haven't seen anything before that covers the range of color techniques as well as this one does. Basic color theory, Fair Isle (stranded) knitting, intarsia, stripes, slip stitch knitting, shadow knitting, entrelac, twined knitting,and more--it's all here, plus stitch patterns and even a few designs. Radcliffe's explanations are great, and the many illustrations make them even better.

But this technical information is only part of what makes "The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques" so good. Knowing how to combine color, yarn, and design does not come easily to all knitters--some, myself included, hardly know where to start. Radcliffe tries to demystify the process by showing the kinds of effects that can be achieved by using different stitches and different yarn combinations. She varies the yarns she uses throughout the book, but within each grouping she keeps them the same. This makes it very easy to see the interplay of color, yarn and stitch, and how changes in one changes the effect of the knitting. She provides an excellent discussion of the multicolor yarns that are currently popular, complete with pictures of how the same yarns look when worked up in different ways. The last sections of the book include information on how to work color into various kinds of edges and finishes and a general discussion of design.

99 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding and beautiful knitting resource, January 17, 2009

By 

mtk3 (Arcata, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques (Hardcover)

Wow. This book was even better than I expected. I received a promo on it last summer and I've been eagerly awaiting it ever since.
To begin with, The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques is an amazing reference on more types of knitting in color than I knew existed. I expected something on stranded (Fair Isle), Intarsia and Mosaic knitting because these were featured in the promo, and if they were all that were covered I would have been happy. But those techniques don't account for even half of what is packed into this book.
Margaret Radcliffe begins this hardback, beautifully photographed tome with a chapter on "Color Basics," a yarn-oriented color theory that I can't wait to investigate thoroughly. The next chapter addresses stripes: not just your humble stripe but patterns and approaches that open up a world of possibilities.
The third chapter features pattern stitches using more than one color, and the fourth focuses on the pleasures and challenges of using multicolor yarns. Margaret investigates and explains stranded knitting in Chapter Five and Intarsia in Chapter six. "Other Techniques,"(Chapter seven) deals with Helix, Shadow, Mosaic, Twined, Double, Modular, and Enterlac Knitting, each covered briefly but thoroughly and documented with lots of photos.
But, wait, we're not finished. In Chapter Eight, Margaret gives us a bounty of "Finishing Touches" including edging and I-cords techniques. Chapter Nine adds ideas on designing to start you off on your own creations, and the book is capped off with an appendix with a nice graphic glossary of techniques, tips on using charts, sizing guidelines, and something I always appreciate, a nice bibliography of further books to explore on each chapter.
As stated in the title, this is a technique book, but most chapters include a pattern or two with simple construction that allows the color technique to take center stage.
This book would be valuable to the beginner and advanced knitter alike. Packed with information, beautiful to look at, clearly and well written and a good value. What more can you want? Kudos to Margaret Radcliffe and to everyone who helped with this book.

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The essentials plus the rest, January 29, 2009

By 

Eleanor Cavin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques (Hardcover)

This book is true to its title. I have rarely opened a knitting book that combines the basics in written and photographic form as clearly and completely as this book. Every time I thought, "I wonder if she covers this [thing]," that it was on a soon-following page. And not only are simple clothing patterns included using the color ideas and theory, but also the techniques clearly illustrated to effect them. This means: basics, color theory, stitch patterns, geometry, solid and multi-color yarns, flat and circular knitting (and implications), modular knitting and finishing. Even an overview of garment design, double knitting and embellishes. And she includes a deep bibliography, so if one thinks hers is a beginner course, she presents the keys to go deeper. [And right from the beginning she culls the theory-idea basics from among Itten to Melville and Menz.]

I recommend this book as a good addition to a knitting and design bookshelf.