Harmony Guides: Colorwork Stitches (The Harmony Guides) [Paperback]

Sharon Brant (Editor)

Book Description

Series: The Harmony Guides | Publication Date: June 1, 2009

Redesigned and updated for the modern knitter, these longstanding references for handknitters offer clear, concise instructions for stitches that are perfect for the beginning knitter and excellent refreshers for those skilled in the craft. Showcasing a jam-packed collection of 250 classic and contemporary colorwork stitch patterns, designs, and motifs—from simple stripes and polka dots to more complicated Fair Isle designs—this colorful guide features a range of swatches for knitters of every skill level. Whether designing a man’s scarf in simple slip-stitch tartan or a baby blanket in a chevron stripe, this volume is designed to revolutionize the way knitters think of color. All swatches are worked in updated yarn, beautifully photographed, and accompanied by easy-to-understand instructions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If you are looking to add just a little color to your summer knitting projects, or try your hand at intarsia, this is a great book for you."  —Knitty.com

"You should be able to find just about anything you need for color swatches."  —Knitting News

"It's essential, as are all the Guides . . . to every serious knitter's library. They're your daydreaming books. Arrange your stash around you on the floor, sit in the middle and flip through the books to conjure up new projects."  —KnitNet

About the Author

Sharon Brant is the author of several books including, Classic Knits for Real Women, Finishing Techniques for Hand Knitters, and Ultimate Knitting Bible.

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Interweave Press; 1 edition (June 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596681470
• ISBN-13: 978-1596681477
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 8.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,007,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Design your own color knitting with 250 different stitches, April 19, 2009

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Harmony Guides: Colorwork Stitches (The Harmony Guides) (Paperback)

This latest "stitch dictionary" from Interweave Press has 250 colorwork motifs and repeating designs. The book is organized from simple repeats to more complex intarsia motifs.

The designs include some Norwegian style stars or roses, stripes, zig-zags, little men and women, and most importantly, an entire alphabet of monogram letters, to be knit in intarsia. The designs, by themselves, are rather insipid-looking, but if knitted combined into a design, they could be amazing.

I did find two designs that were beautiful all-over repeats that would be exceptionally useful--a chain-link design and a "Bannock Trellis" which was rather like a Norwegian design but with a diamond, reminiscent of a thistle-like English element. Harbor Wall was like a Delft tile and also very nice for an all over.

If you are always looking for new color designs to knit, you would be able to do strips or squares and make afghans, sweaters, vests, socks and much more. If you know how to do basic designs (plain socks, vests, for example), you can incorporate these easily into what you are knitting.

I found the book slightly boring compared to the Turkish colorwork and Selbuvotter (Norwegian) patterns I like to knit, but the utility of these colorwork patterns is definitely something that you should check out. If you want to embellish patterns or design your own things, this book is an excellent resource.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Watch out for errors!, May 3, 2009

By 

Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harmony Guides: Colorwork Stitches (The Harmony Guides) (Paperback)

I really like the point of this book - a reference for color pattern stitches. That said, however, I am fed up with knitting books which contain obvious errors that someone at the publishing house should have caught!

I specifically purchased this book because I liked the designs for flowers, people, and animals. On page 236, however, it is quite obvious that the stitch diagram for the bunny is NOT the same as the accompanying photo of the knitted bunny. (At this time, the publisher has no corrections listed for this book title on its website.) While I can prepare my own graphed diagram to create the bunny shown, it defeats the whole point of buying a book which is supposed to provide that information! It also puts all of the rest of the patterns in this book and the publisher's other books into question.

In the book introduction, the editor indicates that the Harmony Guides have been been around for more than 30 years and that the newest titles not only contain traditional patterns but new ones. Well, I don't know if this bunny is a 'new one,' but regardless, how could such an obvious editing error go unnoticed by the publisher!

So normally I would have given this book four stars, but I am cutting them in half, and hope that others will do the same for all the craft books recently published that seem to have more errors than ever!

P.S. - Better yet, don't purchase knitting (or any craft) books that have obvious errors. I know that in this case, I don't want to have to check each pattern stitch photo, stitch by stitch, against the pattern diagram.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not What I'd Expect from a Harmony Guide, March 31, 2010

By 

Meghan (SILVER SPRING, MD, United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Harmony Guides: Colorwork Stitches (The Harmony Guides) (Paperback)

I like the Harmony Guides both Knit and Crochet normally. They are usually well done with lots of variety within thier catergory. This book shouldn't be called Colorwork. Wasted space with 5 different ways to solid rows of color! I think we can figure out how to take a two rows each color and turn it into 4 rows each color. It's not normal caliber for this series. Even the samples in the photos weren't as well made it seems. I have the series and there are patterns I'll use, but if I didn't have the other books already this one would have turned me off. There are better books on colorwork out there.