| Colorwork Creations |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by Barbara Rottman | |||
 Title: Colorwork Creations
Author: Susan Anderson-Freed Date Published: October 2010 Review Date: November 24, 2010
Who is this book for? Susan Anderson-Freed’s new book, Colorwork Creations, is a modern interpretation of traditional Fair Isle and Sanquhar gloves, mittens, hats and tams. In addition to the traditional geometric shapes, Anderson-Freed uses woodland-themed motifs of birds and beasts. Her designs for birds, ducks, butterflies, reindeer and griffin are delightfully original. Flowers, pine trees, and stars fill the ground. As a cancer survivor since 1992 with an ongoing recurrence since 2004, Anderson-Freed also designed a small ribbon motif to celebrate her survival. It is subtly inserted in a few of the designs. All these interchangeable motifs can be used to create any combination of individually customized projects.
Colorwork Creations takes a fresh look at mitten and glove construction, too. Anderson-Freed uses a “fingers-to-cuff” method that is as logical as the popular toe-up sock system. Inspired by another knitter, Matthew Hesson-McInnis, who had created a pattern for men’s gloves, Anderson-Freed adapted the technique to Fair Isle and Sanquhar designs and later devised a way to knit mittens from crown to cuff, including flip-top mittens with “fingerless” gloves.
The innovations didn’t stop with gloves and mittens. While studying traditional Shetland knitting, Anderson-Freed was inspired to knit ski hats with tam-like crowns for matched sets of gloves and hats. She applied the woodland motifs to traditional Fair Isle tams and expanded options for shaping the crowns with anywhere from five to eighteen decrease points, making room for endless design possibilities. Necessities of keeping warm in a cold Midwestern climate led to the addition of ear flaps for the Peruvian-style chullos. Colorwork Creations includes all the motifs, innovations and advice that Anderson-Freed developed over years of knitting gloves, mittens, tams and hats. Inquisitive knitters will use the book to do more than reproduce the hats and mittens as shown. After learning the basic techniques, Anderson-Freed encourages knitters to unleash their imaginations to create their own combinations of motifs for completely original designs.
What Yarn Does it Feature? The hats, gloves and mittens are all knit in a fine gauge using fingering weight yarn. Yarns used in the model projects are listed as suggestions. Anderson-Freed used a wide variety of yarns, and there are many more available for knitters to try. Once gauge is mastered, all the patterns in the book can be used using any fingering weight yarn.
What's Inside More than 30 patterns for hats, chullos, tams, gloves and mittens fill the pages of Colorwork Creations. Some use traditional motifs while others use the woodland motifs that Anderson-Freed designed. The interchangeable motifs can be worked in any combination, and the hats or gloves can be paired with a matching tam or hat for a matched set. The cheerful motifs suit a range of tastes, including a feminine butterfly, cheery nuthatch or cardinal, Scandanavian style reindeer and ancient griffin. The traditional Sanquhar square shapes can be used alone or to balance and frame the woodland motifs.
Using It The book is organized according to project type: hats and tams, mittens, gloves, and flip-top gloves. Helpful information on traditional construction methods as well as the innovations developed by the author precedes the basic hat, glove or mitten pattern. Each of the projects contains its own special challenges, and the author gives lots of guidance on how to avoid problems. Following the basic pattern, the author provides several different design choices. Charts and instructions using both traditional motifs and each of the woodland-themed motifs are available for hats, mittens, gloves and flip-top gloves. Design options abound, and many suggestions are offered along with the charts. The author knit hundreds of the gloves and mittens, and she tells us her daughter Jenny test-knit the tams and hats, gleefully pointing out pattern mistakes she found. If any patterns have been thoroughly test-knit, the projects in Colorwork Creations surely have.
Best Advice Colorwork Creations uses a unique crown to cuff method for constructing mittens and gloves. Most knitters who buy this book will be working through the directions alone, so it is vital that the instructions be easy to follow. Susan Anderson-Freed is a retired professor of computer science, and her teaching abilities shine through in this book. Her detailed explanations and careful instructions are almost like taking a class with the instructor in the next chair. The large color charts are easy to read and the generous hints and tips help avoid frustration and guarantee results even a perfectionist would love. Take the time to read the inspiring story behind the designs and to absorb the author’s helpful advice. Recommendation Knitters who appreciate good design and enjoy learning new techniques will be attracted to Colorwork Creations. Anderson-Freed attests she has knit hundreds of mittens, gloves, tams and hats using these designs and techniques. Knitters who buy this book will have all the information they need to do the same. Overall Recommendation This innovative approach to knitting gloves, mittens, hats and tams will Colorwork Creations rates #9.
|
Did you enjoy this feature? Make sure you never miss an issue of Knitch Magazine. To receive alerts for upcoming issues:
