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Book Review: Haiku Knits

January 24th, 2010 | Comments Off

Cover of Haiku Knits

Author: Tanya Alpert
Publisher: Potter Craft
Rating: 4 Skeins

Buy Haiku Knits on Amazon.com

What can I say? I’m a sucker for Asian-inspired designs. Growing up, “Asian-inspired” too often meant cheesy red and gold adorned with dragons, bamboot, or farmers in conical hats. Asian influences have become more widespread since I was a kid in Wisconsin, but I still get a thrill out of seeing Asian-inspired designs that are beautiful.

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Book Review: The Alchemy of Color Knitting

January 24th, 2010 | Comments Off

Cover of The Alchemy of Color Knitting

Author: Gina Wilde
Publisher: Potter Craft
Rating: 4 Skeins

Buy The Alchemy of Color Knitting on Amazon.com

I love color, particularly vibrant jewel tones—a quick glance through my Ravelry projects page will confirm this. I’m always on the lookout for designers who have a good eye for color, so when Potter Craft offered to send me a review copy of this book, I took it.

The first chapter (8 pages) introduces basic color theory—the color wheel, different color schemes, etc. This section seems a bit superfluous to me, as it is much too short for people who want to learn more about color and how to use it—”Trust Your Preferences” is not a satisfying recommendation—and it is totally redundant for people who have, say, read the Wikipedia page on color theory.

But if you want patterns that use bright colors and use them well, this is the book for you.

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Book Review: Shibori Knits

October 2nd, 2008 | Comments Off

Cover of Shibori Knits

Author: Gina Wilde
Publisher: Potter Craft
Rating: 4 Skeins
Buy Shibori Knits on Amazon.com

I first read about shibori felting techniques a while ago, and my first was that the result looked…diseased. Like Starr’s infamous tumor dress from Project Runway metastasizing to knitting. Though sometimes tying bottlecaps and whatnot to your perfectly good knitting would produce a more benign condition, say hives. Or pox.

I hoped that Shibori Knitting would show me a softer, prettier side of shibori. And it did. Thanks to Potter Craft for sending me a review copy.

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