Artful Color, Mindful Knits: The Definitive Guide to Working with Hand-dyed Yarn

by Laura Militzer Bryant, Elaine Rowley (Editor), Alexis Xenakis (Photographs)

With expert instruction in the use of hand-dyed yarn, this pattern book gives knitters and crocheters the edge they need to stitch with confidence. Working with artisan hand-dyed yarn opens a world of possibility for a crafter, but problems can arise if the patterning is accidental, inconsistent, or unattractive. The author shows how to analyze the dye skein and reveal its color repeat, allowing the crafter to employ stitch gauge and stitch count to intentionally pattern the finished work. As a contrast, further strategies and stitch choices are shown that blend the colors to overcome unwanted pooling and create more gentle gradients. With 40 patterns for a wide variety of projects, this manual will have crafters constructing vibrant scarves, shawls, kimonos, and more.

Genres: Knitting, Nonfiction, Crafts

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2013

About the author

Prism Yarns is a small, successful yarn company created by a hard-working fiber artist who is also a designer, pattern developer, teacher and author. She is a visionary who is known for introducing new ideas and new lines, most notably her "Stuff" yarns that are a sensory delight to anyone who has seen or touched them. Laura Bryant has an eye for fashion, a keen sense of the future, and a driving passion that has made her one of the most admired and respected forces in the yarn industry. Learn how this captain of her own ship transformed her passion into a successful lifelong career. Married to Matt Bryant, President of TNNA. (from interview by Deborah Knight, published at knitchmagazine.com http://www.knitchmagazine.com/feature... )

Reviews

[Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of disappointing. At the beginning there is some good information about color, but even that I wanted her to go deeper or in a different direction. For example on page 10 there are 2 graphics, one that she says is chaotic and then one that is obviously her preferred organization. I would have liked to have some exploration of how to have random stripes that aren't chaotic. You can't always go with a strict gradation as she illustrates. Disappointment #2 -- I had thought the book would be more about emphasizing the special effects one can create with hand-dyed and handpainted yarns. I think about half the patterns are how to randomize. Also, she doesn't even address the issues when working with socks, which to me is a huge gaping hole. I was also disappointed that so many of the photographs were used twice. XRX is known for heavily photographing, but I felt this book fell short. The patterns consistently fall into the square and boxy category and are short assuming you have a fair amount of knitting/construction under your belt. I wanted some thing that would take my knitting to a higher level, not back to square and boxy. To end with a positive word though, I will look at each of my special skeins with slightly different eyes as I assess the hand-dyed characteristics and what I might be able to do with them.

I would have given this 2.5 stars if given that choice.

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really intrigued by this one. As an indie yarn dyer, I was excited to see how I could capitalize on designing with my yarn.

This book is not for that. It's more about finding the pattern in the yarn and using that to organize the layout of your piece to make it less chaotic. And it misses. The designs given are sometimes only one size (Fail) and others are so boxy and super dated looking for being published in 2013. It was a big cringe and there was nothing for me to take from it.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dense book, but the author really understands both the structure of knitted fabric and the behavior of handdyed yarn, and I learned a lot (as long as I was focusing on reading!).

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful. Will have to re-read this when I have more time.