Description
Book SynopsisThis indispensable book is your go-to guide to colour crochet.
It's packed with inspiration, including a comprehensive guide to choosing and using colour, a collection of 40 vibrant colour stitch patterns, a guide to Intarsia, Mosaic, Fair Isle and tapestry crochet, the authors' own innovative 'smart' charting method, shared here for the first time, PLUS 10 wonderful crochet projects.
The book will take readers step by step through the stitch patterns and techniques using photos, charts and accessible text. Helpful hints and tips are given throughout the book.
The 10 stunning projects include a bag, hat, blankets, mittens and baskets, which will give readers the opportunity to practice their newly-acquired skills.
Trade ReviewFor those looking to up their colourwork game, this book is packed with inspiration, including a comprehensive guide to choosing and using colour, a collection of 40 vibrant colour stitch patterns and the authors' own innovative 'smart' charting method. It also includes a guide to popular colourwork techniques such as intarsia, mosaic, Fair Isle and tapestry crochet, and features illustrated step-by-steps, with ten projects to try.
* Inside Crochet, Issue 155 *
This is great. It shows lots of different ways to work with colour, and I really like the way the patterns are both written out and charted. I'm a fairly experienced crocheter, and I'll learn a few things from this book. I'm looking forward to working through it.
-- Nicky Thompson * Customer Review *
This book is fabulous. If you are a beginner to charts it talks you through it, including how to read stitch charts as well as colour charts. It explains about when to carry yarn, when to cut, and when to use bobbins. It gives in depth explanations of how to create colour schemes. It contains a wealth of patterns and explanation on how to increase these to scale as required.
The authors are big on helping you develop your skills to be able to create your own designs and building the skills you need for this. There are also a number of lovely projects to get you started. I would recommend this book to any crocheter, and as an advanced crocheter myself I have still found plenty of great content that has challenged me and inspired me further. As long as you know the foundations of basic stitches you will learn plenty from this book. Top marks!
-- Holly Merry * Customer Review *
This is unusual – a crochet book devoted entirely to the mechanics of using colour. The book starts with the basics including handling multiple yarns. There are even flowchart-style algorithms that help us decide whether to cut the yarn when changing colour or carry it over to another row.
This is followed by a section with 40 colourful stitch patterns. Each one has a big clear photo, written instructions, and a chart.
This book would appeal to crocheters who like to play with techniques and extend their skills. It would also be very useful if working a crochet picture in Intarsia, or how about getting fashionable with a statement beanie? There are example projects featured as well as encouragement to design your own!
-- Sally Magill * SlipKnot, June2023 *
This collection of 40 stitch patterns and ten crochet projects is packed with inspiration and a guide to choosing and using colour. It takes us step-by-step through stitch patterns and techniques using photos, charts and text. Intarsia, mosaic, Fair Isle and tapestry crochet are included, along with the authors' own innovative charting method.
* Machine Knitting Monthly, August 2023 *
I took my time to read through this book properly, because this isn’t your average crochet pattern book, this is the ultimate how-to book for crocheting with colour. The book is split into sections that are so informative even as an advanced crocheter or designer, you’ll pick up new tips and tricks. The first is: etting Started - Here you’ll find the usual information about yarn, equipment, stitches and abbreviations, along with how to handle the yarn, change colour & my favourite part of this section, colour theory. The book covers colour theory with great depth, explanation the colour wheel, how to use it and explaining the different colour schemes. Stitch Patterns - There are 40 beautifully unique stitch patterns included in this book, many that I haven’t come across before. Each one includes a photo, written instructions and a chart. Colour Changes - Here you’ll learn how to crochet different colour techniques like Mosaic (in two ways) Tapestry, Fair Isle & Intarsia. The Projects - This section has 10 gorgeous crochet patterns, that use the techniques that you’ve just learnt.
I found this book to be beautifully laid out with easy to understand instructions. It’s perfect for someone simply wanting some unique colour work patterns, or maybe for someone who would like to understand colour work a little better & even for established designers wanting to improve their skills in colour work (even if you think you know it all, I bet you find some fab tips). I personally love designing & using colour work in crochet, this book will now be my go-to guide, I know it’ll take my designs to the next level.
Left-handed people aren’t forgotten in this book, if a technique or pattern is different for lefties, then the instructions are included.
-- Kelly Groves * @craftycruella *
Being a designer myself, I'm aware to have a tendency to use mostly bright colours and preferably not more than 3 at a time (obviously there are exceptions to this rule of mine!). Anyway, I found this book interesting as it's a good source to look at when in doubt or when you are attempting colourwork the first time! You can find 40 stitch patterns to practice with colours so you can get a quick visual result to verify your choice of hues, tints, tones or shades ! A full chapter is dedicated to colourwork techniques and you are guided to crochet lovely swatches with the help of charts, step-by-step photos and patterns.
There is a clever section about charting for crochet and smart charting. At the end of the book, you find a selection of 10 patterns to try: the project I prefer is the Forth Bridge Blanket, maybe because I live in Edinburgh. The only flaw, if I may call it this way, it's the absence of a reference about fluorescent/neon colours, which are often used by younger (not only!) designers/crocheters.
-- Ale Poggiagliolmi * @alessandrapoggiagliolmi *
Having never knowingly used colour theory, just choosing the colours that please me, I found it insightful. With some interesting colour choices and stitch patterns and clear 'how-to' advice on colour work crochet (including some handy flow charts) it's a great go-to guide. It also contains 10 projects so you can put any new found skills into practice, I have my eye on the tweedy shopper and the mittens, perfect for autumn when it eventually arrives!
-- Sarah-Jane Hicks * @flo_and_dot *
Table of ContentsIntroduction 6
Getting started 8
Getting the basics right 10
Reading a crochet chart 14
Abbreviations 17
Handling multiple yarn strands 18
How to change colour 20
Working with colour 21
Colour theory 22
Stitches in colour 32
Colour changes 94
Mosaic crochet 96
Tapestry crochet 104
Fair Isle crochet 108
Intarsia crochet 112
Smart Charting 114
Projects
Bobble hat 120
Buchanan table runner 124
Moseying on down scarf 128
Tweedy shopper 132
Forth Bridge blanket 136
Hera blanket 140
Trinity baskets 144
Zahra hat 148
Zahra mittens 152
Intarsia love pillow 156
Chart paper 160
