Review: Beginner's Guide to Colorwork Knitting: 16 Projects and Techniques to Learn to Knit with Color

Beginner's Guide to Colorwork Knitting: 16 Projects and Techniques to Learn to Knit with Color by Ella Austin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Ella Austin and Sewandso Publications for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

At first glance there didn’t seem to be too much to this book. I have read quite a few books on colour knitting as of late and most have been disappointing. The patterns in this book were okay, some were things I liked and would want to knit, but there didn’t seem to be enough ones I liked to warrant buying the whole book. But as I started to read through I realized that Austin has done an incredible job as far as giving thorough explanations and explicit diagrams. Every detail including finishing techniques, combining different colours, creating beautiful colour patterns and intricate colour techniques are explained in such an easy and clear manner even things I already knew how to do seemed clearer and made more sense to me. The diagrams are also unique in that they show exactly what she is talking about. I’m not sure if it is just more steps or a different way of showing them, but again, even things I have been doing seemed easier to understand.

Even though there are some patterns I might not be interested in, I think I would make every pattern in the book because Austin has a step by step plan of increasing your colour work skills. Each pattern adds one more skill and I think it is worth the practice. There is an opening section describing colour, how they work together, which ones are warm or cool, different hues, etc. and to be honest, I only understood some of it. The easier concepts I understood but it got too technical or complicated for me. If I were planning my own colour work project from scratch, I would have to go back and use it as a reference to see if they worked together properly. I don’t really feel confident on that part. However, because Austin has explained how the colours work in each project, I would be more comfortable starting with colour substitutions for the patterns. She does an excellent job of combining theory with practice with lots of tutorials. There is also the prerequisite chapters on needles, stitches, reading charts and anything else that you would need in order to make any of her patterns.

I have always shied away from colour projects but I think with this book I would feel comfortable adding this technique to my knitting.

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