Way back in the mists of early 2011, I worked on a book for one of the biggest names in knitting. I created the charts for Kaffe Fasett and Brandon Mably's book of accessories; Knitting with The Color Guys.
This was one of my very first jobs following my move to freelance work, and it was a brilliant opportunity for a number of reasons. Firstly, there's no way to avoid the fact that Kaffe's eye for colour combinations is extraordinary. There are so many designs that I would just love to cast on immediately. Secondly, I learnt about a million things about charting in Illustrator during the project. With so many charts to create, I turned to tutorials from Adobe a number of times, and discovered all sorts of tricks and new tools. I love to learn new things, so this was excellent. The third, really major, bonus of this job was that it involved working closely with Sarah Hatton, who was the Pattern Writer/Editor for the project. Any job that requires me to stay in touch with Sarah is a winner in my book! She's a legend.
© Sixth & Spring Books
This half-circle throw is just delicious. I want to wrap myself in its wonderful happy, smiling colours. It reminds me of late spring-early summer, when all the colours in the garden are vivid and brighter than life.
The book is divided into chapters which group the colour palettes in use; Soft Tones, Singing Colour, Moody Hues and Rich Shades. The half circle wrap (above) is from the singing colour chapter, naturally! And the following Multistripe Stole (my all-time favourite from the book), is in the soft tones collection.
© Sixth & Spring Books
This stole makes me want to run down to the yarn shop, buy everything I need and cast on instantly. Not the effect I expected this book to have on me! And if I'm being honest, there are some projects in here that just don't quite work for me - the Dotty Cushions would have been greatly improved by using a yarn with more bounce than Rowan Summer Tweed. That said, I feel that there are more than enough projects that I like to make this book well worth its place on my bookshelf.
In a bizarre twist of coincidence, Eskimimi chose Kaffe as one of her knitting heroes for her post in Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, and was kind enough to include me as an example of inspiring craft bloggers. To be included in the same post as Kaffe was more than a bit of a compliment!
Disclaimer: As I worked on this book, I was provided with a copy free of charge.
