Today Was the Day and More Color By Kristin Previews

They have arrived! The books, that is. FedEx delivered me a huge shipment of my new book Color By Kristin, shortly after noon today. I was miraculously able to get all the books you all have ordered signed, addressed and packed up. Saturday morning Julia and I are heading to the post office to send them on their way to you.


I want to take this post to thank all of you who have ordered from me. As I was addressing each package, I couldn’t help but think about all of you who have ordered books from me in the past and who generously keep ordering them from me. I know all your names and have heard of all your towns. It warms my heart that you would order from me again. I know you can get my books cheaper somewhere else, albeit they will not have my curvy, swervy signature on them, and so my family and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I hope you all like Color by Kristin when you get it and that you will learn something from it.

This book is a bit different than most of my other books. There are 32 pages of front matter in it. For me, as a knitter and a designer, front matter is what counts. Front matter is what keeps a book in my bookcase. The descriptions of techniques, the inspiration to teach myself – exploring techniques that are presented in a book, the information that is included that will stimulate me to try things on my own, experiment with techniques and become a better knitter and designer - that is what I look for in a book. I was able to include a whole bunch of direction for you to design your own colorwork charts. There is also plenty of "how-to" for learning how to work with color, steeking, knitting technique, embroidery on knits and more. Information is what I look for in books and I’m hoping that Color By Kristin will be one of those books you go to in your own library when you want to experiment and start designing on your own. There are also over 20 patterns if you want to copy exactly what I did - and that's perfectly okay too!

I’m off to Detroit until Wednesday to film the fourth season of Knit and Crochet Today. I’m sure I will have a story or too. I've got a lot of knitting of "step-outs" to do before I go on the air. It will all get done, if not at the last minute. I’ve got plenty of books left and I will be packing up the orders you send me when I return on Thursday. Thank you to all you have ordered or are planning to.

In keeping with this week’s theme, here is another preview of projects from Color by Kristin.


I called this pair of mittens "Checked Mittens" and although they aren't exactly what I think of as checked - they are based on multiples of 4 and boxes or checks. These mittens are one of the easier projects in this book. The mitten starts out with a checked Corrugated Rib that alternates Lady's Mantle and Harvest Spice Julia to create a checked design. I love this stitch and hope to use it on further projects. The main part of the mitten is worked in a "windowpane" pattern to create boxes or checks. This project is sized for kids to adults so if you are looking for a gift project, check it out.

And check our Susan R's blog where she shows her "Checked Mittens." Susan was one of the students at the first "Getting Stitched on the Farm" Weekends back in early August. Soho, the Publisher of Color by Kristin, graciously sent each attendee an advance copy of the book back in August (see -- there are lots of secret things I don't share with all of you!). Susan was a bit color shy and she came here for the color infusion. It seems she learned! Great job Susan!


In keeping with my other on-going theme of "color immersion - exploration - inspiration" here's a photo of the wild blueberries that grow in our town. Our neighbors harvest the small, sweet wild blue berries (my Dad always called them huckleberries) every August. I spent a bit of time trying to get good photos of the berries at different times of the day this summer. I love the colors in this photo - the deep and washed out blues of the berries, the mossy and sunlit tones of the leaves and the rosy and cerise tones of the splotches on the leaves. The subtle nuances of a photo can inspire a piece of knitting, a room decoration or a painting. I can see these shades in the mittens shown in my book. Beautiful colors go around, don't they?