Color by Kristin book review

Prepare yourself to enter into a world of intoxicating color and texture!

copyright Sixth and Spring books

Are you familiar with Kristin Nicolas’s work?

Check out her website: Kristin

And, now, prepare yourself for a treat!

Color by Kristin: How to design your own beautiful knits

by Kristin Nicholas has just been released and it is gorgeous beyond belief!

It’s a gloriously, deliciously inspiring book by master knitter and designer, Kristin Nicholas.

Do yourself a favour and buy yourself a copy of this book- call it a holiday present for yourself, because you’ll be transported by the beauty of the photographs. That’s a very inexpensive holiday, isn’t it? Open the book, get swept away? Sounds good to me!

Besides, you will want to make almost everything in the book as gifts for your loved ones, and okay, you’re going to want to make at least 3/4 of them for yourself, too….

The designs range in difficulty from entry level right up to advanced level knitting. There is everything from the world’s neatest knitted slippers (The Shepherd socks- ohhhhhhhhhhh I have to find time to knit some of those……..)

Recently, I asked Kristin a few questions about her work.

Here are my questions in green and  her responses:

I suppose it is the need to be creative. Somehow, someway, I try to be creative every day. It isn’t always about knitting or textiles. Some days it may be taking photos for my blog, cooking a good meal, rearranging stuff, sewing a shirt or pants. I think it is the act of creation that I like the most (including writing blog posts and photographing things for my blog).

I like to work on big projects that take a long time (i.e. a book, redecorating a house). Even though it seems that no progress is being made, eventually the whole thing is done and it is time to start something else. A book is a very cool thing because you have something that you can hold in your hand. I can look at it and say “I made that” and it feels good (usually).

2] What do you feel is the most delicious thing that is capturing your attention for future design work?

I am still in a color crazed knitting mood at the moment. I have people asking me to do my old stand-by’s “cabled designs but I am resisting. I am so much loving the color thing. I can’t get enough of mixing colors together whether it be striping, Fair-Isling, embroidering or painting my house.

3] Do you have any stumbling blocks in your work that tend to trip you up? AND- are there any ’saving graces’ that get you out of design dilemmas?

Procrastination – that is my worst stumbling block. I leave everything to the last minute and then panic about the deadline.

As for Saving Grace – Deadlines!

If I didn’t have a deadline, I never would get anything done.

4] Does where you live have an impact on you as a designer?

I live on a sheep farm in rural New England about two hours from Boston and 3 hours from New York City. It surely isn’t the fashion capital of the world. Our house is very old (for the US, that is). It was built in 1751 and parts of it are rather drafty and down-right cold. All winter long, the three of us are covered in woolens – sweaters, hats, afghans, throws, winter wooly coats, hats, mittens, gloves. You get the picture.

There is also about 6 months of gray when all the leaves are off the trees, there is snow, rain, or sleet outside. Our dirt road is made of a gravel in a neutral gray color. All winter long I have to find color other places. Color makes me feel happy and safe and warm. My family and I are surrounded with color everywhere we look and we all love it. And so, that is why I knit with color all winter long.

5] You are obviously passionate about color. What else do you savor and focus on in your design work?

I live on a farm at the end of a dirt road and natural materials abound. I like working with natural fibers whether they are wool, cashmere, mohair, alpaca, and cotton in my fiber/knitting/embroidery life.

But in my other life (my husband and I are sheep farmers), I love all the natural materials including seeds, the dirt, sunflowers, hay, leaves, raw dirty fleece. I love how natural things feel and sound when you work with them or just plain observe them – snapping twigs, leaves crunching underfoot, corn shucks twisting and folding, the wind whipping through the trees. I like to do flower arranging, gardening, interior decorating and use authentic things in those works.

(A couple of Christmases ago I did a tutorial on my blog on little birch houses and I still get numerous hits from it each week.)