Welcome to the October issue of Potter Craft News!
Dear Crafters,
Home to my favorite holiday—Halloween, of course—October brings us funny looking gourds, pumpkins of all kinds, 3-foot witches, mini goblins, and lots and lots of bite-size candies. But this October is even more special because here at Potter Craft, we are celebrating a bumper crop of craft books. New England’s brilliant fall foliage can’t hold a candle to the riot of colors found within the pages of Kaffe Knits Again (Kaffe Fassett’s first knitting book in more than a decade) and Fiona Ellis’s Inspired Fair Isle Knits. Both books celebrate color in all its living glory.
One of the most satisfying parts of my job is finding new authors. So I am particularly pleased to introduce you to four new authors on our list: Clara Parkes, Jeanne Williamson, Sandra Foose, and Susan Cropper. Both Jeanne and Sandra take two very different takes on quilting. In The Uncommon Quilter, Jeanne create art quilts out of found materials, while Sandra avoids needle and thread altogether. Instead, Sandra uses the same paper engineering smarts that lands her cards in NYC’s Museum of Modern Art to show readers how to construct cards using America’s beloved quilt motifs in Paper Quilts.
Meanwhile in knitting land, Clara Parkes has written an instant favorite, The Knitter’s Book of Yarn, an exhaustive reference that answers all questions related to yarn and why it stretches, pills, shrinks, stinks, etc. the way it does. Last but certainly not least is Susan Cropper’s Pretty Knits. More thorough descriptions of the books are below, but I just couldn’t help myself from sharing the enthusiasm bubbling up here. While none of these books will help you with your Halloween costume, a few will ensure you look fabulous in the pumpkin patch.
Happy crafting!
Rosy Ngo, Editorial Director
|
Visit the websites of
some of our current & upcoming authors:
Nancy Alden
Julie Carles &
Jordana Jacobs
Wenlan Chia
Compai
Suss Cousins
Fiona Ellis
Kaffe Fassett
Kay Gardiner &
Ann Shayne
Berta Karapetyan
Amy Karol
Eugenia Kim
John Loecke
Nikol Lohr
Margrit Lohrer
Tara Jon Manning
Annie Modesitt
Ashley Paige
Jeanne Williamson
|
|
Inspired Fair Isle Knits
In this companion to Inspired Cable Knits, Fiona Ellis once again borrows from traditional techniques to a deliver superb collection of gorgeous, wearable garments. Using the basic technique of Fair Isle knitting, she creates and earthy, modern, and timeless collection of 20 gorgeous designs.
Read more. | Visit Fiona's website
|
| |
|
Pretty Knits 
From Susan Cropper, a Brooklyn-born designer and owner of the popular luxury yarn boutique Loop, in London, comes a confectionary collection of pretty knitted objects. In addition to 30 fun and fabulous patterns, Cropper includes a basic instruction section devoted entirely to stitches, perfect for picking a new knitting technique or solidifying a favorite skill.
Read more.
|
| |
|
The Uncommon Quilter 
Fiber artist Jeanne Williamson spent seven years sewing a mini quilt a week, using almost exclusively found objects—from sushi grass and cupcake wrappers to that fabled “lone sock” from the dryer. In The Uncommon Quilter, Williamson provides quilters, sewers, paper crafters, and mixed-media mavens with 52 projects for creating their own unique quilts using everyday materials and found objects in each project.
Read more. | Visit Jeanne's website
|
| |
Paper Quilts
Paper Quilts takes a new look at the age-old craft of quilt-making by bringing the beauty of traditional American patchwork to paper crafters. Included are more than 50 projects and patterns that use the beloved quilt block design and adapt them for paper cards, gift tags, ornaments, boxes, and garlands.
Read more.
|
|
|
Domino Cushion from
Kaffe Knits Again
Click here to make this image from John Loecke's Grosgrain Style your new desktop wallpaper.
Share your projects with us! E-mail us a photo of something you made from a Potter Craft book, and we'll post it in our gallery.
 
Martha, R, New York, adaptation from Mason-Dixon Knitting
Click here to check out sites we visit.
|
