Loop's 10
Susan Cropper
Softcover, 146 pages. £20.00
Loop is one of the most famous and highly esteemed yarn stores in the world. As new owners of a yarn store, the founder and owner of Loop, Susan Cropper, has been a great inspiration to us. She has found and nurtured many talents in the industry, and has contributed to the field by supporting the makers and designers she believes in. It is not just the shop itself but her passion and enthusiasm that inspire us.
Loop's 10 is the book published to celebrate the shop's 10 year anniversary in 2015. It's full of surprises and beautiful images - stories and a recipe are mixed in with 12 wearable patterns. To celebrate the anniversary, contributing yarn companies developed special colorways to celebrate the anniversary, for designers to come up with truly special patterns. It is a pity that not all of us have access to those colorways.
Thus, it is no wonder that this book has been the best selling knitting book at our shop this fall. I hope you will immerse yourself in the fantastic Loop world.
Modern Natural Dyer
Kristine Vejar
Hardcover, 192 pages. $29.95
This book came out just when I enrolled myself in my very first natural dyeing workshop, so I ordered a copy within seconds. Read it, loved it, and am reviewing it here already. The general perception of natural dyes has been pale, dull colors for people who like greys and browns. But we have started to see some gorgeous examples, and dyeing your own yarn with natural dyes is becoming a trend.
Kristine Vejar is the owner of A Verb for Keeping Warm, the famous yarn shop in Northern California (amirisu is also sold there!). They sell their original handdyed yarn, and some popular colorways that are hard to get. Before starting her yarn business, to learn natural dyeing techniques, Kristin had spent a significant amount of time in Jaipur, the Indian city known for traditional textiles in vibrant colors. She accumulated further knowledge through practice for over 15 years, and has shared it in abundance throughout this book.
In the book, she first showcases different types of natural dyes, followed by detailed instructions about how to set up a dyeing workspace at home. After discussing how to choose fibers, many example projects are shown in the order of very easy to a little advanced, so that readers can learn some basic techniques through practice.
It's a beautiful book full of gorgeous photos!
