My first book – Breien met Kleur

It’s been a year and a half since my baby – a.k.a. my first knitting book ‘Breien met Kleur’- has been out in the world. ‘Breien met Kleur’ literally means ‘Knitting with Colour‘ and I chose to focus on stranded colourwork designs since I love to design them.

Buy the Dutch version via Bol.com or send me an email at hello[@]newleafdesigns.nl to buy one from me directly!

English version

Many have asked me for the English version of my book, and I have good news: The English version is confirmed and will be published Spring 2026! Mark your calendars, it’s happening 😉

Let’s look at Community Projects!

I absolutely love looking at what other people have made. You can get so much inspiration from the colour combinations people have used, and sometimes they’ll share tips and tricks that worked for them. So let’s take a look at what knitters have made from my book. Where possible, I have linked to shops where the yarn can be bought online.

Maker Bianca is knitting the Heerlen Socks with the vine pattern. I like how she has taken inspiration from the original colour palette but kind of reversed the colours. In her project page on Ravelry she mentions she prefers knitting socks cuff down, so she has modified the pattern to her own liking. The Heerlen socks pattern in ‘Breien met Kleur’ is toe up, with a gusset heel. Bianca’s version is cuff down with a shortrow heel. I really admire how she’s doing both socks at the same time! Yarns used: Lang Yarns Jawoll in green and yellow.

Look at this gorgeous cowl made by Karlien! Karlien was at the book launch party back in October 2023, and according to her Ravelry project page she started this project in December, and finished it just a month later! Wow, that is some dedication. The cowls are the most time consuming patterns in my book, but also some of the most rewarding makes – in my opinion. The original colourway is in brick red (Scheepjes Metropolis 065 Liverpool) and blue (Scheepjes Metropolis 019 Marseille), and Karlien has put together a lovely colour combination that reminds me of a classic cappuccino, with brown (062 Valencia) and cream (067 Buenos Aires).

This is Paula’s FIRST ever colourwork project if you can believe it! The Leiden Mittens look stunning and Paula mentioned they fit her perfectly as well. She has a super keen eye and spotted a mistake in the numbering of the chart in the Dutch version of the book. The chart now goes from Round 14 to 35 but that should be 15 to 36! This will of course be fixed in the English version 🙂

Thanks Paula for sharing your creation!

We have another first-time colourwork knitter here! Danielle knitted the Leiden socks and my goodness, that tension is PERFECT. Super even stitches and it seems like the sock fits very well. Danielle notes that she’s going to go for a more contrasting colour pair next time, so her hard work shows up better. If I may suggest a colour combination, I’d go for Scheepjes Metropolis 004 Kabul which is very much like the blue shown here, and Scheepjes Metropolis 024 Cota which is a beautiful cream colour that would showcase the pattern beautifully.

Maker Roely has knitted these gorgeous Haelen Socks and did lots of preparation, she actually knitted a swatch (which I almost never do for socks – but I should!). She knit the recommended stitch count for her first swatch which turned out to be too big, so she went with the smaller stitch count and slightly bigger needles which turned out to be a perfect fit. Well done Roely!

Also I love that the salamander shown in the left pic matches the yarn choice!

Wow, these Leiden Socks by Monica are amazing! I love the use of a variegated yarn here, the end result is fantastic. I love that they added a picture of the inside of the socks too, showing us those beautiful floats. If you want to recreate this look, I would recommend trying out the Scheepjes Arcadia yarn range as they have some gorgeous variegated colourways.

Well done Monica!

Karlien has been a busy bee, as she knit a second cowl from the book! She knit the Leiden cowl for her mum, and the Haelen cowl for her dad. And this one she also finished within a month! I’m so impressed, I have been knitting on mine for about 4 months haha. Here she used the same brown (062 Valencia) and cream (067 Buenos Aires), and added a brick red 064 Kraków. Gorgeous!

Many thanks to all featured knitters for taking the time to create a Ravelry project page and to upload their photos. It brings me so much joy to browse through them and I love the creativity in putting together unique colour combinations.

If you want to stay updated on the launch date of the English version of my book, the best way is to subscribe to my newsletter. In the meantime, follow me on Instagram for your dose of colour!