Saturday, April 16, 2016

Color is All About Context

Well everyone, we are into the first week of the Spring Shawltime Thing a-long, and people are signing up and choosing yarn. Thus far, Forged JoyPommi and PearlsRustically Elegant Shoulder Warmer, the Wyvern Warmer, the Colorblocked Scarf, the Coleman Embossed Muffler, and Springtime Decadence Shawl are the popular designs, but there is still plenty of time for more participants and more design choices.

The fiber one chooses to work up any project is a multi-faceted decision - do I buy new, stash-bust, use beads (and if so, do the beads determine the color choice) are just some of the factors involved. For my personal Springtime Decadence Shawl, I went to stash to fashion my own gradient. My initial choices are on the right (with George Bailey photobomb, sort of). 

My goal was to work from light to dark, and to the left are the first three colors next to each other. As you can see, those two purples side by side don't have much distinction, and in fact the bottom purple actually brings out the gray in the middle purple. Not the best way to build a gradient, so I injected a deeper purple in between (photo to the right). See, now, how those two original purples pop so much more?


I then worked the first two colorways (Neighborhood Fiber Co. Penthouse Silk in Victorian Village and Louisa Harding Merletto), and then worked just one row of the pattern in the deeper purple (which is Noro Lily Yarn in colorway no. 18 - all three from deep stash). Here is what that looked like:


And to the right is the close-up of the lace fabric with both of the lighter purples with that one deeper purple row separating them. That one row provides just enough contrast to allow the lighter purples to shine. 

I may have changed up the traditional gradient color flow just a little bit, but the colors together now work so much better.

These photos were taken on the fly with my cell phone, but you'll see once I have better shots of the finished shawl that these colors look good together, with a little rearranging.

Colors and context are intricately linked.

Do feel free to join us over in my Ravelry group and make a shawl ... with whatever colors work for you.


Sunday, April 10, 2016

It's Spring - Time for Shawls

At least it's spring up here in these northern hemisphere parts! 

And so, with that comes the third K/Cal in my 12-month five year design anniversary - we'll be celebrating all things shawl, stole, and scarf in my Ravelry Spring Shawltime Thing thread between tomorrow, April 11 - Sunday, May 15. People are in the process of signing up, and there are 16 of my designs that qualify for lovely yarny prizes. Want to see them? Yeah, I thought so.


First up, an awesome magazine + yarn package from Annie's Publishing/Crochet! Magazine, including two back issues containing several of my designs and three (yes, count 'em 3!) skeins of Manos del Uruguay Fino. This silk and extra-fine merino blend is light and airy and will no doubt make some excellent warm weather finished items.


Additionally, Berroco has generously offered a Folio prize package - four skeins of Folio and their booklet #372 featuring knit designs utilizing this soft alpaca/rayon blend. I'll also be throwing in a printed, color edition of my Pommi & Pearls Shawl, which I plan on working up in Folio Luxe.

Pretty generous of them both, huh?

So c'mon, join us and let your own new shawl bloom this spring.






Friday, April 8, 2016

The Cowl-o-rama End is Near

Happy Friday everyone - I am pleased that we're coming to the end of Cowl-o-rama (this Sunday is the last day to post a photo of one's completed project), yet also just a little bit sad. I have come to realize just how much I love all aspects of cowls - designing them, making them, wearing them. As proof, here is my completed cowl, a tri-color version of the Cracked Glass Cowl.


I cannot tell you how much I love how this turned out! The color combination is awesome (if I do say so myself), and the lace edging and side inset, in Madelinetosh Tosh Light in the plaid blanket colorway, is simply amazing.
Get a load of the side
lace inset plaid blanket
colorway - just yummy

One of the best parts of this project was plotting and planning the fiber colors I would use. There is no doubt that I love, love, love playing with color. Watching this come together in exactly the way I anticipated was a real pleasure. When worn, the side lace inset figures prominently, and the bottom edging falls perfectly. Additionally, I really like how blocking highlighted the crocheted edging attachment as a design element.


Can you tell I'm just a wee bit pleased with this finished project? These colors scream fall to me, but I might need to wear it before then!

I hope everyone else is pleased with their current fiber projects, and I'm now looking forward to announcing my next anniversary a-long, so stay tuned.