Color Play

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope this week (with its U.S. holiday) has allowed you to play with those fibers and colors you love most.

As for me, it's been about deadlines, current personal projects, and ... yes ... color, glorious color. After taking care of a project with a publishing deadline (oh, yeah - I am super thrilled about that project!), I have an update on my Cozy Chic cardi:

As you can see, I am making progress on the lower fabric of this bottom-up design. I am getting about ready to start the split for the armhole/sleeve sections. I am enjoying this yarn and colorway a lot. The crochet lace stitch pattern is also easily memorizable, so I have been able to take this project pretty much everywhere I go and work on it a little bit at a time, all the time. Definitely my kind of project.

At the same time, there is also a small challenge currently getting underway in the Ravelry Vogue Knitting Group, since this year VK will celebrate its 35th publishing anniversary (at least the modern version of the magazine). One of the group regulars decided she would celebrate such a publishing milestone by working a project from any issue published in 2017 ... as well as 2007, 1997, and 1987. Now that is some kind of way to celebrate. 

Since my own personal Vogue Knitting magazine library only dates back as far as 1991, I am a little behind the curve on 1987 (so to the public library I go). However, looking through my 1997 editions, I found a fair isle project that struck my fancy, and purchased the yarn pictured at the right for it. However, once I received it and mulled it over, I was not super thrilled with the light blue. As I have blogged about in the past, color and context are intricately linked. The blue lacks depth (and probably is a litttle too bland) for what I had in mind.

So, I went stash diving to find something to replace the blue (which will stay in my stash for use in some as-yet-known future project), and landed upon my always awesome skeins of Neighborhood Fiber Co. To the left, you will see what I eventually replaced the blue with: two skeins of NFC (one graffiti and one a color test) that, held together, will provide depth and a bridge between the dark blue and the solid green. 

You can, of course, also see the boxy fair isle pullover that this wonderfully colored yarn will become. I cannot believe how fresh the design still is today - remember, this was originally published in 1997. It is fun to see and hear participants not only talk about these designs from the Vogue Knitting archives, but to also see some of them in finished form pulled out and proudly displayed. 

Oh, the staying power of good design.

A Little Bit of Color

A small bit o' color from my world in the first six months of 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 Joy, Pommi and Pearls, Rustically 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.

Just in Time for Cowl-o-rama

I am pleased to introduce the newest cowl to my Ravelry Design Store, the Mixed Bag Cowl. 

As regular readers of the blog may remember, I originally blogged about this cowl's ILikeCrochet.com publication back in July of 2015. Well, my design rights have reverted back to me, I've created a second sample, snapped some additional lovely photos, et voila! an almost-brand-spanking-new cowl is ready and waiting for purchase.











I am showing a photo of both samples of this cowl together, so you may be able to see the color interplay not only within each sample, but between the two cowls side by side. There is one fiber that is common to both samples, Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in the shire colorway, but then the rest of the fibers are different in each. As you can see (and something I continually talk about), color is all about context - you may be able to pick out the Tosh Merino Light  in each sample, but together with other colors, it acts very differently. Love this, like a lot.

In fact, I love pretty much everything about this design. It's tunisian crochet (one of my favorite techniques), utilizes tri-strand colorwork, and is a study in color. Absolutely my sweet spots. I could make many of these cowls. 

Uh-oh.

Gradient, Ombre or Variegated?

We still have two weeks left in my hosted Gradient Flower Cowl CAL. I am astounded at all the lurkers watching Jackie and I create our cowls. I hope you're all getting good ideas for your own scrappy cowls. Of course, we'd welcome anyone who wants to join us. You can also vote in a wee poll to let Jackie know what version of this pattern she should make with all of her wonderful Koigu scraps - cowl, stole, scarf or (intake of breath!) throw. 

When Jackie posted one of her process photos, she mentioned her process for color placement:

"My loosely formulated plan is to begin each new motif in a color range that echoes a color from the previous motif. So, sort of a gradient color sweep in a way, but a lot more riotous color scheme. After all this is Koigu!"

I liked Jackie's thinking, but thought it might be nice to go a little more in-depth and discuss the differences between the terms gradient, ombre and variegated. They are tossed around a lot in the fiber business, and the painter in me loves to discuss color and palette.

A small example of
Noro variegated yarn
mid-photo.

Initially, let's start with the easiest (or at least most easily recognized) of these terms: variegated. In terms of fiber, variegated yarns are skeins which have been dyed with various amounts of different colors. There are techniques used in the dying process, such as "short color runs" and "long color runs" to produce various effects in the final fabric. The most renowned of variegated yarns is, of course, Noro. However, Koigu and the LB Amazing also fall into this category (and on the more high-contrast Amazing colorways, you can easily see this). If you want to see variegation in action in the natural world, check out my Pinterest Flowers board

A side view of LB Amazing in the Olympic
colorway. This is a radial gradient, meaning the
color goes light to dark radiating out from the
center of a circle.

Next, there's gradient. Gradient, in terms of color, is a progression of different colors that are position-dependent and usually go from light to dark, or vice versa, within a defined surface or area. If you designate a square or circle in your word processing program be filled with color, usually one of many options is to make the color a gradient. It is very pleasing to the eye to see a progression of color. Even if you look closely at any variegated yarn, you'll see small pockets of gradient color in the transition from one color to another. In my original Gradient Flower Cowl sample (which inspiration came directly from my Pinterest flower board), I attempted to herd the colorways, using both ends of the skein, into lighter shades at the top and deeper shades at the bottom. Even though there might be some lighter colored motifs in the final rows of the original sample, taken together, it produces a gradient that generally goes from light at the top of the trapezoid to dark at the bottom of the trapezoid using several different colors. 

My sample Gradient Flower Cowl
for Crochet! Magazine. This photo
captures the lighter (and perhaps
more vibrant) color at the top, and the
darker, more muted colors at the bottom.

Finally, there's ombre. This term generally refers to mixing and blending hues of the same color in a progression of light to dark and (sometimes) back again. The best example, at least for my and this CAL's purposes, is the LB Scarfie. If you look at my photo of the sides of each skein of the prize colorways in the CAL, you'll easily see how, generally speaking (artists and, in this instance, Lion Brand, can certainly take liberties with the notion of one color), using a progression of shades of the same color allows the color to go from light to dark.

Lion Brand Scarfie as seen from the side, with the
denim/navy colorway farthest on the left.

When I'm painting, I can create a vibrant palette, with not one shade out of place or jarring to the eye, by using only one or two different primary colors (red, blue, yellow) and mixing various amounts of either white or black. The best Scarfie example would be the denim/navy colorway - white added to the original blue will yield the denim side of the spectrum, and adding black will yield the navy side of the colorway.

While my first finished cowl in this CAL uses mostly greens and blues, the gradient is subtle. However, on my second cowl (in fingering weight) you can easily see how I'm going from light to dark, even in this early process photo below.

It's quite all right that I have some darker colors right next to light ones, because it's the overall effect across the entire area (the trapezoid shape) of the cowl that my eye will scan. It will see light to dark, and be pleased.

Think about these terms the next time you're viewing the scraps in your stash and come up with combinations to achieve the effect that is most pleasing to your eye. 

Happy coloring!

Knitted Wraps & Cover-ups - Book Review

Knitted Wraps & Cover-ups
Paperback; 132 pages; 8.5 x 11"
Publisher: Stackpole Books (July 15, 2015)
ISBN-10: 0811714446
ISBN-13:978-0811714440
Language: English

Trust the art, not the artist, so the adage goes. D.H. Lawrence believed it was the critic’s role to rescue the art (in his instance, the tale) from the artist. I’m pleased to let you know that no rescuing is needed for Knitted Wraps and Cover-ups, the latest book of hand knit designs from Annie Modesitt. These designs stand up just fine all on their own, no critical help needed.

The Fitted Lace Off-Shoulder Top, photograph
by Laura Neel, used with permission from
Annie Modesitt.

I admit to being a big fan of Modesitt well before my own crochet and knit designing career began. Additionally, given my own recently self-published freshman book of designs, it was hard for me to decide which hat to wear for this review – the fan hat, the designer hat, the book/maker hat, the artist hat? As you’ll see, I pretty much wore all of them.

My swatch of the lace pattern (one
complete repeat worked over 20 sts + rib
selvage) from The Fitted Lace Off-Shoulder
Top, worked up in Patons Lace Sequins on
U.S. size 5 needles (and my gauge was good!)

Modesitt is known for designs with a dramatic and/or costume flair, and there are certainly several designs in this book to feed that appetite in any knitter. Lots of bold color (stained glass was her inspiration for three of the designs, and one other, the Morse Code Cowl, certainly veers in the stained glass direction from a color perspective), and those bold chunky cables on the cover pieces, worn together, would certainly fall into the above categories. 

However, I found myself drawn almost instantly to the lace designs in this collection. The Sweet Lace Bolero and the Fitted Lace Off-Shoulder Top are both pieces that if you’re a lace lover like me, you’ll definitely want to make. I’ve already worked up a quick swatch of the lace for the Fitted Lace Off-Shoulder Top with whatever appropriate weight yarn I had close at hand. It’s a pretty lace pattern, and combined with the back and sleeve ribbing detail, will make a beautiful top. Both of these lace designs can easily be worked in longer form for those who might not want a cropped cover-up.

Plaid Vest, photograph by Laura Neel, used
with permission from Annie Modesitt

There are, of course, other designs that appealed to me: the Lace Cuff Shrug (an easy piece with just a hint of lace at the cuffs), the Plaid Vest (and I’m usually not a vest lover), and the Basketweave Bolero all have great texture and color appeal, yet are easily constructed and quick projects that should provide knitters with reasonably instant gratification.

The designer in me was impressed with the number of pieces in this collection. Knitters will be pleased with such rich choices all in one book. The book/maker in me loved the written as well as charted instructions, the schematics, the strong terms and abbreviations section as well as the ending visual index. The techniques section I found slightly perfunctory (yet still crystal clear in the instruction department), although I can empathize with Modesitt. She saved it all for the designs!

While one could certainly argue that designing is a personal act, not all designers come from such a place. I found Knitted Wraps & Cover-ups a uniquely personal collection, and much of Modesitt’s personality shines through between, as well as on, the covers. From her use of models (one is a family member), to her introduction (when was the last time you read a designer’s description of pattern writing as “democratic?”) to the range of designs themselves, I came away with a composite sketch of Modesitt as inclusive, traveled, and someone who cares deeply about knitting techniques and process.

In the end, not only can you trust the art of the designs in Knitted Wraps & Cover-ups, you can and should trust the artist as well.

A Little Color Adjustment

Hello everyone - I hope each of you had a great extended weekend! 

We are in the home stretch of my two-month-long Spring Flingy Thingy (it ends 5/31), so I am in the process of completing some projects and still working through others. 

As a result, I spent some of the long weekend doing some project color corrections. I am working on two cowls from Leather, Lace, Grit & Grace - a tri-color version of the Cracked Glass Cowl as well as a WASPs Cowl (which I blogged about here on Friday). Here were my original color choices for both cowls, respectively:

Greens for my tri-color
Cracked Glass Cowl

Initial blues and cream for
my WASPs Cowl

Looking good in theory, yes? So I tucked into the WASPs cowl yesterday and pretty quickly ran into a color snag. The mid blue-looking skein (it's really Teal shown here from the Wonder Why Alpaca Farm, LLC) in the middle was all wrong with the other blues. It was not playing so nicely; in fact, against the other blues it almost seemed to have a neon edge to it - definitely not what I had in mind for this cowl. Sooo, I ripped back and started to switch things around. I decided to break up all those cool blue tones and inject something with a warm undertone, as well as jettison (temporarily! this has a happy teal ending - just wait) the WWAF teal. Below is what I settled upon.

The cream skein in the background will remain for the cowl's edging. I swapped out the blue-green shire colorway (Madtosh Light) in the background of the before photo for the lighter gin blue Twisted Sisters yarn on the left in the after photo to the right, kept the Harrisville Design's deep blue and inserted a skein of Jamieson's of Shetland two-ply in the sand colorway which has just enough hint of peachy-pink to warm up the blues. As you'll see from the below photo, I think I made some excellent substitutions.

My WASPs Cowl - take two

I'm really liking how these three colorways are behaving together. That gin blue still has some pop to it, yet with the addition of the warm undertones of the Jamieson's the cowl will play nicely with my skintone. 

Now I still needed to deal with my small teal dilemma - I love the colorway and the yarn and wanted to use it in such a way to get the best out of it. I decided that if it didn't play nicely in the blue sandbox, maybe it would play better in the green one - and eureka! a greeny-blue star was born. Get a load of how I combined it in my tri-color Cracked Glass cowl.

My new, improved Cracked Glass palette

I swapped out the deeper green for the teal, and look how wonderfully it is getting along in its new home. I love, love, love this combination and cannot wait to complete a few other projects so I can resume working on it. There is nothing like a great (to me) color combination to get my project juices flowing.

Color only really comes to life when it's beside other color(s). I am so glad I adjusted the color palettes of both these projects. Now I need to hook like the wind so I can see how they turn out. 

Do take advantage of this last week in the Voie de Vie Spring Flingy Thingy and do something that will earn you an entry for the yarny prize draw at the end. Go here to check all the ways to play, including completing a project in our a-long. There's still time, everyone!

(Just Another) Melange Monday

Yes, folks - it's time for another edition of melange - it is Monday, after all.

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I can't say I'm a huge fan of classical music, but I do love Mozart. Genius notwithstanding, he was also a prolific letter writer. I read many of his published letters (in translation - he wrote in three languages) for an undergraduate humanities course. That was also my first introduction to his older sister, Maria Anna, an accomplished musician in her own right. Over the weekend I watched the movie Mozart's Sister (or, in the original French, "Nannerl, la soeur de Mozart") which re-imagines, to a great extent, Maria Anna's story. While the re-imagining comes from a very feminist perspective (which was an intriguing counterpoint, given how Maria Anna completely obeyed her father, who held conventional views of the day concerning the role of women), it's also highly entertaining, not to mention lush and a real feast for the ears as well as eyes. From a fiber arts perspective, I'd highly recommend watching this - Maria Anna wears some wonderful shawls and neckware, one of which looked hand crocheted. Lots to inspire a fiber artist here (not to mention the music lover).

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As you can see from the photograph above (taken over this past weekend), the leaves are just starting to turn color. Like a hand and glove, I instantly think all things pumpkin when I see leaves turning, so I thought I'd share a little visual stroll down pumpkin/squash memory lane.

As you can see, I eat pumpkin. I decorate with pumpkin. I even seek it out in foreign countries (the middle shot is from France).

What can I say? Behold the power of autumn orange. :)

Color Inspiration

 

I Love This Friday's Fee-Fi(ber)-F.O.

A quick shot of the blocks during
the making of La Peinture

 I have been waiting ages to announce this latest
 project - and now I can, yippee, yippee, yippee
 (can you see me doing the happy dance?)!

 This design is a colorful blanket, and is based
 on one of my paintings:



Photo courtesy of Annie's

The La Peinture Blanket will be published in the summer issue of Crochet! Magazine, which should be available electronically sometime today, 5/10. The print magazine is scheduled to hit newsstands around June 4th.

I absolutely loved making this blanket. Choosing the yarn colorways took a little time - it was a treat, though, to be certain. (And, since it's been so long since I created the design and sample, one of original colorways has been discontinued and we've come up with a replacement. It's only one skein - a minor change that will not take anything away from the rest of the glorious color.)

I do really like how the magazine styled the blanket - a simple, neutral backdrop and little pops of color on the side to bring out the colors in the blanket. I also need to let everyone know that there's an actual article on the blanket in the magazine! I am beside myself. Really. I cannot wait to read it since I really have no idea what's written; additionally, I think there might be one or two other things up the magazine (and my) respective sleeves in connection with this design. You have no idea how excited I am.


Getting the pieces of
the blanket all together

 I hope this will be a project upon which
 crafters will put their own color stamp. I
 had a ready template - my own painting!
 But trust me, if you can single and double
 crochet, and love color, this is definitely
 the project for you.

 Now head on over to Andrea (the Wonder
 Why Gal) at Wisdom Begins in Wonder 
 and let everyone know what yarny colorful
 things you've been up to.

 And to all the moms out there - happy Mother's Day weekend (in the U.S.)!

My Favorite - Color Review!

Here we are at the high water mark of this year's KniCroBlo week - the color day. There is nothing I adore more than talking about yarn color.

Color, color, color. The best place to start is with my stash. I decided to display my stash (well, most of it anyway) in blocks of color. Not only did that just make sense to me, but I was amazed at some of the things that became apparent once I had the five blocks all set up.

So, from front to back: the red block, the gray/cream block, the green block, the pinky/peachy/rust-ish block, and finally the blue block all the way at the far end. Additionally, I could have had a small purple block, as well as an equally small brown block, but there was no more room on the table.

It is clear to me that I actually enjoy stashing across a fairly wide color spectrum. There can also be little doubt that I love the red, green and pinky/peachy/rust blocks the best. The cream/gray block was sort of a surprise, in that I didn't realize I actually had that much neutral in the stash, although I do love that color combo. The other big suprise was the blue block: I thought I'd have far more than what's there.

Notably absent from the blocks are black and yellow. So much for being a bee. Can I please be a red and peach bee? Or perhaps a green and cream bee? Is there a snowball's chance in hell Mother Nature will help me out here?

It's somewhat difficult to get an accurate read on whether or not my projects reflect my stash since I design; in many instances, the project color is not something I can control. I also haven't included the small remains from previous design projects, because it would throw off my color preferences. 

Ok, isn't the block to the left just luscious? I do about 35% of my projects from this part of the color wheel (and stay tuned for a little later in the week - I've got a new project just completed from this block o' colors); I would do far more if I could - but of course I don't want to alienate the other colors I love. Colors have feelings too. Yes, yes they do.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the color out there in stashdom. C'mon people, show us some color!





Spring in the 'Hood