I've hemmed and hawed about whether or not to participate in this year's Knitting and Crochet Blog week. I just looked at the topics this weekend--it was like procrastinating on homework. But I always have such a nice time reading other people's entries, I feel like I'd be missing out if I didn't give it a whirl.
So. Let's talk about color. I used to be really bad at picking out colors. Part of it stemmed from the sticker shock of knitting that I think most people go through--by and large, beautiful yarn is not particularly cheap. I'd scour eBay for screaming deals, and convince myself that Dishwater Yellow was a good investment (this particular garment ended up at Goodwill after a co-worker commented that it looked like I knitted up some vomit). I once knitted a sweater with a combination of cream and navy blue silk yarn, which looked quite nice together, but after knitting about 75% of the way through I realized that I could probably never, ever wash it because the navy would bleed onto the cream (and a swatch confirmed as much). It's dirty and...I don't know what to do with it.
I subconsciously started gravitating towards a particular type of yarn.
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| The yarn I'm working with right now, I'm making a zzzzzzzzzzzz. |
Fortunately, I realized I was doing this and have been trying to break out of the undyed yarn mold. Undyed yarn isn't a bad thing, but it should be a sometimes food. I still tend to gravitate towards earth tones, but I've been creeping out of my comfort zone for a while.
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| Look! TWO COLORS! |
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| My shoes inspired me to turn this color into a sweater. |
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| Fiery feet. |
I love the deep, rich tones, but I'm still learning how to put them together. I usually err on the side of caution by pairing a rich color with a neutral. Baby steps!
Socks are the best for creeping out of your color comfort zone. It's a relatively low-risk project- it's not like a ton of people will see them- and you get to see if those colors ACTUALLY match your wardrobe!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Collegeknitting on this one, even though I don't do socks - they're a great way to jump out of the comfort zone box. Scarves, too - but that requires more courage.
ReplyDeleteI see nothing wrong with liking undyed yarns. There are so many colors to choose from even without bright colors.
ReplyDeleteI love the green sneakers and the matching yarn. I have been trying to cut back on the brights and go for more natural colors but it's hard to resist the prettiness of color saturated yarns. Small accessories like cowls are also a great way to play with color without investing in a lot of yarn.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid to pick color combos; I once picked colors for my parents' house and when all was said and done, it was fugly! I mostly knit with semi-solids so I don't have to choose...
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