Sunday, May 10, 2009

Color Palette




I have often felt that semi-solids don't get enough credit in the hand-dyed sock world. I love dyeing the pretty variegated yarns, and I love looking at them in their beautiful skeins, but I really knit a lot more with the semi-solids. They can be so rich. They behave so well. But for some reason, probably because they are not as flashy as their variegated siblings, they don't sell as well. But they are really beautiful for lace knitting, and there seems to be a new abundance of fair isle patterns for which semi-solids are fabulous.



One evening last month, I was frantically packing for spring break. (I know you have been in this situation--you have a family of 5 to pack for, for 9 days. It's whatever-o-clock at night, and you are leaving at whatever-o-clock in the morning, and you still have a million things to do. And what are you worried about? That's right. Your knitting. Will you have all the right yarn/needles/patterns/tools that you need? Will you run out of anything? Is it all portable enough? Etc., etc., etc.)



Well I was in that situation and I did my usual. Ignored all the chores and went into a trance-like state where all I could think about was the perfect sock yarn colors for this beret. Just between us, I spent more time picking out yarn colors for the beret than I did packing for my 4 traveling companions.





I ended up with a dark green Layers of Color Collection double-dye from a year ago, and Favorite Jeans. (In other words, dark green and medium periwinkle blue.) Two color knitting is so addicting. I was contemplating a matching (or maybe NOT matching but somewhat co-ordinating) pair of fingerless mitts.

Then a friend asked about possible combinations for the Garden Gate socks.
I'm thinking about making those too, but I might convert them into arm warmers instead of socks.
And just to throw another pattern at ya, here's a mitten pattern that has been in my queue for awhile.

So I started thinking about fun color combinations and started matching up friends. I came up with a zillion combinations; here are just a few:

Midnight and Cinnamon Spice

Cranberry and Olive

I Heart Pumpkin and Winterberry


My Favorite Shirt and Iced Coffee


Green is the New Black and My Favorite Shirt

Windy City and Iced Coffee

These are just a handful of the combinations I photographed. I will post some others on the Ravelry group or you can see all of them on my Flickr page.
I'll be updating my etsy shop tomorrow -Tuesday- evening at 7pm Central, and I'm posting all of these (plus more) semi-solids, and some of their flashier varigated siblings.

Happy Knitting!

7 Comments:

Anonymous Jodee DeBates said...

Happy Birthday Em!

10:14 AM  
Blogger rohanknitter said...

It's true- I tend to be drawn more to the colorful yarns in the skein, but then sometimes I end up having a hard time finding a good pattern for them - I've been trying to build up my selection of semi-solids so I've got more options.

10:14 AM  
Blogger Earl3d said...

Happy Birthday to the best Big Sis in the world!!!!

1:02 PM  
Blogger Guinifer said...

I was just posting about your variegated yarn today!

1:40 PM  
Blogger Chelsea said...

Oh my goodness, thank you for doing these! I know that you didn't do them for "me," but for all of your fans. I already see a great pair of Garden Gates (okay, several pairs) forming. I can't wait to visit the shop tomorrow.

Happy Birthday! I hope that you have a wonderful time celebrating with friends and family. And make sure that you get time for yourself, too - you are a busy woman! :)

9:12 PM  
Blogger gray la gran said...

the last time i went home to visit my mom for 4 nights, i packed a month's worth of yarn, patterns, and books! books! (heavy)
i SO get it. it's that fear of being w/o, and w/o "choices".
the semi-solids are beautiful.

8:26 PM  
Anonymous Katie said...

I adore the hand dyed semi-solids, too! They are my favorite!

If you're ever looking for another outlet for your yarns - I'd love to discuss consignment or wholesale! Your dying is beautiful!

2:27 PM  

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