In Which the Pirate Loves Colour.

3KCBWDAY1 – Colour Lovers
Colour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one colour. Do the same with your finished projects – do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original colour that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over colour.

My stash, especially the handspun and fibre collection, has a lot of blues, greens, browns and neutrals in it. I can’t really wear the warmer colours well, but every so often I’m drawn to a bright orange or crazy colourway. In fact, when I picked the six balls of Kureyon that I used for the Stripey Striped Scarf, I deliberately chose colourways that I thought would clash. (I know, Kureyon can clash with itself, but I really went for the parrot-on-crack and clown-puke colourways.) They turned out to go together fairly well, which was a pleasant surprise that I try to remember when looking at braids of combed top at Sheep and Wool festivals: colours that look wrong in the braid or skein often look perfect in the finished yarn or project.

Sometimes I try to pick similar colours to the original pattern. In the case of the Pomatomus socks I thought the sea-greens and blues of the original were perfect for the scaly pattern, and couldn’t imagine the sock any other way. I didn’t use the exact yarn called for, but found some Plymouth Yarn Sockotta in just the right colour. The yarn was awful to knit with, but I persevered and after two years of procrastination I had perfect bluesy-green scaly socks. (I wish I could say that that was the longest I’ve ever procrastinated on a pair of socks, but the Stripey Striped Socks were begun over three years ago and i still haven’t finished them yet. Le sigh.)

Another pattern that I knit with the recommended colour was Blu – how could I have made blue jeans not blue with orange stitching? (I’m hoping to see Blu on one of the niecelets soon. They should be almost big enough to wear it soon!)

Other than that, I’ve done lots of socks, scarves and hats, and I rarely stick to the colour specified in the pattern. I try to pick patterns that will go well with the colour of the yarn, like using self-striping yarn for Jaywalkers or adjusting the number of stitches in a washcloth to get an argyle pattern. I don’t wear warm colours well, so I try not to use them in projects that will go near my face – but reds and yellows and oranges look great on socks, so I’d use them there. My favourite colours are green and purple, and I love them together, but I don’t love wearing them together. The latest washcloth, though, is a perfect dusty greens and purples blend.

Speaking of blue jeans, as anyone who’s ever been yarn shopping with me knows, when I look for sock yarn I almost always try to pick colours that will go well with them. This is a skein of Periwinkle Sheep, my only purchase (besides lunch) at Rhinebeck last year. I think it will go especially nicely with dark jeans. Goodness knows when I’ll get around to knitting it up, or what pattern I’ll eventually choose for this yarn. The green will spiral up and around the foot and leg, so I don’t think a complicated pattern would work well. Maybe I’ll use coordinating solid green yarn for the heels, toes and cuffs, and try an afterthought heel for the first time, so as not to interrupt the spiraling pattern.

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