Color Works!

I am one of those who depend on others to tell me if a color works.  As in does one go with another (or two or three).  The trick I have learned is to depend heavily on the indie dyers out there.  They have it rocking!  My current favorite is Baah! from which the Muscadine socks are knit.  By the, should you be wondering, one sock is complete but finding time to cast on the second is turning out to be the real challenge for this pair.

But, back to color.  For more that several years Colleen Davis has inspired me to go bold with color.  This week, Colleen spoke to the San Diego North Coast Knitters Guild in Encinitas, CA.  We all need a refresher course in color gradation, color blips for pizazz and general success with a project.  

Colleen brought a whole heap of items to share and show how her color sense works.  This is more organized than the photo appears - there was a fashion show, items on a womannequin as well as the table of samples.

 To my right, just sitting there as knitters are want to do was this inspiration.  In the foreground, a knee length vest knit of textures in green and taupe with a shot of orange.  Talk about a blip of color!  But it worked!  Fabulously.  And I say that as one who does not do orange.

Just beyond, is a knitter after my own heart.  She bought a colorway that sways from bright to deeply shaded green and let the yarn do the talking with out interruption. 

Here is one of Colleen's creations.  Notice the gradation of purples on the back of this jacket.  Moving along the color spectrum as well as the texture spectrum gives her work a dimensionality that is like sculpture.

But then comes the pop of those reds and oranges  broken up by the darkest repeating of the purple.  Absolutely fabulous.   

I have several of Colleen's patterns.  The one that I did make - it was a vest in brown/black/gold - went away to an admirer.  Me thinks it is time to pull the stash and put together the colors for another Bold Knit.

 Check this out!  Talk about inspirational.  And Bold.  And so Colleen Davis.  I love the bottom two rows of color.  But moving into the middle and the top and I start to panic over the orange.  

Major hint from Colleen:  Stick to black to unify a color scheme.  White, when used in the same way as black, sucks the life out of all the surrounding color.  

I know that I tend to play it too safe with mixing it up.  I know that I am too safe (or wimpy) because I adore every thing in this basket.  Shades of Grey.  Only shades of grey.  Ahh.  Peaceful times both in the working and the wearing.  And so easy to blend in when what I'm wearing does not stand out in any way.

My heart belongs here, though.  Teal, jade and everything in and around those colors.  This to me is inspiring.  Not a blip of orange anywhere.

Thank you Colleen, you are an inspiration and living proof that color works!

Colorful Completion

Tis done!  Two matching wristers are completed and all of those ends are woven in.  Even the picot hems are stitched neatly into place.

Things I loved about BBR's class and this project:

*  discovering that working a cast on edge with two colors is exactly the same as working with one color.  Huge impact with the same old thing.

* accepting that changing color on every row results in lots and lots of ends that look like dreadlocks needing to be controlled.

* acknowledging that weaving in ends is nothing to dread.  Fretting takes more time and doing.

*  delighting in the mystery that is twined knitting - or purling as a the case may be.

Here we have visual proof that two matching little wrist cuffs are completed.  The colors make me happy and bring a bit of festivity to a black sweater.  I am particularly happy with this:

The fit!

Learning From A Master

Dinner with Beth Brown-Reinsel was a relaxed joy.   Beth was in town to teach for two local guilds and a few of us took her to dinner on Friday evening.  The conversation flowed and circled around and through lots of topics.  Her three European teaching trips over the summer provided all manner of query and response.  The just released program for Stitches West brought another lively topic.

Then, there was the sourcing of yarn for twined knitting and a lovely discussion of S-ply vs. Z ply and Europe vs. America vs. the world.  Beth is quite handy with the facts and rationale for all manner of yarn manufacture.  Beth also told us (OK - shameless plug for her shameless plug for the event) about her next teaching cruise in 2012 up to Alaska.  The details are not yet posted but you'll want to drool over at the Craft Cruises website.

Saturday brought a full day of classes with this dynamic teacher.  We studied  various cast on methods and how to incorporate more than one color into the start of a project.  The whole afternoon was devoted to exploring traditional motifs and techniques by completing  Latvian Wristers.  

Completing - might be too strong of a word.  Working toward completion is a better description.  This is my first wrister.  The knitting is done; there is much post-production work on the horizon!  I am thinking that the best course is to complete the mate and then deal with the weaving and hemming in one sitting.  This work has me so excited that I do not wish to go to the dark side of second wrister syndrome and never finish the mate.  

Never did I think of my self as loving fiddly color work much less gaining proficiency at twined work.   I am hooked - not in a crochet way, rather in smitten with these techniques.  Just look at that loveliness.  Once those ends are woven to close up the color change holes and the picot hem is turned inside this will be a work of art and inspiration.  Already the skills learned in this few inches are banging around in the knit vision and all manner of possible incorporation into next projects is coalescing in my little brain. 

Thank you Beth!  Another student is addicted to this style - especially that herringbone braid.