Okay, since I’ve asked you to answer a little color meme it is only fair if I share my answers with you too, I suppose! So, here i is…
1. What is your current favorite color?
I have quite a few - dark brown, orange, olive, sage, deep purple/plum, turquoise/teal. In reality, there are few colors I dislike, just colors that are inappropriate for certain applications.
2. Has your favorite color changed over the years?
Yes and no. I go through phases where I’m more drawn to the earthy versions - muted, toned down and more in the blue/black/brown/green spectrum with little warm colors, but it always seems to swing back to liking at least a few warm colors as well. It has been interesting to watch my closet evolve over the years. Makes me think I should take annual pics of it and watch how it changes for real rather than just as I imagine in changes :-)
What I do find interesting is that I had an early birthday (I think 3, mom thinks 1, but I don’t think I was communicative enough at 1 to pull it off) where *everything* had to be orange - right down to the “leaves” on the otherwise peachy-colors cake! Oranges and rusts have been becoming more and more attractive to me in the last 5 years or so again.
3. Is your current favorite color one that is currently trendy? (Do you see it in the fashion rags or on the clothes rack or in the linen aisle right now? How about 5 years ago?)
Orange has been trendy. I suspect it is kind of fading its way back out. I mean Apple dropped the orange Shuffles with their latest rev, so it must be on the way out, right? Thank goodness I already have a nice orange sleeve for my Nano ;-) The other colors I like most tend to hang on throughout the years, sometimes a variant in saturation or tone is more popular than another, but they tend to be found here or there.
I wouldn’t call myself a trendsetter by any means, but I due tend to be a bit ahead of the curve on my color preferences. Case in point? My Not-So-Squatty which I knit two years ago, from yarn that was bought a year or maybe even two before that. Then, last year SmartWool put out some knee highs in a similar color combo. See, a bit ahead of the curve…
4. What is your favorite color combination?
I love a rich brown (cool or warm) with nearly any pastel. In fact, that is about the only way I like my pastels - in deep contrast with brown or sometimes black.
One of my fav color combos for the last several years has been orange/rust/violet/plum/turquoise like I used in my Not-So-Squatty. I then have taken clues from that colorway for the roving I spun and knit into the Queen of Diamonds and into the secret spiral project. I even dyed some more roving in a similar colorway this spring/summer.
I love to play with color and color combos so I think I would be pretty hard pressed to find a color combo I didn’t like. Though not all color combos are suitable for wear or home decor etc. I usually appreciate most color combos I come across in daily living.
5. Is that combination a popular one? (Is it use in prints you see in the stores and catalogs and magazines now? How about 5 years ago?)
The dark brown with pink or teal/turquoise/aqua are very popular right now and I’m loving it. The orange and teal/turquoise is starting to pop up more and more now too, but not along with the violet and plum, though I have seen a bit of the orange with violet and plum as well.
6. What is your favorite way of using color in your knitting? (Are you a stranded knitter? Do you prefer simple stripes? Do you prefer just accents at the hems/collars?)
I have shied away from colorwork for the most part. Partially because I tend to knit socks most of the time. So, up to this point I’ve left the color in my knitting up to the fabulous dyers out there and occasionally have pulled out my own dye pot. I have, however, lusted after many a Scandinavian sweater (sometime I will have one complete with the pewter toggles - I swear) and I am very excited to have this opportunity to get my hand held via the Ethnic Knitting worksheets while designing one that is all “KRISTI!”
I love color so much and it has always played a pretty important role in my life so I appreciate color in knitting in stripes, colorwork, and as accents. Though I have stayed away from striping due to the lack of flattery of horizontal stripes. I should put a side-to-side knit sweater in my queue one of these days so I can have fun stripes, but not have to worry about the horizontal issue!
7. What colors look good on you?
Earthy tones tend to go quite well with my skin tone, which tends to have a nice golden tint when I’m tanned (like from all the gardening I’ve done this summer). At the same time, I get lots of compliments when I wear certain magenta/cranberry colors. Oddly those are all cool forms of red, yet the earthy tones look good. It confuses me a bit. I have no idea what season I am. I know at make-up counters I think I often get made-up with spring colors, but again the autumnal colors look good on me too. I shoudl go dust off that flea market copy of Color Me Beautiful!
8. What colors look bad on you?
I don’t care to wear true reds near my face. Amanda and Ashley say I’m over thinking, but I feel when I wear red near my face that it brings out the terrible adult acne I have. Very yellow-based greens that are at the lighter end of the spectrum tend to make me look gravely ill. I love lime green, but it can’t be near my face! I am also starting to question how well the bright peachy/coral colors I’ve been picking up lately look on me. It’s hard to tell as our main larger mirror is in a room that is painted yellow-y toned and has bad lighting, but I tend to cringe a bit when I see myself wearing those.
9. Do you wear colors that don’t look good on you just because you like them?
In general I’d say no, but see above about the peachy/coral colors :-) Amanda, Ashley, should I pass those tees and tanks onto someone else next year?
10. What is your favorite neutral color? black/white/ivory/tan/brown/gray – if brown or gray do you prefer cool or warm versions of those or does it matter? And, how dark?
I love them all! In most cases I don’t care about the darkness. I do tend towards cool gray and warm browns/tans, but I’m not exclusive in that. In fact, a lot of my browns are cool because that is what has been available at the time I purchased them.
11. Is there a sweater pattern that uses more than one color that you’d like to make, but you wish to change the colors from what is published? If yes, which one? What do you not like about the published colors?
There isn’t a pattern this is popping to mind right now. The ones popping into mind are ones where I’ve found the chosen colorway to be striking.
Additional Posts in the Color Series
. She gets to spend a lot of time in a small cottage in England, she gets to communicate with ghost and solve mysteries, all while learning to be a good cook and having a quite lovely (yet realistic) relationship with her family. Keep in mind I’ve only read the first three books of the series so far. I reserve the right to change my mind :-)