Fiber Fool

Forget Eye Candy Friday! What could be a better way to kick off the weekend than laughter? Okay, we’ll start with the pretty first…

Any one recognize this patently girl-y yarn from earlier this summer? Well, I was feeling a bit haunted by my UFOs lately. Some would be quick fixes if I just sat down and did the tedious part of picking up stitches and frogging. While I was recovering from the Labor Day Weekend Bug ™, I swatched for my sweater. While I waited for that sizeable swatch (almost the size of a sleeve, I kid you not - in fact, it fit as a leg warmer) to dry I decided it would be a good time to tackle some of those quick fix things to hopefully up the FO count and decrease the UFO count.

I figured the Fugly Fountain of Youth socks would be the quickest to get to the FO state. Not to mention before too long it’ll be too chilly for shorty socks and I’m already longing for autumnal colors, not these fun spring/summer colors. So I took small needle to cuff and then frogged. Then I knit.

You know, I went into this cocky. Perhaps that is where I went wrong? I really did not think it possible for these anklets to get uglier, but they have exceeded fugly! It’s not the yarn, it isn’t the stitch pattern. In fact, for a varigated yarn I find the stitch pattern to stand on its own against it quite well. It’s all in that &#(@ darn ruffle that is evading me.

I’m not sure if the problem is knitting for too long after the increases for the ruffle (the stitch pattern instructions give no hint on that front). Or, perhaps my bind off is reducing the curling some? Maybe it is because I wanted very shorty socks and there just isn’t a way for the ruffle to do so when it is forming almost right corners on each side of foot. I haven’t yet decided what to do. I am *extremely* thankful that I had the foresight to only fix one sock at a time, rather than both!

*sigh* The problems one runs into when doing a concept design.

While it looks closer to what I envisioned in my head when it is in my cute orange dansko clogs, I don’t think I’d ever wear them in this state - at least not outside the house and even inside the house only if I hadn’t gotten to wash all the rest of the hand knit socks. I figure I have a few choices for proceeding…

• Frog back to the ribbing and just bind off there and call it good enough for now, and revisit my idea for the pattern when it is once again more weather appropriate
• Frog back all the way to the end of the heel and the instep design, knit the design all the way around the leg for 1-2 inches to where the sock looks more straight across the top rather making right angles between the instep and heel and then try the ruffle
• Frog back the second sock, do the ruffle as I just did, except make it half as tall, then wash both to see if a bath relaxes the fabric enough to make it ruffle more and then choose my preferred sock and make the other one match
• Frog back to the end of the heel and instep stitch pattern and picot the top like I did on my sunshine anklets
• Toss them in a bag and forget about their existence until late winter when I’m dreaming of color again

I really have no idea which way I’ll go. I really would like to cross off another UFO sometime soon, but will have deadline knitting/spinning pressing upon me pretty quickly too. In the meantime, I suspect I’ll spend some time this weekend sketching out more design ideas that I need to get down on paper until I can do something with them. I may perhaps fix the design issue with the Bixbite socks as well. Wish me luck!

I hope the laughter you have gotten from these socks has been a good way to start your weekend! Have a good one!

Color, in the scientific sense is a property of an object to reflect light at certain wavelengths. However, color plays such a large roll in our daily perceptions that the word has come to have many other meanings outside of just describing the appearance of something. Case in point? It is not unusual to talk about the “color of music” of speak of a “colorful character” (and not just in reference to how that person dresses).

Color is a *very* large part of our daily lives, even if you do not go around taking notes of striking color combinations you see on a billboard sign or in a garden in your neighborhood. It means color is also a very personal thing. While we may go through phases in our color tastes (often impacted at least in part by current fashion and decor trends), in general those who know us can often peg our tastes quite accurately. Color in our knitting (and other crafting as well) can be a great way for us to express ourselves, but choosing colors from a nearly unlimited palette, a less than ideal palette, or changing the color scheme of a published design can be intimidating. On the opposite side, just because we are comfortable with a certain color combination doesn’t mean it is the best choice for every type of project.

Because this is primarily a knitting/spinning blog I’m going to address some issues of color over the next few weeks or so from the point of view of knitting. To do so it is important that we are all on the same page when describing color. So, first up is a brief intro to the vocabulary of color, starting with hue.

Hue

Hue describes the characteristic of a color or the wavelength that is being emitted. It is what differentiates red from violet and so on. It is described by the color name. Fancy names such as olive or cranberry are not hues, however. They are descriptors for more complex colors that are not just a pure hue. If you added the color family name onto those colors you would then be identifying the hue. For example, take olive green – it is a form of a green hue. The same goes for cranberry red – it is a form of a red hue. Hues usually are described with no more detail than the tertiary colors (defined below) and more often the secondary colors (also defined below).

Primary Colors

As the name implies, the color wheel is a continuous wheel of color. It starts out with the three primary colors. Primary colors are colors that cannot be made by mixing other colors together, but instead can be mixed in varying proportions to create any of the other non-primary colors. The three primary colors are red, yellow and blue.

Secondary Colors

The secondary colors are those made by mixing neighboring primary colors in equal amounts. These will fill out the color wheel to match what we as kids considered the “rainbow colors.” The three secondary colors are orange, green, and violet.

Tertiary Colors

There are six tertiary colors made by mixing the neighboring primary colors in unequal amounts. This means each of the three secondary colors can lean more in either direction. The names are described with the dominant primary color listed before the secondary color it resembles. The six tertiary colors are red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet (sometimes called purple), and red-violet.

The Neutrals

You will notice that these rudimentary color wheels have no neutrals in them. There is no black, white, gray, tan, or brown. Well, those are more complex colors. When you are talking about a white object, it means it is reflecting all light. A black object is the opposite – it absorbs all light and reflects none. It gets even more complex when you look at it in terms of mixing paint. Obviously you can’t mix white from other colors and often when you try to mix black you end up with some form of brown.

Browns and grays are tricky as well. Brown is usually made by mixing equal parts of the three primary colors or alternately by mixing a primary with it’s complementary secondary color (the colors directly opposite on the color wheel), this leads to a wide range of browns that can be either cool or warm in their appearance. Each of the circles in the graphic above had a 5 px average color sample taken and was placed into the grid of the graphic below. Notice how the “browns” on the left are warm and move towards cooler “browns” on the right.

Grays are usually just a toned version of black. If black is made by mixing it can be warm or cool depending on the ratios of all the colors being mixed. It is often harder to judge that in black, but once you tone the black down into a gray it is easily seen to be a warm or a cool gray just as we saw with the “browns” above.

——-

If some of the descriptions in this first post were intimidating, don’t worry I’ll be covering them in the next installment. Don’t be shy about asking questions. I’ll e-mail you back or answer your questions in the follow-up posts. If this post was all familiar to you keep checking back as it will taking a more knitting-centric view as we progress.

Studying color on the computer is not ideal as everyone’s monitor will display colors differently. This is also what makes it so hard to choose yarn on-line for a project. Access to a functioning color wheel will come in handy as the series progresses. Many color wheels are set up to help you mix color, but if you can locate one that does not focus on that you may find it a bit easier to use for knit design. My favorite color wheel is by EK Success, which comes in a size small enough to keep in your knitting bag and contains some helpful hints in identifying some of the classic color harmonies. There is also a good color wheel and template overlays available as part of Color Works by Deb Menz if you can locate a copy.

Coming up next? Tonal families, chromaticity, color temperature, value, saturation and more!

Additional Posts in the Series

• Intro Stuff - Colors and Design
• Intro Stuff - My Color Meme Answers
• Part II: Color Descriptors I
• Part III: Color Descriptors II
• Part IV: Contrasts and Perceptions

On Saturday, before I was felled with DH’s Labor Day Weekend Bug ™ (yes, it took two weeks plus a few days for me to actually get sick) Ashley and I went on a mini yarn crawl. See, the Saturday prior Ashley had won a $10 gift certificate for Mew Mew’s Yarn Shop in Louisville, Colorado and this weekend her SO had headphones growing out his ears and had become one with an O-chem book. So, Saturday morning we headed down the Interstate, through Lafayette and into Louisville. The yarn shop was very easy to locate, being right on the main street heading into downtown. However I have to say we were a little scared when we first pulled up.

If you squint, you might be able to see a sign on the building just right of center and be able to read “yarn shop” on it. That was, fortunately easily spotted. However, all those used cars had us a bit confused. There didn’t really seem to be much parking, so Ashley pulled into a spot, and a man came swiftly out of the auto body side of the building and kindly directed us to the “Yarn Customer Parking.” There are only 5 spots, so if you’re attending a class or big sale you should plan to be early in order to secure on of those spots! ;-)

All used cars aside, Mew Mew’s Yarn Shop is a wonderful little surprise. The shop is quite small, but it is packed with a lovely yarn selection. Upon first entering the shop, there were some lovely locally made bags, some kits of the Tulip Sweater and such and then a huge selection of Digit Yarn from Nancy’s Knit Knacks. There was a good selection of sock yarn, including Trekking, Crystal Palace, and Universal. Much of Plymouth’s alpaca yarn line was available there. For general hard working yarn there was Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride, some Galway, and a US-spun brand that contains 40 or 60% New Zealand wool. There was even a bit of spinning fiber and accessories.

The needle and accessories available were varied and well stocked. And for a small shop, the book selection was great as well, including some lace knitting books I had never seen before!

If you are severely allergic to cats you will probably want to give Mew Mew’s a miss, as they have a shop cat who is still a bit young and overly active. I am allergic, but have the most problems if they break my skin with their teeth or nails so it was not a problem for me.

Since neither Ashley nor I were familiar with Louisville we decided to wander on into the downtown area. I loved their downtown area. It was dotted with little specialty shops and a large number of restaurants, most of which were not chains. We saw this nice purple building that was bustling with activity and saw it was a bakery and tea house and decide to put our names on the waiting list for lunch at The Huckleberry. We then grabbed our knitting and saw down outside while we waited. It was a lovely day and it was fantastic to sit out in the autumn sun knitting. People in downtown Louisville were very friendly as well; we had several people stop and talk to us. Well, mostly they talked to Ashley as I was only just getting started on my swatch so it wasn’t recognizable as anything.

The food was certainly worth the 20 minute wait to be seated. My reuben was unusual, but fantastic. The sauerkraut on it did not have the usual pungency. There was extra sweetness to the sandwich as well. I’m guessing here, but I think they grilled the sauerkraut with the onions. The fries were also very good - nice and thin and I suspect homemade, not frozen. I believe Ashley was as happy with her BLT. What I also liked about The Huckleberry is that is two buildings connected now with a breezeway, so there are many rooms which helps to break up the sound. Some of the rooms had comfy, non-dining seating in addition to tables and chairs. There were also some nook areas that would make it a great place to hang out to study or work as well. It was unanimous that The Huckleberry become our Whistle Stop Cafe of Louisville. Oh, and if you are vegetarian you have no worries! There are several entrees that are naturally vegetarian, they serve breakfast quite late and that also includes many vegetarian options and all of their burgers are available with a homemade veggie pattie.

A project change occurred between the knit-out and our adventure this weekend so we needed to head into Boulder to hit Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins once more for an additional skein of yarn. We discovered if you head North on the street where The Huckleberry is and continue until you reach a stop light for West South Boulder Rd, take a left and you come into Boulder on Table Mesa - the street that Shuttles is on! We were there in literally ten minutes (minus parking time). I think we have a new regional yarn crawl agenda to add to our list! We’re excited to try high tea at The Huckleberry sometime, though Mew’s Mew’s should definitely be stopped at before Shuttles… We’ll need to figure out how to work that out!

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

• Intro Stuff - Colors and Design
• Part I: Hue and the Color Wheel
• Part II: Color Descriptors I

Yikes! I’ve been using a spreadsheet to help me chart my boatneck sweater. The scientific/geek side of me said, “Kristi, you have the whole sweater charted in the spreadsheet, why not use that to help you estimate the yardage you’ll need of each of the four colors?”

The easily overwhelmed side of me replied with, “OMG, in the process of doing so I have estimated there to be a total of 52,328 stitches in the sweater, excluding facings and steeking stitches! FIFTY TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT STITCHES!”

Oy! & Vey! (as DH would say)

The proud side of me said, “Wow, your guesses of the color percentages were not too far off!”

If you need me, I’ll be swatching to see how much that outrageous number will be changing when I stop estimating my expected gauge and adjust for the actual gauge…

ETA: Don’t forget I’m a plus-sized gal so I have more stitches than the average person! :-)