Midweek Meditation

 "Any color, so long as it's black."    
                                                                          ~   Henry Ford


Though this quote on color could not be used as one of my "Colorwork Meditations", I thought it still worth sharing.

Color lover that I am, I do drive a black car.  Anyone who were to see my car would call it black.  Truth be told, the manufacturer calls it "metallic blue."  If it is parked in the sun, and you look directly at where the sun is shining on the finish; then, and only then, can you see the metallic; and then, and only then, can you see the (very dark) blue.

I like color because it is so subjective.  And I love color because it is always out there waiting for you to find it.

(Manic) Monday

"I wish it was Sunday
'cause that's my funday

my I don't have to runday

it's just another manic Monday"*

I will be (greatly) challenged at my day job on this day.  It is Monday.

Here is what I did on Sunday, "my funday".

Because I really needed to do something different, I warped my Cricket rigid heddle loom for the first time.

* Words from the song "Manic Monday" by the American pop rock band The Bangles. 

It was the Goldfish

My lack of blog posts might be blamed on "Goldfish".  Here are some lovely images of goldfish from Wikimedia.  These are photos that offer inspiring color palettes.

I might have posted my "Colorwork #5" post days earlier but I was stuck on the idea of getting an original photo of my framed art poster of "Goldfish" by Henri Matisse.  I love that poster.  It hangs in my family room.  I could not get a decent photo when it was cloudy, because the overhead light reflected on the plexiglass which is typical for a poster frame.  I could not get a decent photo when it was sunny, because the window light was reflected similarily.

It took a couple of days for me to decide to use a photo from Creative Commons at Flickr instead of my own pathetic poster photos.

I must admit that I cannot really blame "Goldfish" for me not posting.  What I can use is the excuse that other designers sometimes use on their blogs:  I have been working on a "Super Secret" design project.  It will take another week or two to finish.

If you like color as I do, I can recommend a great website that I learned of from the blog of knitwear designer, Linda Marving.  It is Design Seeds.  You can subscribe there (just type in your email address), and you will get one email each day with two photos and their accompanying palettes.  They always brighten my day.


Photo credits:  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AShubukin_goldfish.JPG
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goldfish_-_East_Park_-_geograph.org.uk_-_390130.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goldfishs.jpg

Colorwork Meditation #5

Goldfish, 1911.

"The use of expressive colors is felt to be one of the basic elements of the modern mentality, an historic necessity, beyond choice."   
           ~ Henri Matisse










Photo Credit:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jorge-11/8480317062/

Previous Colorwork Meditation: #4 (Albers)
 

What About Betty?

Betty must wait.

In my archives, there is a post:  Betty and Helene.  Betty and Helene are two little spring/summer type tops that I had just started as I wrote about them on May 7, 2012.

Helene, a lacy, linen top, became a finished object in October.  I love it very much and look forward to the spring when I can actually wear it.

Betty is a fingering weight wool top, and over time, I have come very far with her.

I worked on Betty when it was late, when I was tired, when my design work was not going well.  Betty has been many hours of stockinette knitting in the round on Size 2 needles.  (Which did follow a rather tedious 2.5 inches of 1X1 ribbing on Size 1 needles.)

My last modification was to increase at the sleeve edges on every 4th row (9 times) for a more gentle cap-like sleeve.  I like it better than the straight up sleeve opening used in the pattern.

Betty is in such a good place right now.  The very next step is to pick up stitches all around the top and work the Fair Isle yoke.  My favorite kind of knitting!

But Betty must wait.  I have a couple more months of what I call "knitting for teaching"...  I have two large projects to knit as I teach classes on making them...  Am I the only one who does this when I teach?  I make a shop sample... and then make one for myself while I teach... so that my students can see all the steps.  It takes time.

In addition, I now have two design project to finish as soon as possible.

Yes, Betty must wait, but this is what I have to look forward to...

like a bowl of candy.  It reminds me of what a student in one of my colorwork classes said,  "I am loving this knitting with color so much!  It's like eating candy!"
   

Colorwork Meditation #4

"Any ground subtracts its own hue from the colors which it carries and therefore influences."   ~  Josef Albers

Homage to the Square: “Ascending”, 1953.

  

Photo Credit:  http://whitney.org/Collection/JosefAlbers


Previous Colorwork Meditation: #3 (Braque)

My Current Palette

A swatch for my 'Mineral' Beauty.

I am making this as I teach a series of classes on knitting and finishing garments from the Knit, Swirl! book by Sandra McIver.  The yarns are Stacatto and Silk Cloud by Shibui in the color 'Mineral'.

Still to be scheduled at Gosh Yarn It!, will be classes on making a Taiga Cowichan vest, by Svetlana Volkova, with my own modifications including steeking the colorwork.

 
My photo of the class/shop sample is not the greatest, color-wise, but it gives an idea... I wished to stay with the green and purple of the original...

For my own Taiga, which I will be making while I teach, I decided to use Berroco Blackstone Tweed Chunky.  I quickly fell in love with this color combination...

'Cranberry Bog' and 'Steamers'.  (Interesting that Steamers is close to my Mineral colored Shibui.)  Unfortunately, the Steamers color has been discontinued.  The Cranberry Bog had already been ordered by Gosh Yarn It!, so I had to pick a new color to go with it.  None of the other neutral tones worked as well with the Cranberry, so I thought maybe a blue, but which blue?

First I decided it would be 'Narragansett'...

But then at the last minute, I picked 'Salt Water'...

It was a hard choice.  After it arrived I was having some second thoughts.  Then one night last week, I had a skein of each color on my little table, awaiting swatching, when I noticed that they closely resembled the colors of the latest issue of Vogue Knitting.

 It was like a vote of confidence.
 

Midweek Meditation

"Passion is above all remedy against boredom."   
                                                                ~ Joseph Brodsky, Poet
 

I Have Two Winners!

I am very happy to say that I did have more than two comments to my post, My Beginning -- A Blog Giveaway.  If you read my post you know that February 5, 2011 was the day I officially became a knitwear designer.  On that day I uploaded two of my knitting patterns to Ravelry.com.  Since then knitters everywhere have been able to download them for free.

My first two patterns were Both Sides Now...

and TATU (Try A Toe Up) Sock...

Two years ago, I worked late into the evening to get everything right.  Since that night "Both Sides Now" has been downloaded 876 times and "TATU" 1069 times.

Late last evening, I used a "random sequence generator", this one, to select two winners (from all who commented to "My Beginning -- A Blog Giveaway").  The winner of my first prize, one skein of Zitron Trekking 6 fach 6 ply in the variegated green colorway, is Retired Knitter!  The winner of my second prize, two skeins of Patons Classic Wool Worsted in the natural mix colorway is Emily!  Congratulations, Retired Knitter and Emily!  Please email your mailing address to me at ckknit@yahoo.com.

Thanks to everyone who participated!