Colourways.

The photo of Damsons in the last post (sorry, I didn’t have one of sloes) reminds me of this colourway I’m currently coveting from Rohrspatz & Wollmeise. It’s called Wellensittichvogelfeder, which translates quite literally as Budgerigar bird feathers. But to my mind, the colours are reminiscent of the turning leaves at this time of year and the bluish/purplish bloom on all wild plum-style things.

I love colours and spend a lot of time thinking about them. Not only the actual shades themselves, but also the names for them, the imaginative associations they trigger, the things they cause us to remember and their sensual or suggestive qualities. My favourite yarn is some Lorna’s Laces in seashore colourway; the colours remind me of Weymouth, where Mark is from, and the flinty, sea-worn landscape.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say that I suffer with ongoing Constant Colourway Creation Syndrome. You know you have this when:

  1. You photograph things with the idea of using them to inspire some future yarn-dyeing project in mind
  2. You begin to re-categorize things you see in terms of colourway. For instance, a nice picture of a cake becomes ‘Victoria Sponge Colourway’ and features vanillas, custards, creams and raspberry tones
  3. You find you care about the relationship between your knitting pattern and the colourway of the yarn you use. For instance punk projects simply can’t be knit in colourways with names like ‘forest cloud,’ but ‘poison dragon’ or similar would probably do just fine.

I was excited recently to see all the beautiful colourways in Katie’s shop when I last looked at her blog. I was especially delighted to see that she is making ‘tea and biscuit socks’ out of the biscuit colourway. I love first of all how the semi-solid colourway of the yarn shows off the stitches, and also the idea of socks that you can somehow associate with comforting tea and biscuits. For me the notion of ensconcing my feet joyfully in such socks right now and accompanying the toe-loving bliss with a lovely cuppa and some sweet treats, (the delicious biscotti Liz recently mentioned, perhaps?) is the perfect boon to the overcast, dark-early days which herald the start of a long Winter. And the socks also remind me of this book, a favourite.

Colours do tap into my desires like this; they are potent for my emotional and imaginative life and they inspire me to make things. Is that the same for all knitters? Am I alone in drooling over colourways and turning the pages of Ravelry to ‘just see what colours people have done that in?’

I feel spoilt for choice right now in the colours department, and desperate to learn fair isle. I could, as Liz points out, quite happily now create something in clotted cream and raspberry. Or I could try and think up something that’d be most appropriately knit in budgerigar bird feather…

…I will revisit my walking-stick cosy kits idea, as I have loads of Oxford Kitchen Yarns yarn to play with and am keen to evolve a winter-warming design idea.

One Response to Colourways.

  1. Pingback: The Domestic Soundscape » Archive » Knitted seas.

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