Friday, August 24, 2007

I'm sensing a theme here



What is it about a certain color that just draws you in and stays in your fancy?

When I loaded some of my FO's to Ravelry I noticed a predominance of green which should come as no surprise cause I'm always singing green's praises. It's funny cause I really don't wear green, I look terrible in it and prior to Bonita
there wasn't a spot of it in my wardrobe! (I can get away with Bonita because it's a very dilute green with a strong cream base and the scoop neck keeps the green away from my face). I can't wear it but I love to look at it so I knit it for everyone else!

Because my knits were so "verdant" I thought I should change up my knitting a little and expand my color horizons except now everything is pink or blue! A few months ago I wrote a post called old socks, new socks, pink socks blue socks.... and what did I just finish? Pink socks! And what did I cast on? Blue socks! Plus miles and miles of blue garter stitch comprise the Esprit Tank. Sheesh, maybe I need some purple and brown? (btw, I really don't like brown and I'm meh about purple)

One color that I totally LOVE that was never on my radar screen at all is orange!
I find myself drawn almost as strongly to orange as I've always been to green.

Have you found your color tastes changing over time? I dunno, maybe it's the exposure on knit blogs to so many lovely knits in so many colors I'd never even considered before....or maybe it's hormones :)

At any rate here's the "old" sock, they're pink.....



Specs:

Twin Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch

One skein Louet Opal (sportweight) in Pink Panther (I used every centimeter!) size #1 (2.5 mm) 32" Addi Turbo.

Toe-up using magic loop and the Turkish cast on. YO short row heels.

Bound off using a tubular bind off (I LOVE this for toe-up socks!)

I wanted a "solid" pattern because the recipient lives in New Hampshire and the Twin Rib had just enough punch to keep it interesting while being super easy. The yarn is a dream to knit with except for the fact that there were FIVE KNOTS in one skein - I hate that especially for socks when you want as few ends as possible. I wrote to Louet and they were very contrite and shocked that a skein like that made it to a consumer plus they are sending new yarn so all is well :)

I couldn't have my needles languishing so here are the new socks, they're blue...


This is the beginning of Breeze from Knitty in Regia stretch. This is a very fun pattern and who doesn't love footies? These are gonna be a Christmas gift for my mail carrier, Laura.

I'm slogging along on the Esprit Tank, I've almost finished the front and then I get to knit it all over again for the back, lucky me!

Now for a little fiberlicious eye candy...have a gander at these...


These beauties came from here: Claudia's Place - Tausendschon

I found Claudia's beautiful yarn while surfing around and then I found it on Ravelry too. I fell in love with the glorious, saturated color (oooh, ORANGE!!) so I contacted Claudia who couldn't be nicer or more helpful. Her site is all in German but she speaks perfect English plus she's having the website translated to English over the next month or so.

The yarn is super soft, a dream to knit with even prettier in person plus VERY reasonably priced! I got these four skeins including shipping for under $60!! These happen to be superwash with nylon (my preferred sock yarn) but she has lots of other handpainted fiber selections. Plus shipping was FAST! So go visit Claudia for some unique colorful fiberliciousness!

Come to think of it, I can think of a reason I've fallen in love with orange.....must be this handsome dude.....


Hasn't he made you an orange fan too? :)



32 comments:

Anonymous said...

My matron of honor wore green. My flowers were tigerlilies (orange). I love both colors -- but especially green.

Green has been a relatively recent thing. About 20 years. *laugh* No I wasn't born in the paleozoic era. Before that it was hot pink or black (or both of them together).

Opal said...

I just love the way Breeze is coming along. How did I miss that pattern?

Anonymous said...

Love the socks. And my color tastes have changed. I used to be a "my favorite color is blue" girl. Now, My fav's are Red, Green, jewel tones, ocean blues/greens and I do go out on color limbs from times to time. I'm liking orange way more and I totally think it's because of the P man!

Carole Knits said...

Red is my favorite color but I don't necessarily knit with it a lot. I try to change things up and knit with all different colors - especially if I'm knitting socks. Which, let's face it, I seem to be doing most of the time.

Monika said...

I don't like to wear footsie, but these are real nice to look at!

Jes said...

Love the twin rib socks. Pink is one of those colors I never liked but then really grew on me.
Nice work with the Louet people. I'm glad they're actually doing something about it instead of what most companies would do - make excuses and tell you to deal!

Nana Sadie said...

Well, of course that orange dude has something to do with our "penchant" for orange (tho' I can't wear it at all!)...but Debi, I note a hint of blue and pink and green in those sock yarns, too!
Gosh they're just scrumptious...
(and your old socks, new socks, too!)
(((hugs)))

Dame Wendy said...

Love the pink socks. love, love love.

My color preferences change pretty much monthly. Last year I was really into fall colors reds, oranges, yellows. This year it's all foofy pretty girly stuff, pinks, purples, blues.

(I totally know what it's like to fall in love with the color of a cat. I bought a ton of roving to spin up and it is exactly the same color as Dickens.)

Leslie said...

I used to be blue all the way but I note most of my spring/summer tops are pink - go figure. I used to abhor pink! I'm trying to get into jewel tones as well as greens of any variety. All things change.

Insofar as orange - well P-man of course is a reason, but Perry Penelope is orange and my very first cat (Rachael Rebecca) was too. It's a good color for intelligent kitties :)

Beth said...

I've always been a fan of orange - a good thing given my football preferences! But no yellow here - can't stand it!

Bets said...

Love the pink socks! I will get to that pattern eventually, probably in some of my blues. Of course those would look great in any color - like orange :D

Anonymous said...

I was just starting to wonder where you've been!

I thought the breeze pattern was so fun. I'm sure Laura will love them! Its so cool that you give a knitted gift to the mail carrier. I'm boring and do a gift certificate. Maybe I'll get more creative this year and do a knitted hat or something.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm...if hormones affect color choices, that would explain all those ladies wearing purple dresses and red hats!

WandaWoman said...

I go in and out of various colors, depending on my mood. My favorite color is purple, but I rarely buy it or knit with it. It's hard for me to find the right color and I have a thing a/b wearing my favorite colors all the time and wearing them sparingly (not that it makes any sense, trust me, I know it doesn't).

Some colors I simply can't wear right next to my skin, so to compensate, I've been branching out more in my sock yarn choices. When I see other blogs and the variegated colors they choose, some of those colors stick in my mind and I think why don't I have more of xyz color? So I've started not just getting my usuals purple/pinks or browns/blues, but getting crazy combos that are still appealing but with different colors and am enjoying that too.

Agnes said...

I knit stuff with colours other than black ... but if I buy from a store, 9 out of 10 times I would choose black or white! So you can say that knitting expand my colour spectrum.

Carol said...

Funny, I was thinking orange before you even got to it! A color I never would have worn, yet the 1st time everyone kept giving me compliments! Not my reason for dressing each day;) The color that hates me is yellow, but I like it just the same. What a nice gift for your mail carrier! The color is perfect too! This is going to sound funny, but your Old Socks are beautiful! hee hee - I have one little question: Why are you knitting a blue sock with pink nails? I'm concerned. And The P-Man will always be my little CreamSicle!

Cookie said...

You like green?! I never would have guessed. :p

Who doesn't love an orange cat? I swear my next one is going to be a flame point.

Nice to hear that Louet responded so well to your issue. I always wonder if companies care about that sort of thing.

Anonymous said...

It is odd, I think a lot of us tend to gravitate towards different colors at different times.

ohh I just got this lovely orangish colored silky wool. I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it.

Anonymous said...

I do find my color tastes changing a bit. I'm knitting something in bright orange and yellow, colors I wouldn't have chosen a year ago, and now I really like them.

handknit168 said...

very like the Breeze pattern.

Madge said...

Amen to the green thing. AND the color changing thing. For me this summer is all about eggplant. PURPLE. Suffice it to say I never even thought about purple, let alone wanted to knit with it, before...it's like an alien has taken over my knitting. Hey, where's my aluminum hat? Anyway, it's funny. And cool. I'm blaming it on all the wondrous hand-dyed goodies out there; it's opened up a brand new colorful world! Speaking of, YUM to that Claudia's Place yarn. And crap. Now I have to go check out her website.

Lorette said...

Love those pink socks! And that orange kitty!

I've found that knitting has expanded my view of what colors I like to have around me, though I'm still mostly a fan of bright, saturated colors.

Batty said...

Oddly enough, the colors I knit with are not always the colors I like to wear. Weird, no?

bellamoden said...

My favorite color is white. No, really. I don't knit with white very often though. On the other hand, no amount of knitting will make me love orange. ;) I seem to knit a lot of pink, so much it's a sad sad cliche for me. But I love all sorts of colors, I do.

Except orange. Orange is evil.

Norma said...

I kind of love all colors, I've finally discovered, except most pastels. But orange...there is really something about orange. It juices up my brain or something. Makes me so happy.

Romi said...

Heee. I am a green lover too. But I never really realized it until I knit 5 green sweaters in a row. Count 'em. Five. Green. Sweaters. :sigh:

I love the socks and the yarns!

Zarzuela said...

I'm a die hard blue fan but will allow purple around on occasion. But lately I've been really attracted to pink and red. No idea why. Like you said, maybe it's blogs. Your socks look great! And who wouldn't love something that orange and adorable! :)

Jessica

Anonymous said...

It's good to know you're starting to knit green for yourself.

VERRRRRY good to know!

In my case, there's an obvious lack of blue in my knitting, and I don't really know why.

And yes, I used to hate orange, but due solely to P-man, I now at least LOOK at orangish yarns. Tho, not quite up to buying...yet

Sheri at The Loopy Ewe said...

You're knitting footies for your mail carrier? You are wonderful. I owe my mail carrier BIG time, but I'm hoping he won't read your blog and expect handknit socks. :-)

Kristi aka Fiber Fool said...

I found that knitting has broadened the color palette of my closet. I think because I can stretch my color comfort with sock yarn and then eventually I'll run across a t-shirt or something and say, "that will go great with those socks I made!" Now my closet is more colorful than denim, khaki, black, brown, and gray! :-)

I'm been so all over orange lately. It's pretty obvious on my Ravelry pages too.

HeyYeah! said...

He looks like an amazing cat. I have a real thing for ginger cats as I had one as a girl. My partner of 10 years is also ginger which I don't think is a coincidence! Regarding colours, I go through phases with different colour combinations purples/greens then orange/blue and, for a while, pink/yellow had me obsessed (even though it isn't the prettiest)!

Meg Wolff said...

Yes, he has!