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Be Vewwy Quiet

We're hunting Yentala, and we found her! And her little dog, too! We didn't have our camera-phone (curses!)! But we saw her! And we were completely star-struck, and interrupted the very important meeting she was having! Oh! The excitement! Like meeting a real celebrity! And me with just a set of double-points to greet her with. Yentala's channeler, Deb, works full-time and goes to grad school full-time. No wonder she isn't blogging regularly! But she looks gezunter, bubbelahs, so don't be feelin' tsiterik about her lack of blog-updates. No shande on the Yentala. Debela, biz hundert un tsvantsik!

We also saw the new IK Crochet magazine. We like it! Knitting magazines have been kind of a drag to me this year, and to see some crocheted designs that looked creative and smart did my heart good. Two thumbs up for fashion-forward crochet--there were several vests and sweaters and jackets in this special edition that I would be happy to wear. Some of the garments are downright stylin'. There's also an interesting article on tapestry crochet. I think I'll learn how to do that, it looks cool. I don't quite understand why crochet takes more wool than knitting, but I'm sure it will become perfectly clear in my comments today :-)

Personal: I have houseguests coming over the next few days, and I'll be hitting the pause button on the blog so I can take them to see the bats. The pups and I will be wishing you a happy, happy week! Cheers, and good knitting!

Color Clutter

Enough about me, let's talk about my latest mitt.

It's the one I mentioned yesterday that could have worked, perhaps should have worked, but somehow didn't work.

I have a chart of a butterfly on small squares that I've been wanting to turn into gloves or mittens. How cool would that be, to wear butterflies on the back of your hands? And as for colors, what could be more suitable and natural than a butterfly on a leafy green background?

Well. I took two beautiful colors of Lorna's Laces, Cedar and Watercolor. My knitting experiments in combining handpaints and variegated colors thus far have shown me that if one of the yarns (we'll call it the foreground) has even a speck of the same color as the other yarn (let's call it the background), the design will blur around the edges owing to insufficient contrast and look (professionally speaking) muddy.

Watercolor, my foreground color, hasn't got a speck of the background Cedar green in it, as you can tell in the upcoming photo. What I failed to consider, however, was that the greens in the foreground would become analagous to the background green. Thus, I created harmony instead of contrast, with color values that were too close together. It seemed to me as if it might work as a very subtle design, revealing itself to a loving observant eye. But it doesn't, really. See for yourself.

[The chart is from Alice Starmore's Charts for Colour Knitting (ISBN: 1874167001, but out of print) by the way.]

Color is a fascinating thing, and I have much to learn about color theory. Perhaps knowing more, I could have guessed how this would turn out, but as it was, the contrast seemed just enough to keep me knitting up through the butterfly before conceding color-defeat. I kept thinking that since the colors weren't the same, if I kept knitting, the design would surely and suddenly pop out. Nope. Never did, never will. I'm intrigued by the idea, though, of moving the background green up or down the value-scale to see when, exactly, the design would become crisp, with enough contrast to the foreground to make a leafy green background work. The brilliant Sheila is putting together a wonderful wooly color resource here that I know will prove useful as well as lovely. And, I like this website for color tutorials. Do you have it bookmarked? Knit and learn, right?

Pups

After posing with all manner of charming miens last week, the pups have decided to make faces whenever I try to take a blog-photo. Observe Della and Jack, misbehaving and loving it.

I ask you. Do they have to do that?

We wish you a photogenic Tuesday with colorful knitting! Cheers!

Back to Work

What a great birthday we had here! Thanks very much, everyone, for stopping by and for the greetings you sent—your presence at the party greatly increased our joy.

We Return to our Knitting

We did get back to knitting, but we had rather the same experience as Siow Chin Yeo and did quite a bit of ripping. (Even when ripping, Siow Chin Yeo has a great blog! Go visit!) Out of the four mittens I ripped, I saved one to discuss with you regarding its color design, which should have worked, but didn't. But we phorgot to photograph it, so we'll save it for another day. Instead, we have guest gorgeousness to display:

Isn't it beautiful? It's the cardigan from Poetry in Stitches, but our guest knitter changed the colorway very successfully! Marianne is, in her own words, "a sparkling autumn," and the blues just didn't work for her, so she switched to reds and oranges. I think that when I knit this sweater, I'll do the same, because I think the change is really fabulous! Thanks, Marianne! Everyone else? Go visit Marianne's knitting—it's wonderful!

We Return to our Job

Ho-hum. Party's over. We go back to work with our memories to sustain us.

Some of us are better at keeping a stiff upper lip than others.

Hang in there. It's only a Monday and will pass.
We send you subdued cheers!