COLORFUL DECISION MAKING

Making decisions about color can be overwhelming. As artists/crafters, we are compelled to make decisions regarding color, often on an hourly basis. At the very least, we must make these decisions each time we select yarn for a project. In fact, I often find myself choosing a project based on the colors of yarn I have in my stash rather than choosing a project and purchasing yarn for it.

Outside influences often determine what colors I’ll work with. When I’m out and about and see something particularly attractive – a floral arrangement, someone’s outfit, a still life painting, a friend’s new decor – that will make me want to run home, pull those color yarns out, and get crocheting!

However, I’m NOT a person who’s good with color. It takes those outside influences, often, for me to pull together a good color combination. My mom, a former oil painter who’s now almost blind, can still match colors in an amazing way. I can show her a pair of pants in my closet and she can match them perfectly hours or days later at the mall while shopping for a ‘matching’ top. Not me. I can barely match the items when I have both of them in front of me!

When I was quilting, years ago, I first learned all the ways a color wheel could help me. One can pick out complementary colors, harmonious colors, and contrasting colors in a flash using a color wheel. And, while computer monitors are notoriously variable in their reproduction of color, we can use the color wheels and other color tools available online to assist in making our color choices.

Here’s a link I like although it’s intent is as a tool for technical uses other than crochet.

http://www.colorsontheweb.com/colorschemes.asp offers a selection of predetermined color palettes.

http://www.colorsontheweb.com/colorwizard.asp#wizard is a tool for using a single starting color to create a palette.

Here’s a color wheel you can put in your purse or project bag to make color selection easier for you:

color-wheel-for-sale-0709

http://www.createforless.com/The+Color+Wheel+Co.+Color+Wheel+9+1/4/pid63156.aspx?utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=cse

Available at lots of quilting and arts & crafts stores as well as online sources like createforless.com.

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Linen stitch is one of my favorite knitting stitch patterns that, every time I use it in a project, I think about how I don’t use it often enough.

It’s an easy stitch to make, with slip stitches done with the yarn held to the front of the work on the right/front side and to the back on the wrong/back side, which makes the strand of yarn a visible part of the pattern.

It also makes a fabric that is thick and looks kind of like a woven fabric.

I recently used linen stitch to make a double-thick pot holder, which I worked in a kind of interesting way. I didn’t want to have to do any sewing on the project, so I started it from a crochet cast on and picked up stitches from the side of the cast on to make the hot pad all in one piece in the round with the edge sealed.

This requires working on two circular needles, which is another technique I don’t use that often and am always reminded how much I like it when I do.

The combination of double thickness and the stitch pattern makes for a hot pad that’s already pretty thick, but I also added a bit of old towel to the inside before I closed up the end to make it super thick and extra protective for your surfaces.

I found the engineering challenge of this construction method to be a lot of fun, but you could also just knit it as a tube (casting on twice as many stitches as I did) and sew up the ends by hand when the knitting is done. Either way you’ve got a useful and pretty addition to your kitchen, whether you work it in a solid color, stripes or as a stash busting project will all your cotton odd balls.

You can grab the pattern over at Our Daily Craft, or check it out on Ravelry.

40+ Hot Pads You Can Sew For The Kitchen [Sewing]

A Cozy Knit to Calm Your Mind

Double Knit an Infinity Scarf

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