I Yam What I Yam: A Colorful/Colourful WIP Tale

stripy_afghan
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

yarnbow
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Inspired by Yarnstorm's most excellent photo of a English beach cottage interior I decided to crochet a stripy afghan. I love Jane's photos, especially her colours. There's always some coral or pink jumping out of a minty background, or something equally exciting. Jane is so famous for her colours that she even gets bloggy gifts that are inspired by her palette. After examining the photo of the afghan I worked up a couple swatches and decided on a double crochet, working into the spaces instead of the stitches. It might not be exactly the same pattern in Jane's photo, but at least it's similar and very easy, too.

The fun part was trying to find a Yarnstorm-based palette in my stash. My stash is perfect for this kind of project because I'm the queen of the individual skeins. I have three big totes full of single skeins. The majority are thrifted (acrylic and blends, some wool), but some are new (wool). It has just starting to sink into my thick skull that you have to buy six skeins for a toddler dress or twenty skeins for a baby blankie. I had no *idea,* especially about how much people are spending on all this knitting going on—I digress. So, I dug out some of my colors and referred to the photo for her colours. Each row (250 stitches = 8 feet long, 2.4 meters), crocheted lengthwise, brought heightened anticipation of choosing the next color. It was quite fun. I tried to include as many corals and mints as I could. I *heart* picking color combinations. Then, I got lazy and stopped looking at Jane's photo and just worked any ol' way I wanted. I found myself fighting the urge to make a rainbow, but the pull was strong, so I included a bit of the ol' ROYGBP. Next thing you know I had something straight out of the 70s—the ladies at the yarn store made polite grandma jokes. It's not at all the cool, British seaside colour palette I anticipated, but in all honesty it is very me. I am a bit 70s—you know, you can take the kid out of the 70s...

I've failed in the past at trying to emulate someone else's palette.
Remember when I tried to recreate the sophisticated Nordic-inspired colours of Swedish designer Camilla Engman and her Bedfellows? Now that I think about it, in the olden days of yore, I used to make purple and orange bouquets at my first job. Hmmmmmm? I guess I should just stick to my own wild color ways.