Tuesday 2 November 2010

Rainbow round my shoulders

My year in India affected and changed me in many ways - one of those is my sense of colour. After a year in India fluorescent lime green and deep violet seem an obvious match, as do hot pink and bright orange. Japan is less known for it's use of colour (sure, kimono can have gorgeous colours of all shades, but one glance around the sea of black on my morning commute reminds me that modern Japan can be rather bland). I don't let that bother me, however, and although I'm a far cry from any type of fashionista, my coworkers often compliment my clothes - 9 times out of ten their compliment is colour-based.

So when I found balls of yarn online with gorgeous variegated colour from lime green through turquoise through royal blue, violet, pink, orange and gold, well I fell in love. I originally planned to just make a basic frilled shawl, but a few rows in I realized to my horror that the colours were mixing and it all looked horrible. So I ripped it all out and started again, this time trying out entrelac for the first time. I figured that knitting the entrelac squares would allow blocs of colour to develop and show of the gorgeous yarn... And I was right!






I found a lovely glowing gold to edge the whole thing, and inkjet admit I love it. I love throwing it around my shoulders on a chilly day, the warmth of the shawl is amplified by the warmth of the colours, and it makes me smile just to look at it!



8 comments:

  1. That is LOVELY! I'm a knitter myself. Actually I WAS a knitter.... I haven't completed a project in three years or more now... I love entrelac, it looks great and I find it soothing to do.

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  2. Wow - it's gorgeous! What is entrelac? Did you knit little squares and then sew them together? Beautiful! love and hugs, C

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  3. Vicky - thanks! Is there a particular reason for the lapse in your knitting? With the cold weather arriving I've rediscovered my knitting mojo and am enjoying it again after avoiding it for much of the summer.

    C - Entrelac is indeed the type of knitting the squares. It is a bit confusing to describe without visuals, but squares are done row by row, each one knit into a square in the row before. Instead of just knitting back and forth you knit short rows and keep turning the work around so each row goes in the opposite direction from the row before... Have I completely confused you now?!

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  4. I stopped doing anything creative when my English school got really busy. It seems to use the same bits of my brain so by the time the evening rolls round, I just can't think of anything like that any more.....

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  5. Vicky - that's interesting. When I was a grad student I found knitting was the perfect way to calm my brain down so that I could sleep. It was soothing and just what I needed to shut off before bed. And while I feel the same way still now I find it difficult to get excited about or decide on a new project. I had never thought about the reasons behind it, but I'm guessing that's a lack of creative energy similar to you. Interesting!

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  6. That's beautiful Sarah, it looks like a 'knitted quilt'. Sorry if that makes it sound too simple.

    I love the colours of India too. Today I wore a brown shawl that my mum gave me. Hard to believe that Indians make brown shawls but it has all those vibrant colours interwoven on the ends :)

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  7. "A knitted quilt" - Achan I like it!

    Brown can be a beautiful colour, especially when combined with other colours!!

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  8. I am now thoroughly confused - but it sounds neat! I like knitting, cross-stitching, and similar things also for for calming down, and for thinking through complex ideas and problems. I just met up with a friend in Switzerland who I found out is an avid knitter. She has two hours of train commute a couple of times a week. love and hugs, C

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