Color Inpiration with Courtney {Desert Dusk Mandala Madness}

I'm really privileged as I journey with yarn to meet some totally fabulous people and to make some friendships that I know will last for the rest of my life. My friendship with Courtney is one of those special miracles that keep on blessing me through and through.

I love her eye for colour, she produces the most amazing palettes and I love to help people, which she does too. So when I asked her to do a guest blog post for me on colour choice and colour inspiration, Courtney jumped at the chance. I'm thrilled to pieces with what she has written for you, and I hope that we'll be able to bring more colour creativity to you in the future. I also hope that you enjoy reading this as much as I did, I know I learned a thing or two. 

Angela
xoxo

Color Inspiration with Courtney 

(Desert Dusk Mandala Madness) 

One of the questions I am most often asked is where I come up with my color combinations in my crochet projects.  The simple truth is that I pull inspiration from the world around me.  I see color everywhere and paint that color into my fiber work. 

Today I would like to talk about the inspiration behind one of those projects and show you how I pulled the colors from an object in my home and translated them into a crochet project.

The project I’m going to be talking about today is my {Desert Dusk} version of Mandala Madness by Helen Shrimpton.  The pattern for this project is available here:  Mandala Madness Pattern

When I decided to do this project it was a crochet along and so the finished piece was a mystery.  I was having very real trouble picking a color palette without knowing what the final piece would look like.  I could not settle on anything that thrilled me.  I had just come home from a trip to Arizona, where I’m from, and a funeral, and I was missing my desert home.  I was wandering around my house thinking about home and at that moment my eyes fell on a small hand thrown Native American Pot that I had purchased on one of my many drives through the Painted Desert in Arizona… and I knew I had found my inspiration.

 

Finding the inspiration for your colors is the first step and it’s your biggest hurdle.  You need to choose something that speaks to you.  An inspiration piece that is just that, inspiration.  This piece speaks of the warmth of the desert days, the colors and the heat and the stark contrast of mountains unrelieved by vegetation or moisture.  Garnering color only from the sun.  It is a true representation of home for me and so it speaks to me.  

When you choose something to pull color from you need to choose something that speaks equally to you for your own reasons.

The next step is deciding which colors to pull from the inspiration piece.  In this particular piece there aren’t many colors so I pulled them all.  The dusty orange, the gold, the charcoal, the silver, the denim blue, and the icy blue. Six colors all contrasting each other would make my palette.

When choosing your colors, you want to pay attention to basic color theory.  Now color theory is a huge concept that fills encyclopedias and has been argued by scientists and painters and changed through the centuries.   But it honestly doesn’t have to be intimidating.  

My preferred method is to have contrasting colors, cool colors, and warm colors and some form of neutral that allows me to play them off of each other.  For this project I knew I wanted the orange and the gold so I made sure I had the blues as a cool color and then the two colors of grey to be a neutral base color to set off those bold contrasting colors.

For more information on color theory feel free to explore, there are some fairly easy to use tools available.  Here are a few wonderful links to start with if you are interested. 

This link will explain basic beginner color theory: http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/basic-color-theory

This link will give you an idea of how to choose your colors based on the color wheel:  http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm

I set about pulling these colors from my stash yarns and you can see a little more about that and see how each section progressed in my project page here:  {Desert Dusk}





 If you are interested in reproducing this colorway, I have worked out it’s equivalent for you in Stylecraft Special DK.  The following colors should give you a very similar pallet in a very lovely soft and versatile yarn. 

Spice 1711
Mustard 1823
Aster 1003
Sherbert 1034
Graphite 1063
Silver 1203

A very good tool for learning how to draw colors from an object or picture is a color palette picture.  You can find these in multitude on Pinterest.  I have a Color Inspiration Board which I invite you to take a look at:  My Color Inspiration Board 

Color inspiration can be found anywhere.  I have found it in a field of flowers and in a woman’s winter coat while she had lunch with her children, as well as in many of the things in my own home.  I wonder if you will find inspiration in your own home?  The things you surround yourself with would not be sitting on your shelves and tucked away in your corners if you weren’t drawn to them. 

Until next time,

Courtney a.k.a. Spin A Yarn 32

You can find Courtney at the following places:
Spin a Yarn 32 on Facebook
Spin a Yarn 32 on Ravelry
Spin a Yarn 32 on Etsy

Sunset Infinity Scarf

Well, I recently give birth to my wee daughter, Sophia. So, to celebrate this miracle and surprise, I'm releasing a new pattern.

As a new Blogstar for Stylecraft Yarns they sent me a lovely swag of yarn to welcome me aboard. They are all fabulous, but I love a bit of swank, so the Cabaret just had to be first worked up! You can find out a bit more about it here - Stylecraft Cabaret DK Yarn

Long colour changes are really in at the moment and I love the way this yarn works up. It's soft and smooth to work with, and best of all, it FROGS easily. (Frog? you say - pulls undone I say). No more tearing your hair out with the wispy strands that wrap so conveniently around each other with so many other soft yarns. So of course it's great to design with! I had a head cold, two active wee boys and sleep deprived/baby brain happening, so I definitely did some frogging while designing this. NO SWEAT!

Ok, enough rambling, if you're not getting it by now, I'm totally in love with this yarn, lol, so, here's the pattern, and I hope you enjoy making it up as much as I enjoyed designing it.

Keep watching this space, because I'm going to expand this design with other stitches to make a matching wrap. Think of this as a taste of the wrap. ;)

Sunset Infinity Scarf

Materials

Yarn: Stylecraft Cabaret DK

Hook: 5.5mm

Stitch Notes

Treble – YOH twice, draw up one loop, YOH, draw through first two loops. YOH, draw through next two loops. YOH draw through last two loops.

Foundation DC – you can find a left and right handed tutorial (mouse over images for the left handed version) here: http://www.crochetspot.com/how-to-crochet-foundation-double-crochet-fdc/

2Trtog – YOH twice, insert your hook into the next st and draw up a loop. YOH, draw through the first two loops, YOH draw through the first two loops. (2 loops left on hook). YOH twice, insert your hook into the next st and draw up a loop. YOH, draw through the first two loops, YOH draw through the first two loops. (3 loops left on hook). YOH, draw through all three loops.

“False cluster” – this is the main stitch of the pattern. You achieve it by working 4 chain to gain height, then you 2Trtog (see above description), then you chain 4 back to the base where you slip stitch into the main fabric. In the later rows, you are working into that stitch space formed by the 2Trtog, I’ve referred to it as a “cluster space”. It’s a false cluster because two of the stitches are actually chain rows.

Pattern Notes

This pattern is made using US terms.

This pattern is worked in Mobius or infinity style. If you haven’t worked one of these before, you can find a tutorial on how to join at the end of the first row here:

Because of the style, when you work a row, you will actually work the whole length of the scarf twice. Once for the top, and then once for the bottom. So, the fabric when you look at it will go 4, 3, 2, 1, FDC, 1, 2, 3, 4.

If you don’t want to work it infinity style, then you can work it as a straight scarf, however, I would recommend repeating the pattern from the start a second time (starting from row 1, rather than the FDC) to give it a decent width. However, it’s your make, go nuts, enjoy it. I cannot wait to see your beautiful creation!

The number of starting stitches is a recommendation only. You may go larger or smaller as you choose (depending on how many times you wish to loop it around your neck). You do need to keep it in multiples of four. I’ve got a large head, lol, and I don’t like things tight on my neck, which is why I’ve gone for the size I have. I can loop it twice around my head, I haven’t tried three, I think I might panic. ;)

I’ve made this little picture to help make it clearer where to work your stitches. <3

Pattern:

1.      Work 180 Foundation DC. Refer to the tutorial here for how to join it up: Joining an Infinity Pattern

2.      Ch4, 2Trtog over next 2 sts. Ch4, sl st into the next st.  (This is a “false cluster”). *Sl st into the next st, ch4, 2Trtog over next 2 sts. Ch4, sl st into the next st. Repeat from *for the length of the scarf. The worked shape should be like an “m” with an extra leg.

3.       Sl st up the first leg of the first false cluster. Sl st into the “cluster sp” right in the middle of the four stitches. This is the space created by the 2Trtog.

*Ch4, work the first two parts of a treble into the same space. Work the first two parts of a treble into the “cluster sp” of the next false cluster. YOH, draw through all three loops. Ch4, sl st into the “cluster sp”. Repeat from * for the length of the scarf.

4.      Do as for round three – this time though, the stitches will be offset, so you will end up making what looks like a triangle to start with, but as you work the fifth row, it will stand up and form a diamond.

Sl st up the first leg of the first grouping of the last row. Sl st into the “cluster sp” right in the middle of the four stitches.

*Ch4, work the first two parts of a treble into the same space. Work the first two parts of a treble into the “cluster sp” of the next group. YOH, draw through all three loops. Ch4, sl st into the cluster sp. Repeat from * for the length of the scarf.

5.      Sl st up the first leg of the first grouping and into the “cluster sp”. Ch4, work 3 tr into the same space. *Work 4tr into the next “cluster sp”. Repeat from * for the length of the scarf.

You now have two options. You can sl st into the fourth ch of the starting group for the round, hide your ends, and wear your scarf with joy.

OR

In the near future you can purchase (for less than the price of a cup of coffee) the pattern that will develop this beginning further into an infinity wrap. ;)

I hope you enjoy making this pattern as much as I have enjoyed designing it.
Happy Hooking!
xoxo

Blogstar!

Have you ever had a dream come true? How about, two, or three, or four? How about two at once? For all the reality of it around me, I'm sitting here in a state of wonder and awe, and more than a little fear. How blessed can you get? When does the bubble pop?

Ok, ok, I'm babbling, but it's a happy thing. Just over two weeks ago I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, our third child (I have two beautiful boys too). Three miracle children that we were told we would never have without a lot of help from IVF - and yet here they are without that help. So, there are three dreams that came true right there. Hubby is a fourth. In December this year we will celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. We started "dating" at 15 and we never looked back. I know EXACTLY how fortunate I am.

Now I have another dream starting to come true and I cannot believe it. The start of my "design career". I have signed an agreement with Stylecraft Yarns to become an official blogger for them - part of their "Blogstars" group and I'm now even listed on their blog site - Stylecraft Blogstars I'm SO excited.

On the weekend the other members of the Blogstars group and the fabulous staff at Stylecraft had their inaugural get together to discuss future directions, preview new yarn, and to get to know one another. Being on the other side of the planet and having just given birth, oddly enough I wasn't able to attend, but thanks to their fabulous blogging about their experiences it feels like I did. I think, however, that if I could have been there I would have been in a permanent state of shock and awe. These ladies are my crochet heroes! I would have been too star-struck to say a word! (For someone who can talk underwater with a mouthful of marbles, that's quite a feat! Lol.)

From Left to Right we have -
Back Row: Sandra Paul (Cherry Heart), Julia Marsh (Hand Knitted Things), Helen Kurtz (The Knitting Exploits of Josie Kitten), and Sarah Shrimpton (Annaboos House)

Front Row: Kathryn Senior (Crafternoon Treats), Heather Leal (The Patchwork Heart), Phil Saul (The Twisted Yarn), Lucy (Attic24), and Sue Pinner (Shropshire Scrapper Suz).
Missing from the get together: Jane Crowfoot (Janie Crow), Emma Varnam (Emma Varnam) and Me!

Most of these ladies I have followed for some time, but there are some new names there for me too. Such talent, such usage of colour and shape and imagination.... I'M STAR STRUCK!

If you read their fabulous posts about their weekend experience I know you will get excited too. An upcoming CAL, a new range of yarn, giveaways and new patterns... oh my! These ladies are not only #Clevercrafters, but they're also #Cleverteachers - they'll bring us along in their yarny journies. I cannot wait to see what they come up with next. 

In that vein, and maybe a bit vain lol, keep an eye out here too. I'm working on a new FREE design using the Stylecraft Cabaret in the Sunset colourway, it's in testing and I need to get some decent photos. Following this there will be a second pattern that uses the first as a starting point. I've also got some other ideas for a swag of yarn that Stylecraft sent to me to play with. 

All this is happening as I feed my daughter every few hours, teach her to self settle, help my eldest with his homework and my middle child with his speech.... It's all happening here for us just now, so many dreams coming true....

I hope all your dreams come true too!
Happy Hooking
xoxo