Let The Fun Begin

In January, February & March, we explored the 3 primary colors (red, blue and yellow) as part of our Celebration of Color. We also learned about the differences between shade, tint, tone and pure color.

April is when the real fun begins, as we start to play around with combining the 3 primary colors, to create our own secondary colors. With warmer temperatures, the change in season giving us warmer, brighter days, and watching all of our vegetation come to life, we've decided to make April the month of orange.

Be sure to watch the blog, as we explore the color orange over the next 4 weeks, and the bad rap it gets. Maybe our exploration will help you see orange in a new way.

Drawn To Blue

Right from childhood, I have had a thing for blue. If you look in my closet, you will see that most of my clothing is some shade of blue. (I'm a blue jeans and t-shirt kind of gal!) Many of my knitting projects are some shade of blue, a majority of my quilting projects have included blue, and if I thought my husband would let me, I'd paint a number of the rooms in our house, some shade of blue. I have boys that have blue eyes (Thank you God!) and a pair of Blue Jays that come and say hello every morning.

If you know me, you know that I can't swim. Yet, my favorite place to be is near the water (that's right - blue!). Blue skies that hold the promise of a new day, a fresh start, growth and a breath of fresh air. Blue waters, that while the waves gently beat along the shore, hold the power of both comfort and destruction. This same water scares me. That one day it will take my life, or that of my kids. Yet, I'm drawn to it, like a fly to fruit. Is it the power of blue?

Blue is the Color of the Month for March at BB Knits. A celebration of spring. The season that promises blue skies, blue birds and blue bells.

Learning to Paper Piece

About 4 years ago, I sewed my first stitch, after having protested the idea of sewing for much of my life. It's amazing, really, how kids will transform you. After a series of events with my boys, that landed them in the hospital, and realizing during this time, just how much comfort their blankies provided to them, I decided I wanted to learn how to quilt. At the same time, I started our local Project Linus chapter (we provide hand made quilts to seriously ill children). My mission, to make quilts for other children in need.

In the beginning, my quilts were simply patchwork quilts, and I did really enjoy making them. Over time, these have become a bit boring to me, and seriously, how many patchwork quilts can one person have? That said, I went on a hunt....I needed a challenge. I joined a number of quilt guilds, and a few online quilting groups. Both offer a lot of learning opportunity from some of the most skilled quilters. Some of these groups also offer exchanges. While I was reluctant to join at first, worried my skills were not up to par, I have found that it's a great way to try new techniques, without committing yourself to an entire quilt. This month, to go along with our Celebration of Color, I opted to try a little paper piecing with some red fabrics I had in my stash. I must admit, I'm not a real "heart" person. A little too "cutesie" for me. However, with these rich reds, I rather liked them. I found that paper piecing is a great way to use up those little scraps of fabric that I have been collecting in a box. Now I'm stash diving for the next paper piecing project :-)

February Reds - A Little Lesson

If you follow our blog, then you learned about pure color, tone, shade, and tints last month. We had a little lesson in this exploration last week, and the gorgeous reds you see to the left were the result.

The 2nd from the left, is our pure red. Reds can be very tricky, as many times they either have orange/brown undertones, or blue undertones. This red is gorgeously pure! As you may recall, a tint is created when adding white to a pure color. Tinkly Cocktail, on the far left, was our result. Next, we added a little gray, to create a tone, and come up Sangria, a sort of smokey red. Lastly, was creating a shade....adding black to our true red. The result....heavenly! We called it crushed velvet as the richness in colors makes us think of velvet. It appears, that it quickly became a favorite! We posted our update on Facebook on February 2nd, and it sold out almost immediately. Not to fear though, we've restocked! Remember that these glorious reds are on sale this month at 15% Off!

The Meaning of Yellow

Yellow evokes a number of different feelings for people. For some, yellow is the color of the warmth. For others, Hope. And yet for others, it means danger. These meanings can change, dependent on our mood, and yellow can take on many different forms, all at the same time. I find yellow to be a stimulating color. When I seen the bright yellow sun in the morning, I feel chipper, ready to take on the day ahead. I feel bold; free. I admire artists who use the color yellow so freely. To me, it speaks volumes about their view of the world and their aura. However, yellow can very easily be overused. When I am surrounded by yellow I feel overstimulated, anxious and long to escape to a more calming color like blue.

Yellow is one of those colors that many of us so wish we could wear, but it just doesn't look good on most. (I so envy people who can wear yellow and look good in it!) There was a time, during the Elizabethan Era, that yellow was symbolic for wealth and social status, and so it didn't matter how it looked on you. Thankfully, times have changed and for those of us who craft, we find other ways to use yellow. Yellow fiber, yellow fabric, yellow paint; you get the idea.

Now, go take a look in your closet......Find one item that is yellow. Come back here and share with us what it is that you find, and what kind of feelings it evokes in you.

Cookie A Never Disappoints

Admittedly, when I started knitting socks, I was quite intimidated by so many sock designers, but Cookie A was at the top of the charts. I love that so many of her sock patterns are assymetrical. They are interesting, from the cuff to the toe, never a boring stitch. Some of her patterns are chart heavy, and it scared me. My first Cookie A pattern was BFF. An easy pattern and a great little nibble on cables. When Sock Innovations came out, I was beyond excited, and for the first time ever, I actually knit up several patterns from that book. It was at a great time in my life, when I actually had a little time to focus on the pattern, and learn to read the charts. I was hooked! Imagine my excitement when Knit. Sock. Love. came out! There are sssooo many gorgeous patterns in this book, that it was hard to decide on which to start first. Thankfully, I found a KAL on Ravelry, and the choice was made for me....Pointelle it is!

At the same time, I decided that this is the year to spend a little time studying the colorwheel, and opted to start with yellow. A happy, cheerful, warming color. Well, a marriage made in heaven, for sure. Look at Pointelle, knit up with one of our January colors, Lemon Cream, on the BFL base. Need I say more? The pattern is so well written, the charts are easy to understand, and not once was I bored knitting this sock. Now on to the 2nd sock.

A Celebration Of Color - January

The start of 2011 begins a year long celebration, if you will, and exploration of the color wheel. As you may have guessed by now, color makes me happy. VERY HAPPY! I'm always stumped when my boys try to nail me down and ask me favorite color, because the truth is, they all are. As a fiber artist, just like any other type of artistry, it's easy to get stuck in a rut. I was feeling a bit "stuck" this past fall, and decided I was going to spend this coming year studying. Playing with a variety of color combinations, and exploring each colors beauty unto itself.

I have gathered a few tools to help me along the way and will share them with you over the coming year. One of which is the 3-in-1 Color Tool (image to the right). This is printed by C&T Publishing, and it's a great tool for someone who is always dabbling in color. Whether it be with yarn, roving, fabric or paper.

To begin, let me share with you a bit of information to pave the way for our studies. There are 3 primary colors in our color wheel. Colors that most accurately reflect the colors of our world. The blending of our 3 primary colors, offers up limitless possibilities in new color. Add in white, black and grey, and it's sheer magic.

Each color on our color wheel can be categorized within 4 different categories:
Pure Color
Soft Tints - created by adding white to the pure color
Shades - created by adding black to your color
Tones - created by adding grey

A sampling of an experiment with the above would be our colorway Green Mountain. We took a beautiful green and dyed a section of the skein, added a little grey to the green and dyed another section, and added yet another color, black, to the green, to dye the third. GORGEOUS!

During our color wheel studies, we will explore a new color each month, starting with the primary colors of yellow, red and blue. Since January can be so cold, dark and gloomy, we've decided to start with yellow. Yellow is warm, sunny, happy, uplifting.

In the coming months, we will explore shades, tints and tones of each color. Through the year, each color of the month will be offered at a 15% discount in our shop, to encourage you to explore the world of color with us.

In the meantime, we'd love to hear from you. How would you describe yellow?