Watercolors

A new concept in color
Picking colors is a little more challenging when working with multiple gradients in a single project. You have to look at how they all work together, across each gradient, decide how the colors will be placed and, if they abut each other, how that will change the look.

I had just finished my first Soldotna Crop (left) using a newish color for the body called Sprout. It was a bit of an odd bird, just shades of green, didn't really fit in with my other gradients, but I knew it was a keeper. The sweater looked great, and I had more ideas to fulfill.

Next on my list was the Ninilchik Swoncho, primarily to use particular gradients in the beautiful, chunky oversized motifs in the fair isle yoke. I loved the way this handful I'd picked played with each other; Canyon, Aurora, Chinook all have an earthy but modern appeal. From there, selecting the color to be the main part of the body wasn't going so easily. I didn't want a super dramatic gradient, but neither did I want a semi-solid. 

Since my list of sweaters in my queue was only growing longer I realized that I wanted to take a fresh approach to gradients. Time to create something that straddles the line. Something softer, with changes that stay within a single color but not the predictable dark to light. Shades of deep blues, pale creams, saturated reds. A hint of a change, not a rainbow. Something very wearable, but with a bit of extra interest, and so the Watercolor range was born. 

For the Ninilchik I chose Coral Reef, an equal mix of modern and classic with shades of peach from dull to bright. Of the Watercolor range, Coral Reef and Fossil probably have the strongest color change. Due to the construction of the Swoncho, being extremely oversized in the body, the color does convert to less subtle stripe, but take the same Coral Reef and put it in a basic scarf and you'll get a gentle flow as you knit through the ball. 

From here I was off to the races! I put three of the Watercolors together in GardenGate by Jennifer Steingass. Using the rich red of Starfish for the body and Squid Ink with Surf for the yoke. This might be my new favorite sweater of the season. What was doubly fun for me on this project is that I used a Yarn Bomb for the body, 2 Shawl Balls for the sleeves and 3 Minikins for the yoke and cuff patterning. I will talk about matching the body and sleeves of the different gradient balls in a later post, it's not hard to do and looks fabulous! ​

In between projects I managed to slip in one more Soldotna .. (see my earlier post on Potato Chip Knitting.. clearly I have a problem... ). For this one I used Fossil, Pearl and Oyster, and our very bright Relish semi-solid for the trim. Another favorite of the season, like children, it's impossible to just pick one!

What I love about the Watercolors is they open up a whole new world of possibilities. They coordinate beautifully with the more dramatic gradients, allowing them to play off each other gently without competing. They also work great as stand alone colors, with a bit more dimension than a semi-solid - adding a touch more interest without being overwhelming, making them great for everyday wear and perfect for sweaters and larger garments!