Color Therapy

After a winter of grey sweaters, I needed some color.  I showed you my work-in-progress Palette Cowl in the brightest neon green I could find.  The Manos del Uruguay Maxima in Chartreuse certainly did the trick, and the cowl itself is perfect.  (Click on over to the stunning new Manos website.  It really highlights the yarns, patterns, and the company itself.  Such a great story.)

While I was knitting, I worried that it would be too small to double wrap, especially since my bind-off usually comes out way too tight.  I decided to experiment with Jeny's Surprisingly Stretch Bind Off.  It was perfect and totally worth the tiny bit of extra time it took to implement!  It looked a little wavy and wobbly at first, but I blocked it out to size, and then everything was right with the world.  I love this, but apparently my need for color therapy did not end with the cowl.

I immediately fell in love with the Chartreuse Royal Alpaca that arrived from Aslan Trends last month.  And I immediately needed to pair it with the Turquoise, obviously.  Completely inspired by this lovely thing on Ravelry, I'll try a colorblocked cowl with these three colors, maybe a fourth..either winter white or chocolate brown.  I'll cast on enough stitches to fit on a 16" circular and knit a tube until I'm done with my yarn.

And still, I keep buying neon-colored yarn.  I have had the colorwork itch lately, and Grettir from BrooklynTweed Winter 13 looks like it might satisfy.  

Photo from BrooklynTweed Ravelry page.

Bright blue body with yellow, white, and charcoal yoke?  Perfect.  There are two versions, and I'll do the men's, skipping the turtleneck and waist shaping.  I'm going for pure cozy comfort here.

Finally, the subdued color changes of the Freia Flux Lace were too much to pass up.  I pretty much bought this because the colorway was called Metal Earth, and that spoke to me.

I thought maybe a triangular shawl, maybe the Age of Brass and Steam.  But Heidi Kirrmaier's Windward is on my list, too.  I love the idea of playing with the color changes is unexpected ways.  So many possibilities.

I think I might have sated the color craziness for now.  The last thing that came home with me is a nice dusty shade of purple.  

This is two skeins of Manos Wool Clasica, destined to become another Palette, because I loved knitting the first one so much.  This colorway is called Slate, and it is definitely on the grey spectrum.  Ahhh, back to normal.