Friday, January 8, 2010

2010: Color

January 1, 2009: I'm not going to say what my future is going to be like or make any
resolutions this year - instead I'm going to take the advice of a few
blogs I read and focus on a word.  My word is simple, "Forward". 
Everything in 2009 is about moving forward.  Moving forward to things
that I've been waiting years, maybe all my life, to do.  Big things,
teeny tiny things, but all very meaningful - and this is the year I'll,
hopefully, get to accomplish some of them.



The above is from my first blog entry of 2009 and I have to say that, even though I may not have consciously focused on the word "forward" as much as I could have, I certainly moved forward.  I'm not sure what teeny tiny things I was thinking of but I know I accomplished the big things.  Getting married and moving to England were really beyond big and we have our fingers crossed that this year will bring even more big things forward. For now, though, it's time to pick out a new word for this new year.



My word is a few days late this year because I've really been feeling a bit indecisive. The word I finally settled on, though, is the one that came to mind when I first started thinking about it. 

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I've been working on this post for two days now because it's incredibly hard to think about color in the dead of winter when everything is some shade of white, gray, brown or black.  That said, there are two blogs - do you mind if i knit and Attic24 - that I've been following for a few months now that are a daily dose of colorful inspiration and also part of the reason I chose the word 'color' this year.  When I scroll through Google Reader I almost always look first to see if they have new posts.  Not only do they post beautiful (and well lit, I have to add) photos but their writing is so positive that it's hard not to feel good once you've finished reading.  These two women also make me want to cover my couches in colorful granny squares.

For Matt's sake, though, I think maybe I'll just start with a cushion cover or two.  

Adding color to my knitting will be a little hard since one of my new year's resolutions is to save money by using yarn from my stash as much as possible and, as Chris said, learning to "work from the yarn end, and not the pattern end of knitting."  I already have a lot of green yarn because I Love Green so when I do buy yarn I'm going to go for colors I don't normally use - blues, pinks, reds, yellows and oranges...pretty much any color of the rainbow that isn't green.  I'm going to do the same thing with my wardrobe - no more black and brown and maybe a little less green there, too.  I was trying a bunch of things on a month or so ago and even the woman who showed me to my dressing room commented on the fact that everything I had was green.  

I also want to make color a state of mind, too, and channel some of the positivity that color inspires.  That's the kind of color I could really use right now while there's snow on the ground and the temperatures are in single digits.  That and a handful of crocheted flowers....

In closing, a colorful palette of talented inspiration! 

Color Mosaic





1. finished hexagon baby blanket, 2. Stack of happy crochet, 3. Crochet flowers, 4. ♥ colors, 5. Untitled, 6. petals, 7. Flower Power, 8. Flower Brooches (Bloemenbroches), 9. Granny squares, 10. Untitled, 11. Crochet Flowers, 12. That potholder., 13. prize winning rosettes, 14. rainbow acorn color wheel, 15. grannylicious, 16. Colourful cotton bag.., 17. granny garland, 18. All 5 Potholders Together, 19. Pastora, 20. Scrapghan - Progress Photo #2, 21. Granny squares, 22. Winter Project, 23. Mum's cushions, 24. Festa do Divino, 25. Babette Progress

4 comments:

  1. I liked how Chris put that too - I have a whole stash of yarn but when I find patterns I'm constantly thinking my stash isn't good enough!
    And yes I definitely think you moved forward - and East :)

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  2. I've done the same thing! I chose a word to focus on rather than having resolutions (but also because I was committed to a 101 goals in 1001 days challenge).
    Weirdly enough I don't think I picked one last year, but perhaps the year before?? I can imagine the page of my journal where I wrote and doodled about it, but that was two years ago - LOL! My word that year was 'Content,' if I remember correctly :)
    I'm interested to see what you do with COLOR - what a great thing to focus on :) Here in my new sunny CA home, we have a lot of color even in January, which feels really unnatural for me. It makes my color rhythms feel ... funky XD
    I'll have to think about what my word for 2010 will be...
    thanks for sharing yours!
    (eshy from ravelry)

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  3. wow - you are so right! there's just nothing about a big batch of colorful projects that doesn't make you happy! I think I'm going to take your lead and try to make more little colorful things (dishclothes, flowers to pin on my coat...) because they always make me smile!

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  4. Thank you for your colorful post Emily; it's a gray snowy day here in Ohio and I needed that burst of happy colors!
    I like what Chris said too; I definately need to work from and appreciate my stash!

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