Color Challenge - Skies!
Those of you who have been visiting this blog for a while may remember that each year our guild, Carolina Spinners, Weavers & Knitters, has a color challenge. Always one of the Guild highlights, this annual event culminates in a reveal of our individual projects at the July meeting .
The challenge works like this. One of the members chooses what the color inspiration will be, for example this year we each received a photo of an interesting sky. We then have roughly six months to design and complete a project in any medium desired. In years past we’ve had handwoven items, handspun yarns, felted objects, baskets, quilting, knitting, and even a decorated cake.
The first year’s challenge was to design a project using three crayons blindly pulled from a paper bag. Last year’s projects were inspired by photos of interesting birds. You can see the 2018 projects here and the 2019 projects here.
Since February our Guild meetings have been virtual via Zoom. While we are grateful for this technology to keep us in touch, most would agree there’s nothing like seeing one another in person, even if we can’t extend our usual greeting hug. Thankfully, we were able to really meet on a beautiful August day, outside in a park, and socially distanced. Like many things about 2020, our attendance and challenge participation was not typical, however the projects themselves “knocked it out of the park”!
First, I’ll tell you a little about my project. This was my inspiration photo.
I wanted to capture the beautiful blue and white of the sky and clouds, but also include the darker blues of the water, greens of the meadow, and greys of the stone walls. I used four colors of Scheepjes Spirit yarn in Orca, Dolphin, Blue Jay, and Grasshopper and four colors of Scheepjes Catona yarn in Metal Grey, Light Navy, Kiwi, and Cyan. Catona is a 100% mercerized cotton sport weight yarn. Spirit is a heathered 56% cotton/44% acrylic yarn that is oh so soft!
I chose to crochet the Spirits of Life wrap by Tatsiana Kupryianchyk of Lilla Björn’s Crochet. Tatsiana is an incredibly talented designer and very generous in her tutorials. Her Spirits of Life wrap was a Crochet-Along (CAL) consisting of 9 parts, each with very thorough instructions, comprehensive progress photos, and easy to follow video tutorials. I was not a part of the original CAL back in 2017, however all of the patterns and tutorials remain available for FREE on the Scheepjes website!
The project uses a variety of techniques which were fun to learn. I had never crocheted before, however as an “adventuresome” beginner I had no trouble as a result of Tatsiana’s wonderful instructions and tutorials. Each technique appears twice in the wrap with a little design twist and color combination in the repeat. The above photo as well as the header photo are close-ups of the mosaic crochet technique.
The middle section reverses with C2C (corner-to-corner) crochet.
There are two sections of four blocks of overlay crochet.
This is a big project measuring 24” by 79” and using just over 2500 yards of yarn! Yes that’s just shy of 1 1/2 miles! The photo above shows the back of the piece.
Now a look at the other challenge projects. You’re in for a treat!
Our Lisa is so very creative! Her felted piece not only captured the colors of the sky but also the lightening with purple LED lights.
Karen outdid herself with a beautifully woven purse. All I can say is wow, just WOW!!!!!!
Rosemary nailed both the colors and the nebula with her knitted cowl. It is soooooo soft and squishy and looks stunning draped around her neck!
Cindy is a master of knitting shawls! Another beauty from her. And not only did she match her yarn color choices, but the photo shoot background coordinated. How cool is that?
Wendy always amazes us. Not only did she perfectly match the palette in her shawl, but her pattern and use of sections of color expertly mimicked the layers of the sky. Well done Wendy!
Krokbragd Patterns - Book Update
Work is moving along on schedule for a Spring 2021 release. The blog has been silent for these last few months as I’ve been BUSY designing patterns, translating them to drafts, and writing project instructions. All of the 20 test weavers have now received their patterns and instructions and are starting their weaving process. They are a fantastic group of ladies. You will so enjoy their work! I can’t wait for you to meet them in the book.
