You didn’t think I’d give up that easily did you?
Square #9
All I needed was a little RED! When I posted yesterday I already had this square on the needles. So I posted, and then I went and knit for the rest of the day. Thank you all so much for your encouragement (like I need any!) and support with this project. Blogless Betty left a comment this morning saying,
“I know that feeling. You put a finish line in front of you by putting them together. Not a time line but a what it will look like line. Half the fun of knitting them is the anticipation of putting them together later and all the random possibilities. Kind of something to knit towards um like not knowing if it’s a boy or a girl kind of thing.”
That’s EXACTLY how I felt yesterday – sort of like a premature birth. I still LOVE the squares. I still LOVE my rules. I’m not changing any of that up. In fact, the more I came back and looked at the montage, the more it grew on me. The pictures absolutely do not capture the richness of the colors in the squares.
Today’s square has lots of red!
It’s funny – from what I’ve seen, the Tahki Cotton Classic has a million shades of pinks and purples and greens but not a lot of shades of red. Maybe I’m not looking in the right place? I don’t know. But finally some reds have come in. What I love about this square is that the blue and orange and green look okay together – but when I add the red all of the colors come alive. Margene and I had a very long talk yesterday about color theory. She tauted the amazingness of Deb Menz’s book Color Works. (I actually don’t have this one, Margene – I have the other one – Color In Spinning. Will be ordering this one ASAP.)
Margene was educating me on Value – or lightness – in color and how a successful square will need to have all the value ranges within it. So far she thinks I’ve been pretty successful. The discussion came out of the lighter yellow square I posted yesterday – she said that yellow is tough because if it’s too light it will look like a big hole in the blanket because the eye will immediately be drawn there. You need enough dark to offset the light for BALANCE. Isn’t that what we’re all looking for in life? Balance? Balance leads to contentment. Contentment leads to peace of mind and I have ALWAYS said that we should strive for peace of mind. Happiness is so overrated.
Anyway – from now on I’m going to lightly block the squares, take a picture of them, show them here, then put the pieces in the large pile forming in my bedroom on top of a stack of knitting books on the yarn dresser. I love to look at the pile with all the different colors poking through and maybe when I’ve got sixteen squares done I’ll morph all the square pictures together again. Until then, I’m going to bask in the glory of each individual square.
I’ve had a few questions as to the size of the squares – I’m estimating they’re about 11″x11″. I would like the blanket to rest on my king size bed – almost like a coverlet as opposed to an actual sleeping blanket. I might go with 25 squares. We shall see.
Believe it or not, I’m off to Philly again this weekend. I’ve got a family Bar Mitzvah tomorrow, which will mean lots of hang time with my siblings. And then Passover starts Monday night. (Happy Passover!) I’ll be back sometime on Tuesday and will try to post then. Then Wednesday is a crazy day. I’ve been asked to speak at Career Day at a local high school and I have to be there really early in the morning. I also have to come up with a career. 😉
Have a great weekend! My goal is two more squares to show you when I get back. Thank you all!
L, C
Red just makes me happy.
And showing up at Career Day with a bad-ass camera and your portfolio will make the young ‘uns drool. Seriously.
The red is wonderful! I love that Deb Menz book too – very accessible and practical.
Yep it’s all about values, in the photo yesterday the very first square on the top left with the lightest pinks grabbed my eye and stopped it. It was very hard to get past that point to look at the squares as a whole. When you start arranging them for the final blanket you will have to watch for that. Did you read the Knitty article this round about doing colors on the photocopier?
Isn’t it funny how all these crafty things really center around ART and color theory? I too have Color in Spinning, but am putting Color Works on my “want” list!
I love the red! I can’t wait to do more with my red square!
Okay, now THIS square has me committed. I love the reds and the colors you used with it. I’m going to spend the morning going back through your posts to the beginning . . and then go from there.
I’ve been wondering . . . how are you planning on joining all of your squares?
I have to agree, the red makes this irresistible. I LOVE it! I’m thinking I need to add this to my project list as we are remodeling our living room and this blanket would look amazing with our new colors and style *filing away in project file*.
Ooh, can we get a pic of the stack of squares too? I’d love to see the coat of many colors 🙂
Enjoy your weekend!
The ‘real’ Cara…happy (with a little peace of mind thrown in);-) That red square just might be my favorite yet! An easy way to check value is to squint at the colors. If they blend, you don’t see each color seperately, then they are all the same value. It’s a way to play with color and an easy way to compare value. Knit ON!!
About value: a lot of quilters also think that a successful quilt should have all of the “values” in it. Kaffe Fassett’s quilts are so striking because he often goes out of his ways to pick out a range of fabrics that are all the *same* value. So think about that…
I’m two rows away from completing the last border on my mitered square blanket, so I thought I’d share one tip. Knitting the squares is definitely the fun part. Sewing them together and working in the ends is not. I know you’ve had a lot of experience with all those ends in your short row sweater, so you know what I’m talking about. After I knit four smaller squares, I sewed them together and worked in the ends. That way I spread the work out in between the fun knitting part. When I sewed all of the bigger squares together, I was so, so glad that I had already done that step. Of course, that’s just my opinion – you may prefer the theory of having fun while fun is to be had and worrying about the detail work later.
It’s so interesting, looking at your squares, how the colors play and how your rules make them the same but different. I love that in some squares the rules are obvious, the main color that you used in all four corners is obvious, but in others how I sort of have to look at them a second time to find that color, my eye isn’t automatically picking it out. So there are places to really look and places where my eye can rest. So cool.
Your enthusiasm for projects and yarns and all of that is so infectious! I don’t even want to knit mitred squares, and yet……..
Stop that!
Have a great weekend, girl!
square number 9 is my favorite
Oh the red! I thought I loved #7 but the red is my new favorite.
I was thinking yesterday that you needed some red – I guess you were thinking the same thing.
I love all the squares so far.
Yay! I’m glad you’re back! I love red 🙂
Oooo I love the red. It is all going to look fantastic together. I am glad that you are pressing on.
RED, it is so beautiful!
I notice from your pictures that you often put two identical mitres together, and the other two are different. It might make a difference (visually) if you try to put “the twins” diagonally, rather than butting them together.
A little red always makes my day 🙂
Glad to see you back at the squares. They really are nice. Have a good trip and Happy Passover!
Awesome! My favorites are still square #4 and square #8. Whenever I get to the point where I’m thinking about designing something myself, I always worry that someone will walk up to me while I’m in the middle of the project and tell me that my project is breaking every possible color rule! It’s nice to know that you don’t have to follow color theory rules in order to have fun with color.
You know how if you squint your eyes you can see a little of how a scene will look in black and white? You can do the same with color, or put your squares together and then gaussian blur the whole thing to see what the color does. If anything stands out, it’s going to stand out in the final. Helps you see without…seeing. Weird.
For the glory of the square – I like that. And you can never go wrong with red, especially when you through in some eye-poppin’ turquoise to contrast with. have a great weekend.
Fabulous, your new square is so gorgeous, its going to look amazing all together.
Knitty has a great article on how to look at value in colors:
http://www.knitty.com/issuewinter06/FEATcolortheory.html
Oooh, the red is gorgeous; this square is definitely a favorite!
The squares are looking marvelous. I hope you get a lot of knitting in during your commute. Have fun.
Peace of mind > happiness. I like this.
And thanks for pointing me/us towards color theory. I really don’t know anything about this, but I’m intrigued, and so off to read I go. Have a good weekend. Happy Passover.
How about this for a career: artist. Your photography is art, and your fiber creations are art. Artist. It fits.
You will not be disappointed with ColorWorks. Unlike Color in Spinning, it is much more about choosing separate colors to put together in a project rather than blending colors. It is a fantastic book!
Great squares! Although it was written for beaders, The Beaders Guide to Color by Margie Deeb really has user friendly color theory. She not only goes into complimentary colors, triads, hexads, etc. but she also deals with color and mood, temperature, season, value, contrast, and color finish (finish is very important in beading). I have really enjoyed her book from a basic color standpoint (I actually don’t like many of the projects she presents for the reader to do, but the inspirational pieces by other beaders to illustrate her color concepts are great). Just thought you might like to know, as I also have the book Margene suggested, and they compliment each other well.
You go girl! I bet that when you assemble the squares in the final arrangement, they will look entirely different together than when you did yesterday. As you start running low on your favorite colors of TCC your color combos will start reaching past your comfort zone b/c you’ll really have to get creative. (haha, at least, I think so. It seems like you might have an unlimited supply of that stuff.)
You aren’t allowed to stop knitting this, ever! 🙂 I get so excited now to drop by your blog and find out what ‘Today’s Square’ is.
Thank you and I’m glad you figured out what was bothering you. Just remember it’s not in stone. You’ve not sewn a hem yet, so think of all the fun you’ll have playing with the layout.
I love the project, and your squares helped me get past some knitting indecision. What I wanted was a way to play with color – my favorite part of knitting, weaving, taking pictures, too. I’m on my very first square -a teal green and a soft purple.
Any suggestions for good deals on Tahki? I checked WEBS and it looks like they’re not doing the grab bag right now.
Happy Passover
Hands down my favourite square!!
Hmmm, career day? So will you be going the photographer or knitblogger extraordinare? You know which one I think is more interesting. Although, to be fair, the photographer clearly enables the knitblogger. Have a great time and happy mitering!
Love the miters, get the whole color thing, but what really struck me about this post was your statement about striving for peace of mind as opposed to happiness. Wow, Cara. It’s like you put into words what I’ve been trying to explain to my husband, but couldn’t, for years! He’s so fixated on the external, and I keep trying to tell him it’s not the “things” that make me “happy”. Maybe if I show this to him he’ll finally get it. Thanks, and have a great weekend.
Word on the peace of mind.
And I love this square soooooooo much! You’re right. The red makes them all sing.
Word on the peace of mind.
And I love this square soooooooo much! You’re right. The red makes them all sing.
Word on the peace of mind.
And I love this square soooooooo much! You’re right. The red makes them all sing.
Word on the peace of mind.
And I love this square soooooooo much! You’re right. The red makes them all sing.
Word on the peace of mind.
And I love this square soooooooo much! You’re right. The red makes them all sing.
Wow, the red square is beautiful. I really think it’s going to look great with the others. You’ve got me wanting to start on my squares so badly but my yarn isn’t here yet!
I was feeling so guilty yesterday because I begged for the picture of all the squares together and that seemed to get you down. I am so glad the wall met the hammer! I love the red square, too. I noticed Margene’s comment about how to tell value. Another way is to do a photocopy in b&w. If the value is not noticeably different it will photocopy as the same. I’m wondering — how many different colors of Tahki CC do you have? Also do you know if the Tahki CC is the same as Elann Sonata?
I’m loving this project and dreaming of your squares!
Have a great weekend!
Thanks for sharing your miters – they’re absolutely stunning. You’ve got a great understanding of colors – your log cabin is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen simply because of the stunning color combinations you’ve put together.
Thanks also for making me aware of the importance of commenting on blogs – I am reminded of the intro to Mason-Dixon knitting and Ann’s sweet “thoughts and prayers” comments – like Ann, I’m not a “thoughts and prayers” kind of person but I am very grateful that Ann became one because otherwise we wouldn’t have the fabulousness that is M-D Knitting, now would we?
No pressure but I really need to see this thing finished. It’s so much more than could be seen in picture tiles. I know these things. There is also the whole texture thing with the diagonals cutting across.
But no pressure. Happy pesach! xoxo Kay
I know what you mean about hitting a wall. I get like that on every project; I get a little depressed, all of sudden not being able to “feel” it. But I have to tell you, even though 800 other people already have, that these squares are beautiful and I can’t wait to see the finished project.
I love this project and I love your approach to it and I love seeing so much color!! I can’t wait to see it finished.
This square blows me away. I understand a bit of colour theory, but I don’t understand how you can make something so different and good.
I like how you’ve ordered some colours and are letting them come to you. They will fill in when it’s their time.
Lovely colors! I can’t wait to see it all come together.
I just read the knitty article on colour and it reminded me of the “ruby window”. I read about it in a craft book and haunted quilt shops for quite a while until I found one in a thrift shop. It’s just a piece of red cello that is used in the same way as the photocopier to discern value. I didn’t use it because I didn’t have the instructions that you are now opening up for me. Thanks.
You are so motivating to knit one up. Oh the temptation and I love playing with color.
You’re quite the miter girl! I’m liking the progress. I think the red is really striking and just what you needed! Keep us updated. You’re making me want to try. 🙂
I am sensing a little obsession (but also thinking, something like this might be good for a stashbusting project)
I love the miters. The more I see them the more they draw me in. Usually I’m much more of a texture person than a color person, but these are gorgeous.
Your posts remind me of the color theory class I took in Art School and Josef Albers’ paintings. Very cool!