Tuesday, May 13, 2008

IN PRAISE OF YELLOW

MY GARDEN OFFERS YELLOW

I admit to being a bit besotted with yellow this spring. Besides this being such an optimistic, sunny, color it's usually the first sign of spring in my neck of the woods. First comes the coltsfoot often mistaken for dandelions followed by the sweet clouds of forsythia and then the sun cups known as tulips. The tulips pictured above are clever darlings; they start of yellow but slowly meld into creamy orange.

So, where there's an obsession, knitting is aure to follow and here's what's coming off the needles this season: 'LIGHT ON LEAF'.

Light on Leaf: the shawl pin

But, of course, I aim for the goldy shade of yellow rather than the bright, lemon drop hue currently flaunted by my flora. No, this shade is softer, very high on the greeny scale work as if watercolor fusions are blending at the corners in some muted, light-filled brew. So besotted was I, that I went a-gathering, finding the perfect tone in  Tili Tomas's silks called 'Rattan'. These slippery, sleek silks blended in with her beaded Cleopatra shantung versions and mixed with hand-dyed cottons and blends created the shawl called 'Light on Leaf' you see hanging out with the shawl pin of the same name.

Crisp silken textures mix with cotton and ribbons…

And, of course, one needs a necklace to match! I bought the handmade class focal leaf from the convergence of two artisans, Cook and Young, at Stitches West. Their booth sat right behind mine and anytime I had a spare moment, I would wander off to drool onto their exquisite leaflings. They were very patient with me knowing as they did that one or two would be sure to go home with me. And they did—three, to be exact. One grew into this necklace which I will probably deconstruct into something else one of these days.

Oh, and still in the yellow family, here's one of my 'wild thing' bracelets, this one 'Leopard's Leap':