Purple Princess Knits

Have you ever saw some great yarn, picked out a beautiful color, purchased it, took it home, started knitting a great project, then something else better comes along and you have an instant UFO. Why is it that I am so easily led astray. The beautiful yarn I just purchased is suddenly shunned for another great project with another great yarn that I just have to start. Why??? If the first yarn purchase was so great, why is it not being knitted to completion? I will throw it in a basket, look at it daily until I decide to put it into one of many covered bins upstairs to be finished much later. That way the yarn will stay "fresh and dust free." Ha, that is what I tell myself anyway so why does later never seem to happen.

Have you ever just wasted your money on the "wrong" yarn? Be it color, contrast, texture, style or a combination. Deep down you knew it but you bought the yarn anyway and so it just sits in your stash forever. What good will come of this?

Have you ever worked on a project that you love knitting, you finish it right away but when the item is finished there is just something not right about it. It may fit, you may love it but you don't love wearing it. You really can't say why but you know something just isn't right. So it goes to someone else or it sits in your drawer forever. It may be the wrong color, style or both.

I set out to discover how to make good color choices and good yarn purchases. I spend too much on yarn to keep buying the wrong colors. What really started all this, you ask? Well, for one, I saw this picture .....My finished Burgundy Jawbreaker. Great yarn, great color, great sweater, fun to knit but it looks ghastly on me, it makes me look ghastly and pale. I put a lot of thought into what it is about the Jawbreaker that isn't right. I love the yarn. I did make it too big, see the shoulders hanging down? I could live with that but then there is something else. The color! It is all wrong for me. I can wear medium to dark colors if they are the right colors, it is really the tone of this is all wrong for me.

I also saw this picture .....The yarn colors are good but I am wearing the wrong color of makeup; my make up is too pale and too yellow for my light to medium skin that has natural pink tones to it. (Actually after I saw this picture I went right out and bought a new shade of makeup that received Cynthia's approval.) Wearing the right colors are important in order to look your best. This includes the right makeup color. Obviously!

These thoughts led me once again to Cynthia who owns a company called Color Quest. My updated session with Cynthia proved to be invaluable. I arrived wearing no make up. She cloaked me in off white and then used her color pallet of over 2,000 colors to find the best ones for me. First she pulls out the colors in my hair, my skin, my eyes and my natural blush. Then she proceeds to go through every one of her color trays to pull out the colors that look best on me. Awesome. After she was done she looked at the colors she did for me 16 years ago. The color palette was very similar but there are differences in my hair colors which changed my the contrast of color I can wear. I have a few more darker shades of colors. It will take a couple of weeks to get my new colors in. We also talked about makeup, hairstyle and clothing style. More about that later. Cynthia is AWESOME.

Can you see the difference when I wear the right makeup and the right color of clothing. I look slightly warm, radiant and energizing, apparently that is me!

Meanwhile, here is a shot of my old colors and some obvious Nays and Yeas with some of my more recent yarn purchases. I brought some of my yarn to Cynthia for advice and if you want her advice she gives it to you and does not hold back. Did I say she is AWESOME!These are the colors of my hair, skin, eyes and blush 16 years ago.

This is my color palette 16 years ago. I was described as slightly warm, floral, cheerful. (more about what this means later) I have changed a bit but these colors still represent me. Right away you can see my color choice for this yarn is a NAY. It sticks out like a sore thumb and does not look good with "me" at all. This is a NAY, this yarn does not look good with "me" at all. I would have made Isabella, and looked like a big green blob because the color over powers the look of "me." Both of those yarns are recent purchases of Debbie Bliss Rialto yarn. I had even started working on Isabella with the green yarn. Since it is a color that clearly clashes with me, it is in my best interest to cut my losses, rip it out and exchange the unused yarn for a better color. I will be also able to exchange the Eggplant color. Based on my new colors (you will see these later) I plan to get the Chocolate Brown and Dark Teal Rialto.

Just for fun above are a couple of Yea yarns. Can you see the difference?

Besides color, another aspect of good knitting is to know your own style. I will explore my personal style later. I will also go more into depth with my past color choices of yarn after I receive my new color palette. I plan to review every yarn purchase, make the tough decisions and set myself straight so I can fully enjoy my knitting projects. That is what this is all about. I love to knit and from here forward I want to love what I knit.