Wednesday
Jan142009
Evolution.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 5:36PM
Colorways evolve. At least they do 'round these parts. These parts being the cowboy west, apparently. Next thing you know, I'll be rustlin' up some grub.
I know there are other dyers out there who never dye the same thing twice -- they prefer to let inspiration strike as it will, and not to worry about having to live with that colorway long term, or to recreate the colorway over and over and over. More power to them, I say. I totally understand that desire. It can be draining to spend considerable time perfecting something, only to be thwarted at the gate again and again. But my business isn't set up for dyeing at will and random stockings, even though the freedom is fun.
(I have been known to discontinue a colorway because I can't stand to dye it one more time, even though it sold well. Bad business idea? Probably. But I'm an artist. An ARTIST, people. Cut me some slack. You want me to like what I do so I can keep making pretty yarn and not burn out doing colorways I hate, right? RIGHT? Just nod your head.) (And don't ask what those colorways were, I ain't tellin.')
Of course, I am the gate keeper. I am the one whose brain says, "Yeahhh... no. Try again." The February colorway yarn club selections were tough for me -- I went through ten versions of a colorway before settling on one.
January was a little less brutal. Here's what I started with:
Not horrible. But it doesn't speak to me. I don't like the ivory. I decide to try some butter yellow in place of the ivory.
A little better. I'm still not loving the lightest note in this colorway. There needs to be less contrast. I decided to swap the yellow for some salmon.
A bit better. more appealing. But I don't want this to be too girly, so I decide to get rid of the pink. I don't know why, salmon is not really my thing.
Here's a close to final version:
Getting there.
Here's the final:
It's deeper, richer. It rings my bell.
Version one with version two in the background.
Version two with version three in the background:
See the difference between version two and three?
Three and four:
Four is close:
Four different versions of the same concept.
And there's my baby, Halcyon:
Now, if you're one of those people who're like, "But I liked version one the best!" please find another Yarnista. And please don't tell me about it. The Yarnista has feelings. And she sometimes refers to herself in third person.
ETA: What do I do with all this yarn? Often, I work with small skeins when I'm working with prototypes. I'll divide a regular skein up into halves or thirds so I'm not being too wasteful. And then I keep them all. For reference and emotional attachment and stuff. I like to refer to them. I keep them in my studio, and am now working on filling my third large box. My other two larges boxes are overflowing -- a section of the studio my husband refers to as the yarn graveyard.
I know there are other dyers out there who never dye the same thing twice -- they prefer to let inspiration strike as it will, and not to worry about having to live with that colorway long term, or to recreate the colorway over and over and over. More power to them, I say. I totally understand that desire. It can be draining to spend considerable time perfecting something, only to be thwarted at the gate again and again. But my business isn't set up for dyeing at will and random stockings, even though the freedom is fun.
(I have been known to discontinue a colorway because I can't stand to dye it one more time, even though it sold well. Bad business idea? Probably. But I'm an artist. An ARTIST, people. Cut me some slack. You want me to like what I do so I can keep making pretty yarn and not burn out doing colorways I hate, right? RIGHT? Just nod your head.) (And don't ask what those colorways were, I ain't tellin.')
Of course, I am the gate keeper. I am the one whose brain says, "Yeahhh... no. Try again." The February colorway yarn club selections were tough for me -- I went through ten versions of a colorway before settling on one.
January was a little less brutal. Here's what I started with:
Not horrible. But it doesn't speak to me. I don't like the ivory. I decide to try some butter yellow in place of the ivory.
A little better. I'm still not loving the lightest note in this colorway. There needs to be less contrast. I decided to swap the yellow for some salmon.
A bit better. more appealing. But I don't want this to be too girly, so I decide to get rid of the pink. I don't know why, salmon is not really my thing.
Here's a close to final version:
Getting there.
Here's the final:
It's deeper, richer. It rings my bell.
Version one with version two in the background.
Version two with version three in the background:
See the difference between version two and three?
Three and four:
Four is close:
Four different versions of the same concept.
And there's my baby, Halcyon:
Now, if you're one of those people who're like, "But I liked version one the best!" please find another Yarnista. And please don't tell me about it. The Yarnista has feelings. And she sometimes refers to herself in third person.
ETA: What do I do with all this yarn? Often, I work with small skeins when I'm working with prototypes. I'll divide a regular skein up into halves or thirds so I'm not being too wasteful. And then I keep them all. For reference and emotional attachment and stuff. I like to refer to them. I keep them in my studio, and am now working on filling my third large box. My other two larges boxes are overflowing -- a section of the studio my husband refers to as the yarn graveyard.
Reader Comments (13)
So what DO you do with the yarn that doesn't meet the Yarnista's high standard? Where does it go?
'Cause even your reject yarn is still pretty.
Good question, Janet. I just added the answer above! :)
Beautiful. And with all due respect to Yarnista's reference and emotional attachment, the idea of a yarn graveyard is, well, so very, very sad...
can I say I love both version 1 and the final version, but for different reasons?
I love the way version 1 looks in the skein, but I think I'll love the way the final version knits up. Oddly, though, those are the only two versions that 'speak' to me :-)
Do you ever come back to the graveyard later on? Do some of them not speak to you one day, but weeks or months later they do?
Wow, Sharon - great post!!
I really love the final version, but I'm not nearly so fond of the others - so I am glad you went to all of that trouble!
I'd love to see photos of the yarn in the boxes some day.. ;)
I love all of them, but you are so right that the final one is *it*. That is the right balance of colors. I love watching the evolution of a colorway.
I love seeing the color evolution and your thoughts on each one. I can't wait to get my skein to see the wonderful colors in person!
Well maybe you could one day make a enormous blanket with all those colourways that didn't make it...
What a gift to be able to play with colors like that. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Halycon, and enjoyed reading about the process.
WOW! Halcyon is why I decided to join your yarn club. Now, having seen the time and thought you put into your process, I am even more impressed. I'm fascinated by colors and how they work together and I really enjoyed reading how you designed this. As an aside, I'm glad you ditched the 'salmon/pink' color cuz I'm really not a pink person and I love that you want to avoid girlie. I can't wait to knit this up!
Oh Halcyon days....:-D
Wonderful process...thank you for sharing....I'm inspired!
How about letting us adopt them little skeins so they could be knit up into mini-socks for our keychains or earrings or webkinz clothes?
I don't want to share my big skeins with my younger daughters but those would be the perfect size to knit up webkinz sweaters.
Just a humble thought.
Thanks for sharing the thought process.
I like the first one and would buy it.
Scrappy socks make for a great project to use up left over yarn. http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Sockaholic/super-scappy-sock