Four years ago, when I was learning to knit, someone told me, “You’ll find you’re either a colour person or a texture person.” She theorized that people usually discovered a preference for one early on and – despite forays into the other – generally stuck with it.
If you were a colour person, you’d be attracted to Fair Isle, Intarsia or other multi-colour techniques. You’d be the kind of knitter who wanted to make pictures or geometric patterns in your knitting. You’d love working with a handful of colours at a time, rather than a single shade, even if you were just knitting stockinette stitch for miles.
Photo, SewPixie at Flickr
If you were a texture person, you’d find your calling was lace, cables, traditional Aran patterns or other techniques that produced varied and interesting textures. You’d be the kind of knitter who wanted to feel the final result of all that hard work under your hands. You’d learn all sorts of increases, decreases, bobbles, popcorn or chunky cables, even if you were limited to skein after skein of the same colour.
Photo, Moria at Flickr
To be honest, I’ve always gravitated toward the texture end of things. Probably because knitting with multiple skeins at the same time sounds like a terrific way to create my own personal Gordian Knot.
But I think I finally might have bucked the trend. I started my Alexander Street Hat over the long weekend, and…are you ready? I love it!
The bursts of colour! The stripes! The simple technique! It all has me reeling with excitement. Now I want to Knit. All. The. Coloured. Things.
I’m thinking maybe a few of these projects will help add a little much-needed colour to the long, dark nights ahead.
- Fiddlehead mittens by Adrian Bizilia, maybe in oatmeal and another fabulous hand-dye in blues and greens
- Peerie Flooers hat by Kate Davies
- Lizard socks by Beate Zäch
- Adelaide yoke pullover by Kate Gagnon Osborn
- Sheep socks by Sandra Jäger
So which side do you fall on? Are you a texture person or a colour person? Or a shape shifter like me?
