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Since half of the yarn for my planned Sanquhar Cowl seems to be on perpetual backorder, I’ve decided to work on another of Wendy Johnson‘s colorwork cowls: the Leftovers Cowl. Unlike Sanquhar, which I will be working in black and white, Leftovers pretty much calls for a riot of color. As luck would have it, I can do that.
There are a total of 13 motifs in the cowl, and each motif uses 2 colors of yarn. While the colors don’t have to be unique, I actually have 26 colors of yarn available for the project. What I don’t have is a good eye for pairing colors. (There’s a reason I wear black and/or white, you know.) This is where you come in.
Shown below are the aforementioned 26 colors of yarn. If you want to play along, what I’m looking for is 13 pairings, preferably using all 26 colors. If you must have repeats, please do so with only these colors: black, charcoal, eggplant, and iron. (I have extra of those colors. For each of the other colors, I’m pretty sure I have enough to use them in one motif six times (what the pattern calls for), but not much more.)
Please provide me with your pairings, either by commenting here (where here is whatever social media outlet you’re seeing this) or by sending me an email. I’m very excited to see what you come up with!
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- black
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- blackberry
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- butter (bottom right)
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- butterscotch
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- charcoal
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- coffee
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- eggplant
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- iron
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- lake
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- mahogany
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- milk chocolate
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- olive
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- orange
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- pine
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- pumpkin
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- plum
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- putty
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- robin’s egg blue
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- rosewood
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- sage
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- sienna
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- strawberry
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- slate
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- sunshine yellow
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- tan
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- tomato red
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Oooo. I need a bigger viewing screen so I can drool. …I mean offer assistance. The colors will likely all look fantastic used in that project. The biggest thing will be to pick yard that contrast in color or in tone. Try looking at all if your yarns thru your phony camera with a black and white filter on. This wil help you identify which colors, although contrasting, are close in value and won’t pop the way you want for fair isle.
Yes! Saturation is key.
Here are the suggestions made by another friend. Some, I like. Some are too much in the same color family, I think.
But what paired with what?
Hrm. Another shot, making the lines more visible.
I would say you are correct. Most are to close in value. See b&w.
Robins egg, chocolate. ….lake, pumpkin…..eggplant butterscotch. ….putty with anything on the same row….butter,blackberry, …..pine, putty….iron, putty…. putty without fail will work with any of the browns and greens and reds
Hmm. It almost feels like I need to get a few more lighter colors.
Just use them more than once. You’ll be surprised how they take on a different appearance when paired with different colors and/or used as foreground or field in different sections.
*nod* The problem neon they’re mini skeins, so I have enough yardage across all 26 colors, but not much in the way of extra except for the black, charcoal, eggplant, and iron. I think I’ll order one of the bright Loopy Cale sets, and a full skein of putty (as Wae suggested) and see what that gets me. 🙂
Cool cool cool
I think if you plan on using the same light neutral like putty as you pair it with colors you’d be in good shape!