Showing posts with label designer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label designer. Show all posts

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Explorations in Color - Swatching it Square!

I am often amazed at the color combination's designers create. A friend and I were talking about this recently when I began to think that there must be a way to come up with unexpected color combination's. I have read about the basic principles of color theory, and I do have a color wheel that was a great help to me when I created a scrap afghan. But, I thought, there must be something on the web that I could use - and I was right!

http://swatchspot.com/

Using this site you can create 6 random color choices. You can also lock one or more of the color choices and choose shuffle colors to change the unlocked colors.


Swatch #1

My first try I kept it completely random and decided I would crochet up a traditional granny square of 5 colors, matching the colors to yarn as closely as possible. I chose to leave out the bright green color, and to use the colors as displayed in order starting from the left.

I was pleasantly surprised and I really like the color combination! They are definitely not colors I would have thought of myself.









Swatch #2

For this swatch I decided to leave out the last color. And I didn't want to use another light mint green like I had in the first swatch, so I used a light gray color instead. I can't say that I like the colors, but it was a fun experiment in what colors I probably wouldn't use together.







Swatch #3

For this swatch I left out the blue colors and instead opted for a dark green for the last round. Not a surprising combination, but I could have used more of a gold color for round 4 instead of the buttery off white, which also would have worked well.





Swatch #4

For this swatch I kept choosing shuffle colors and locking in some of the brighter colors. I left out the dark brown in my granny square and again crocheted them in order of the color swatch. This was fun to play with, and I really like the color combo's except for the center beige color. It would have been better with a light pink or bright pink center.




I certainly enjoyed myself doing this experiment. And I will definitely use swatchspot.com in the future to explore other color combination's. Check it out if you have a chance and I'd love to hear about your own unexpected or "different" color combination's.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

My Pattern Has Been Published!

I am so excited! Today my issue of Crochet World arrived and I’m in it - woot!



I had sent this pattern in last fall for their pattern of the month contest. It wasn’t chosen for the contest, but the editor contacted me and told me they would like to publish it. Since their editorial schedule had been filled last winter, she told me it would be published this fall. Seems like it took FOREVER, but here it is and I couldn’t be happier.



And it’s so much fun to see my name in print.



And I also have the pleasure of being included as a designer on the Crochet World website:
http://www.crochet-world.com/gallery.html?designercode=joparka

I really loved making this scarf, and designing patterns is my passion. I’m so glad that I get to share this pattern with so many wonderful crocheters!