When I buy a gourmet cookbook, I know I may never cook a recipe that has multiple steps and takes hours to complete. But I still enjoy reading the recipes and taking away the inspiration to create a fabulous meal for my family and friends.
Like a gourmet cookbook, Elaine Eskesen’s Dyeing to Knit is thoroughly enjoyable, even if you are not sure you are ready to dye your own yarn. The book is filled with beautiful photos, wonderful color combinations, design ideas, and fun techniques that you can pour over for hours.
In the opening chapter, Elaine shares her love of color and the sources of her inspiration for the colors she chooses. She then takes her readers through an easy-to- follow understanding of color, their relationships, and provides knitted samples to show the interaction between colors when knitted together.
Elaine’s style is so charming that she may lure even the most reluctant knitter to try creating their own color scheme.
If you do decide to try your hand at dyeing, you will be pleased to find clear instructions and recommended tools and dyes that are easily accessible, plus fun ideas for mixing colors to produce unique effects.
In the chapter on design, Elaine tells us how she thinks about designing the pieces she knits and reveals that she doesn’t “do complicated knitting” but rather projects that she can “pick up at any moment.”
In addition, six knitting designers share their inspiration and Elaine talks about specific artists and how they have influenced some of her designs.
Patterns for items that easily incorporate color and texture are included, but by the time you reach the last chapter, you may already be putting together an idea for your own design.
Visit Elaine’s Shop, Pine Tree Yarn
See Dyeing to Knit at Amazon.com
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ShopWiki (a search engine and comparison shopping site) recently added a feature that allows shoppers to search for products by color. The shopper can narrow their product search by selecting a color from a drop-down menu on the search results page.
The feature supports millions of colors using the RGB color model (red, green, and blue combined in myriad ways to reproduce other colors).
ShopWiki allows shoppers to not only locate a product they are looking for, but also to find it in the color they want in one step, rather than having to click through multiple sites.
Try it yourself and see how it works:
Shop for Red Handbags
Find a Yellow Toy Truck
With ShopWiki, finding the color you want just got easier.
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Whether you call them diner dishes, restaurant china, or sturdyware, commercial plates and tableware from the 1940’s and 50’s have a hometown charm that is as comforting as meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
For years, collectors (me among them) have found the classic designs and colors irresistible.
Fishs Eddy, a company specializing in American sturdyware, was born when two passionate collectors turned their appreciation for the simple beauty and durability of these American dishes into a growing business.
Julie Gaines, one of the founders, shared a story about the inspiration for their Pantone Collection that struck a chord with both the collector and color-lover in me.
Julie explained that years ago, she and her partner bought a stack of vintage dishes from a manufacturer in Ohio that was closing their business. The stack included “color wheel” plates that were used by the company’s traveling salesmen in the 40’s and 50’s to show customers the different colors available.
The actual names of the color, the identifying number, and sometimes even the salesman’s name were written in the glaze. One of the plates even had “Do Not Touch” bolding written along with the salesman’s name.
She said that, initially, they didn’t know what they were going to do with the samples and so the plates stayed in their office for the next ten years.
During that time, the destiny of these plates
became clear as their design caught the eye of person after person who, upon learning of their history, expressed delight in the plates and their story.
The new line began to take shape and Julie said that it was only natural for Fishs Eddy to take the concept to Pantone, a world leader in color matching.
The result is the colorful Pantone Collection shown here, complete with color name and number written in the glaze.
Sometimes the story behind the product is as interesting as the product itself.
Available online or in stores at Fishs Eddy or Gracious Home.
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I had the pleasure of being invited by Leatrice Eiseman to attend a color trends presentation she was giving to customers and associates of Gracious Home.
Gracious Home is a retailer with four fabulous stores in New York city that are brimming with every houseware imaginable.
Gracious Home had selected four palettes from the home forecast Lee had done for Pantone and had invited their customers to meet Lee and hear her personally describe each of the palettes.
The team at Gracious Home arranged merchandise from the store that showcased the colors and allowed the audience to see how the colors on Lee’s presentation boards looked on actual products.
Lee began by showing the “Grounded” palette. She described these as colors “of the earth,” but not simply the earthtones we might immedately think of. This palette does includes golden olive and rosy brown, but also has the less expected earth colors of misted lavendar, mineral blue, and atmospheric gray.
The second group of colors Lee showed was “Pique-Nique” - a palette that speaks to our need for summer fun. Lee described these as the colors of patio parties and picnics in the park. When these colors come indoors, they add summer freshness to any room. “Pique-Nique” colors include a mix of fruity melon and red, refreshing green, baja blue, and a warm rattan.
Next, Lee presented an updated view of pastels with “Pastille.” These are not the candy or sherbet colors that may come to mind when you think of pastels, but rather serene, stylish hues. This quiet palette blends dusted coral, icy aqua, sunshine yellow, and lily green with silver gray or mocha frappe.
The last group was “Primitive,” a palette of bold colors influenced by cultures from around the world. Inspired by handmade objects and native materials, the colors include Chinese yellows, Pompeian reds, earthy browns, and, of course, ebony and ivory.
The audience appeared to enjoy gaining insight into the colors and the palettes Gracious Home had selected seemed to truly resonate with their customers.
In addition to being tuned into the color preferences of their shoppers, I was very impressed with how everyone from the founder to the management team to the sales associates focused on meeting the needs of each customer.
It was easy for me to see why Gracious Home has a reputation for world class service.
All items pictured available on the Gracious Home website.
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The popularity of chocolate brown continues in fashion and the home, but who would have anticipated the growing popularity of brown as a color for flowers?
One savvy couple from Washington state bet that brown plants and flowers would catch on.
Marie and Bill of the Chocolate Flower Farm combined Bill’s love of chocolate with Marie’s love of gardening to develop a unique niche in the world of gardening with their unusual chocolate brown flowers.
Other flower fanciers have also found brown intriguing. An article in The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that “Plenty of chocolate cravings were aroused at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, London’s influential showcase of landscape design and plant trends.
One of the most popular gardens was the bronze medal-winning Roald Dahl Foundation Chocolate Garden, inspired by Dahl’s classic book (and upcoming movie) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Like the black plant craze ignited by Karen Platt of England a few years back, rich brown plants are capturing the fancy of flower connoisseurs everywhere and growers are beginning to make dark chocolate flowers and plants available to florists.
Dark flowers add drama to a garden or floral arrangement. Combine that with the appeal of chocolate and who can resist these unusual blooms?
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One of my favorite summer escapes is to sit on my deck among containers and hanging baskets brimming with plants and flowers in varying colors and textures.
Of course, getting the plants to the deck and planting them can be a bit of a chore.
So even though I enjoy the results, sometimes I need a bit of motivation to get me started and having a few fun tools to use is just the boost I need to get going.
Pulling on a pair of orange polka dot gardening gloves from Hable Construction will make cultivating more enjoyable and more fashionable.
Grabbing an ergonomically designed soil scoop from CreateAGarden in a coordinated color will also do the trick. The patented spoon-shaped blade with a sharply pointed tip and serrated edges can dig holes, make furrows, weed, cut roots, even open soil bags.
Of course, what caught my attention first was the brightly colored grip material around the handle, but the unique design is what eventually sold me on this item.
If these tools don’t help you to find your own inspiration, you might want to just browse over to Hable Construction’s decorating section and select a dozen floral pillows to surround yourself with, instead. I promise, with these beauties, there is no digging or watering required.
Okay, just sharing about these neat gardening tools has gotten me in the mood to get started, so I’m off to the nursery.
Photos of pillows and gardening gloves from Hable Construction website.
Photo of garden scoop from CreateAGarden website.
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Throughout time, man has used color to enhance himself and the world around him. Colorful World beautifully reveals to the reader the colors of the world; not the colors found in the natural surroundings, but rather the colors selected by man to express something about himself and the community in which he lives.
Amandine Guisez’s photographs transport the reader around the globe where she “discovered a passion that knows no political frontiers.” She also discovers that “those who deal with colour speak the same launguage, a language concerned with the intensity, brilliance or depth of a particular tone, value and shade.”
The 200 plus photographs are divided by color and supporting text touches on the meaning of colors and how different cultures have viewed colors through the ages. This book is “a celebration of human creativity” and I thoroughly enjoyed viewing each page.
Buy the book at Amazon.com
~View All Book Reviews~
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“The possibilities are endless” was a phrase often used by one of my favorite professors in college to encourage me to expand my exploration of art and design.
It was that same phrase that popped into my head when I discovered the delicious tiles whipped up at the Color Bakery.
The intense color and texture baked into each piece created by the husband and wife team of Glen and Mindy Sommers certainly prove that the possibilities are endless when it comes to 
creating tiles.
Their tiles will satisfy your hunger for color when incorporated into murals, back-splashes, room borders, or decorative items such as mirrors and table tops.
But if all you have room for right now is a little taste, that’s okay, because Color Bakery offers smaller bites of color in their fresh baked keepsake boxes, coffee mugs, decorative plates, shelves, frames, and many other imaginative items.
Simply yummy- and best of all, these are baked goods with zero calories!
Photos from the Color Bakery.
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The appeal of gemstones, in large part, is due to their rarity. Historically, these eye dazzling beauties were the result of several of nature’s elements coming together perfectly to produce their rare color.
Today, many of the stones we see in jewelry stores are not the result of nature, but rather the result of enhancing techniques that are used to produce color. While these processes produce some beautiful results, they take away a bit of the mystery and magic of these precious jewels.
Recent controversy over undisclosed treatments has had a negative impact on the the value of some colored stones. While there is nothing wrong with a treated or enhanced stone, the skepticism has risen out of this fact not being disclosed.
If someone wants a rare gem, it is fair to expect that they would want to know whether or not the stone has been treated. As in anything, people don’t want to pay for a rarity of nature when what they are getting is something produced in a lab.
Even if you are not solely in the market for a rare gem, you might like to have an untreated stone. For a selection of dazzling “naked” stones, visit Out of Our Mines, where you can find all of the colored gems pictured.
One thing to remember is that regardless of whether the jewels you wear are natural or enhanced, colored gemstones are a wonderful way to show your “dazzling” personal style
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In my never-ending quest for color and creative ideas, I found this website that I think is simply wonderful, and I wanted to share it with you.
Etsy is a marketplace for arts and crafts filled with beautiful handmade items like the polka dot wristband from fresh popcorn. I love the brightly colored dots and it reminded me of Etsy’s awesome “Shop By Color” section.
I stopped back at the site again this evening and had so much fun playing with the colors, looking at all of the imaginative products available, and reading the artist bios, that I have ended up doing more browsing and buying than writing.
Check it out - but if an hour from now you’re still there, you can’t say I didn’t warn you!
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