I really like the colour orange, how can you not like it? It’s warm and cheerful. Some of my favourite things are orange – marigolds, sweet potatoes, goldfish…
Read up on colour symbolism and you’ll find that the colour orange is associated with happiness, heat and flamboyance.
Despite my declaration for a love of orange there is a distinct lack of it in my wardrobe and in our home. I’ve even taken a little tour around the house to see if I can actually find it anywhere. As of today the things around me that are orange are some body scrub, the spines of 3 penguin books…
a jumper, a bunny food bowl…
and this ball of yarn and ribbon…
That’s really it, nothing more. So I guess I need to make something. Well, I have been. Using the Happy Hookers crochet book as mentioned in my previous post (‘The ripple effect‘) and this very yarn I followed a pattern for a lovely little clutch bag. In this wintry weather I thought a crochet bag in a warming orange would be just the ticket. But look what happened….
Can you see that when the bag is laid out flat it changes shape? Rather than being a rectangle, its more like a trapezium. I followed the pattern to the letter (except I added a few extra rows because I wanted the bag to be a little deeper) but my tension changed through the fabric. I guess at the beginning I was making looser loops and stitches because I was cautiously labouring over each one but as the pattern progressed I became faster, more confident and tightened it up.
That’s a biggie to look out for in crochet. If the tension isn’t consistent you’ll end up with a really bizarrely shaped item.
I am going to unravel this bag and start again. I don’t mind, I’d rather get it right and use the opportunity to hone those tension skills.
Watch this space to see the finished product and in the meantime hop on over to the ‘Resources’ page where you can find some interesting colour links.
You could always try blocking it to try and even the shape out. It hapens to the best of us. I am making a bed size ripple blanket, and despite my tension being fairly consistent, different yarns (despite all being Double Knit) have made a bit of a wobbly edge. Looks like I will need to put an edging all the way round, cos I am not pulling it all out now!
Love the orange – have you seen the blog all about orange? xx
Thanks Claire, I’ve started it again and the tension is more even this time. I just needed to feel like I got that problem pinned down, so to speak. The ripple blanket sounds beautiful! You know how I feel about the ripple stitch and I’m sure it will look fabulous when its finished.
Yep, I saw the orange website. Just goes to show how strongly colour affects us doesn’t it?