Cables Building Block from Knitting Temptations - Day 2

Color me happy...

I find it amazing the effect color has on me.  For a woman whose closet sports mostly grey, black, and brown, I'm genuinely impacted by color.  There is something about the bright turquoise, the cheery "Aqua Mint" of this yarn.  Truly, I have the sensation of the color choosing me rather than the other way around--hasn’t every knitter walked into a store and had a fiber pull at them in such an emotional way?

For a cable project, color is an important consideration--there's a reason the traditional Aran sweater is done in cream. Sure, it's the natural color of most sheep yarn, but the design would never show up on a darker color.  Or a patterned yarn--I tried a pair cabled mittens in a grey tweed with dismal results.

What is it about color?  Lots of things play on our emotional response to color.  The folks at LUSH, one of my favorite bath and skincare product companies, have dived into the cosmetics market with a spiffy line called "Emotional Brilliance." I fell for their wheel-spinning color choosing gimmick (much like the "turn the wheel and tell me the first thing you see” thing from Chocolat) loving the evocative names each color was given.  Try it for yourself here.

Part of what makes us yarn people is our powerful response to color and texture. We want to spend time with it, near it, pondering it.  It takes us hours to select bathroom tile, we need to touch things to purchase them, and we have trouble understanding the lure of the Home Shopping Network.  You can't touch the scarf on your television screen.  Is this true for you, too? Or are you just the opposite?

I love touching this yarn.  I crave the lushness of the bamboo, the cozy loft of my stitches, the creamy texture against my fingers.  Tactile Xanax, this stuff--a dose of calm and cheer no matter where I am and what I'm facing.  Making beauty, at least for me, is always the best medicine.