In the pink ...

The weather here in London continues to put on a cold, grey face, but I'm resolutely clinging to the notion that spring must be just around the corner.

Notwithstanding the unseasonal gloom I spent a very happy day yesterday photographing my new collection of organic cotton 4 ply in all the wonderful shades of summer. It's a tricky business taking photos that accurately record the colour of yarn. My favourite place for indoor photography is in our south-facing conservatory, which has wonderful, clear, white light.





In direct sunlight, however, the colours bleach out, and the contrast of light and shadow can distort the tones. On a dull, overcast day the camera can insist that it wants to use its flash, and the camera's flash-gun always messes up the colour.

Sometimes I use spotlights, reflected off a huge white screen or the cream-coloured walls. Direct artificial light is a total no-no.

But what I really yearn for on these occasions is a slightly grey day with light cloud cover, so, in a sense, these past few days that I'm moaning about have actually suited my purposes rather well. I know. I know. There's no pleasing some people ...

It's been huge fun playing with the yarns, and experimenting with how they work together. At the moment I'm just a little bit in love with the look of quite similar colours with only tonal differences paired together: very ombré.

ombré

adjective  om·bré  \ˈäm-ˌbrā\

Definition of ombré

1. :  having colours or tones that shade into each other —used especially of fabrics in which the colour is graduated from light to dark

ombré noun

I think it's going to be my new favourite design look, and I'm looking forward to having a play with it in the course of my next few projects. I messed around the other day with a couple of balls that were quite close to one another on the colour wheel, and knit up a few random stripes. I loved the subtlety of how they blended together. What do you think? Don't those light pastels just shout Spring! to you?

I'm a sensitive soul when it comes to colour. The right combination of pleasing tones can totally make my day, and I can't put into words how much fun I've had playing with these lovely pastels. It's the simple pleasures that rock my world.

All the best for now,

Bonny x