April 26, 2004
Inspiration for the Design-Handicapped
One of the biggest ways in which The Mysterious K and I differ is in our ability to visualize. Here, in one corner, we have TMK, who is very visual and can “see” images, colors and designs in her head. And, there, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over in the other corner, we have Ryan The Word Girl, who can’t visualize squat.
When TMK needs me to visualize—usually when she’s excited about something she’s planning and she wants me to see and understand her Grand Design—no matter how much she flaps her hands in the air and tries to “draw” what she wants me to see, no matter how much I concentrate, furrow my brows, squint my eyes and clench my b_tt—nuthin’. Eventually I just throw my hands up in the air and give her my “I’m sorry, but you know how I am” look. And then she just looks at me and slowly and disappointedly shakes her head. I can’t understand being like her, and she sure as hell can’t understand being like me.
You can well imagine that my “handicap,” as it were, can get in the way of my knitting ambitions. In short, I couldn't design my way out of a paper bag. To compensate, I rely on three things:
(1) My fallback color scheme: Yellow, blue and green. (Guess what colors the Baby Norgi is?)
(2) Variegated yarn and the knitting crutch of all knitting crutches, self-striping sock yarn.
(3) My ace in the hole, the Internet. As a functional color-illiterate, I have, by necessity, gotten astonishingly good at plumbing the depths of the Net for unusual places to find color and design inspiration. Assuming there are other color-illiterates out there, I thought you might be interested in some of the ways I use the Net to find inspiration. For example, recently, using the search string “nature photography,” I found this site. Using the “View Images and Portfolios” search function, I found these color-rich images:
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
and for those of you who prefer more neutral colors (oh, and for Cuzzin Tom, who doesn't knit but will appreciate this picture), #8.
For motifs and designs and, secondarily, color, try “native american pottery.” This search led me to images like this and this and this.
“Native american textiles” or “peruvian tapestries” can lead you to pages like this or this.
Using “geometric patterns,” I found this and this and this.
One of my favorite designers is the famous Arts & Crafts movement designer William Morris. Using his name, I found this beautifully colored design and something similar, interpreted in needlework.
In short, base your Internet searches on anything but “knitting” or “crochet.” Look for objects around you that inspire you and move you and search for pictures based on that. Here are some other search strings I have used successfully:
"cross-stitch charts"
“abstract designs”
“oriental rugs”
“celtic knots”
“quilt patterns”
"Ukrainian eggs"
"polynesian tattoos"
tilework
snowflakes
tessellations
Knitting Knews(as if an entire discussion of where to find color and design inspiration weren't enough)
Despite my fear of the size 0 needles (which Dear Reader Mary helped me realize was purely psychological since the size 1s I use to knit socks are all of .25 millimeter larger), and despite the fact that I forgot to enlarge the color chart which prints out teeny-weeny, things are going very well with the Baby Norgi. Gotta love that yellow, blue and green color combo!
Dye Garden Dyegest
The weather here in Seattle this weekend couldn't have been any better—bright, warm, sunny days with the perfect hair-ruffling breeze. We (okay, TMK more than me because, well, see the Baby Norgi pictures above) spent considerable time in the yard, getting the dye garden ready for the year.
We declared our "growing from seed" experiment an unqualified success. Here, our "Bright Lights" cosmos seedlings just before they went in the ground. (Just ignore the sad vine seedlings in the upper right-hand corner. Okay, maybe we did have a hiccup or two.)
And the indigo seedlings, which we are going to keep in the greenhouse a little while longer but which can definitely be called real grown-up plants:
The black hollyhocks which came back from last year:
Two views of the dye garden after TMK mulched it:
For Dear Reader Sylvia, a photo of Frankie in the dye garden.
And lastly, our nemesis, The Sparrow. Dude was abandoned by his mate on Saturday and has twittered loudly, incessantly and melodramatically ever since. We can't quite figure out if he's saying "Goodbye, cruel world! What is there left to live for?" or "Hubba hubba, ladies. Come see my velvet heart-shaped bed and the mirrors on the ceiling!" Either way, we...just...want...him...to...Shut...UP!!!
I too am severely design-handicapped. I think there is a brain cell I was not given.
Baby Norgi looks nice.
I too have a bird I want to stifle, he sings all alone from 4:30 to 5:00 am at which point I presume his ego is satisfied. chi-RUP, chi-RUP, chi-RUP, chip. Over and over.
Posted by: CarolineF on April 26, 2004 12:40 PMDid anyone else look at those first two photos and go, "Ooooh! Compost pile beauties!" No? *G*
And good gods do I agree with you on the sparrows. There's a whole flock where I live that perch on the phone wires and have a good old fashioned gossip session. Every day. At *5 am*. I love the little feathered buggers, but I wish they'd find some other area to chirp in before I end up tearing out my door in my underroos screaming and hurling stitch markers at them.
The occasional bald eagle sighting on the way out to my car makes up for it though. (Well, mostly.)
PS - Beautiful seedlings!
Posted by: perclexed on April 26, 2004 01:00 PMYou gave me a scare there for a moment, Perclexed! First I thought you meant the first two visible pictures, which meant you wanted to put my Baby Norgi on the compost pile. Then I thought you meant the first two gardening pictures, which meant you wanted to put our hard-won seedlings in the compost pile! I finally figured out you meant the first two linked pictures and, in that case, I can see why the thought of composting would have crossed your mind...
Posted by: Ryan on April 26, 2004 01:36 PMI really need some sauce to make this shoe palatable.... Sorry for the confusion! Of course the seedlings and the Baby Norgi are gorgeous!
Mmm...tasty foot.
Posted by: perclexed on April 26, 2004 02:47 PMEvery one of those photos passed the "ooh!" test -what lovely color combinations. Thanks for pointing that out to us! And I envy your garden, but I'll have to tell you, I think crows cawing or jays sqawking in the morning are even worse than sparrows.
Posted by: KarenK on April 26, 2004 04:43 PMOh it does my heart good to get to read my favorite blog and to find that link #4 is a picture of home!! In March and April here, our roads are dotted in huge blue patches from the state flower, the bluebonnet. I just love them. I do hate the traffic however, as everyone within a 4 state radius brings children and/or pets to be photographed in said blue splendor. Three weeks later, the only blueness we have is on back roads because all of the major highways have been trampled by tourists. *sigh* Such is life.
The Norgi is adorable. Love the colors. Love more the lack of reindeer. Yes, it is a hangup darnit! My therapist said I was getting better.
The seedlings are beautiful, but then, if I can get one seed to sprout I take out a front page ad in the local paper. TMK does a wonderful job!! And of course, Frankie does a very loverly modeling job of the dye garden.
And I understand about the birds. Where I work, I'm on the ground floor and we have floor to ceiling plate glass windows. And we have this psycho black thing that walks along it screaming and tapping on the glass a la E.A. Poe. *shudder* very disturbing. Hope everyone had a fab weekend!!!
Posted by: Angie in Tx. on April 26, 2004 07:28 PMThose are awesome ways to circumvent the sort of design "blindness" you're talking about. And the photos were breathtaking! Fine art and good animation are also interesting places to watch color combinations.
Your Norgi looks wonderful - you must be having such fun with it! The colors are lovely together and your dye garden looks like it's off to a splendid start!
Posted by: Robbyn on April 26, 2004 08:05 PMCuzzin Ryan and I, being first cuzzins, emerge from the same backswirl of the gene pool re: visual v. verbal. As does most of our fambly, really, save her dearly missed brother, who had both in abundance.
Kicker is, I'm a bona fide Tibetan Buddhist monk and most of our meditation systems depend entirely on visualization. I'd be better off giving myself a good flogging.
But knitting, even tho I understand not a whit, is FULL of great words and phrases. I don't just read this blog. I listen to it.
CarolineF: I suspect your bird is a hormone-addled Cardinal. Good reproduction of his spring song. He'll shuddup in a week or two.
Cuzzin, thanx for the harrier. Today I saw for the first time American Avocets in breeding plumage. Talk about patterning, color and design!
Um, obsessiveness is another fambly trait. At least ours are pretty benign.
Posted by: Cuzzin Tom on April 26, 2004 08:41 PMlove the photos :-) what yarn are you using for baby norgi?
Posted by: vanessa on April 27, 2004 02:43 AMVanessa, I'm using Dale Baby Ull, that inexpensive workhorse of high-end yarns! It's actually the yarn the pattern calls for. Personally, I think 0s and 1s are just too small for Baby Ull, by anyone's standards. They are making a stiff fabric that I wouldn't want to put on MY baby.
Cuzzin Tom, you make me feel better about not being able to visualize. Remember, my sister is ALSO verbal and visual. I was surrounded by 'em!
Angie, I had no idea those were blue bonnets. Thanks for enlightening me! Here in Washington we have the same mass trample-of-tourists to see the tulips. But, tourists or not, it's worth it to go at least once in your life. The tulips are breathtaking--acres and acres of them!
Perclexed, I agree--bald eagles are super spiffy. One flew low over my car as I drove to work on 520 last week. It was very distracting!
Posted by: Ryan on April 27, 2004 11:20 AM