Holiday Projects – Summer 16 #3 – Ring-a-ding-zing

I am a lover of colour – bright joyful colour. I would love to be sophisticated about my colour choice, but my skin tone, my tastes, perhaps even my upbringing means that I am a primary tone girl. There are some colours I am constantly attracted to, pink, red, blue. Others like green, orange, purple I find more difficult to work with. But you know recently I have been challenged and inspired by the bright and cheerful tones of younger crochet designers. I love the joie de vivre of crocheters Frank and Olive and the pure sense of fun of Potter and Bloom. They are doing something fresh and innovative with our craft and I find the colour combinations inspiring.

Having set myself a mini-challenge of crocheting projects which were inspired by the colour of our holiday, I purposefully took some zingy colours with me to Mallorca. Being in sunnier climbs makes sense of brighter and clearer colours – turquoise and pink seem ‘just right’ in the sun. I wanted to make a fourth and final shawl for a good friend. She too is a woman of colour, she brings a party wherever she goes. She is bright, serious, hilarious, insightful and just too talented. I wanted to make her a shawl that reflected the zing she brings to the lives of the many people she knows.

When I finished the shawl, I knew that this garment needed an extra bit of zing-swing. So I added three colourful tassels, all trimmed with a contrasting wrap. I was giddy with how much I loved this gift. This shawl was designed to bring a smile, to be worn with the confidence of youth and put a little swing into the step. A-ring-a-ding-zing!