In what seems like the blink of an eye, we’re five months into 2019 already! I thought it was about time we showcase some of the new colours we’ve added to the range this year. I recently spent a very pleasant afternoon combining colours and some new ideas for old favourites (I struggle to think of a nicer way to spend an afternoon, in fact).
From left: ‘Black, Like My Soul’, ‘Dark Winter’ and ‘Shinjuku’
All the combos you see here are our Favourite Sock pure Merino 4 ply yarn. ‘Shinjuku‘ is a perennial favourite – its unruly splashes of neon are much coveted, yet it can be hard to know how it will work in a project. Personally, I just love it on its own, and many knitters combine it with our neon semi-solids, but it can also be used in more subtle ways. Here’s a dark and moody neon fade that combines ‘Shinjuku’ with ‘Dark Winter‘ (created for December’s Pomp & Poms box) and ‘Black, Like My Soul‘ (new this year).
Incidentally, it never occurred to me that anyone would want black hand-dyed yarn until a customer requested it, and it turns out that lots of you do and it’s been an invaluable addition to the range. The name is nothing sinister, it’s a little joke about how I ask for my coffee after a bad night’s sleep.
From left: ‘Dark Winter’, ‘Shinjuku’, ‘Frosted Sunrise’, ‘Sunset Beach’
Looking on the bright side: ‘Shinjuku’ also plays nicely with lighter tones. ‘Frosted Sunrise‘ (second from right) was also created for our festive kit, and with subtle hints of neon it is also a beautiful shade for summer. ‘Sunset Beach‘ is like peaches and cream on the needles, as seen on my Blend In, Stand Out shawl.
From left: ‘Southbank’, ‘Frosted Sunrise, ‘Sunset Beach’
Another invaluable addition to the shade range has been the cool grey ‘Southbank‘. Created for April’s Sock Club, this shade was inspired by the concrete brutalist architecture of London’s cultural hub on the Thames.
From left: ‘Brixton Purple’, ‘Dirty Lilac’ and ‘Southbank’
‘Southbank’ makes a fantastic fade alongside the cool tones of ‘Dirty Lilac‘ and ‘Brixton Purple‘, it has a slightly mottled texture that works well with other semi-solids that have some tonal variation.
From left: ‘Traffic Cone’, ‘Southbank’, ‘Health and Safety Gone Mad’
And, just look how it makes those neons pop, contrasted here with ‘Traffic Cone‘ and ‘Health and Safety Gone Mad‘.
From left: ‘Southbank’, ‘Energy Flash’, ‘Overreaction’
‘Southbank’ also plays nicely with ‘Energy Flash‘ (centre), a newcomer in charcoal grey with a flash of neon gradient, see here with neon shocker ‘Overreaction‘
‘Glowsticks’ and ‘Black, Like My Soul’
‘Black, Like My Soul‘ is perfect for taming another bold newcomer, ‘Glowsticks‘ (a neon rainbow). I am picturing a Breathing Space sweater in this very combo.
From left: ‘Spirulina’, ‘Aquaphobia’, ‘What’s Your Poison?’ and ‘Professor Plum’
‘Spirulina‘ (far left) is a more sedate addition to the shade range. This deep blue-green is a colour I’ve had in my mind for a long time, but remained elusive until I finally managed to nail it for one of the shades in our 2018 Yarn Advent Calendar. There was a notable gap in the range for this gorgeous semi-solid, and we’ve dyed it up on DK as well as sock because it’s a beautiful sweater shade.
Here we’ve used ‘Spirulina’ in a vibrant, but classic fade with ‘Aquaphobia‘, ‘What’s Your Poison?‘ and ‘Professor Plum‘.
From left: ‘Space Race’, ‘Spirulina’, ‘Ore’
‘Spirulina’ works beautifully with speckled and mottled shades, as here with ‘Space Race‘ and ‘Ore‘.
From left: ‘La Vie En Rose’, ‘Spirulina’ and ‘Colonel Mustard’
Or, use ‘Srirulina’ with other semi-solids for a stunning colourwork combo, as used here with classic pink ‘La Vie En Rose‘ and ‘Colonel Mustard‘.
I hope you live these new colours as much as I do. By the way, we’ve got a new gadget on the website to browse by colours and filter by style, to help you choose combinations for projects.
I can’t wait to see what you do with them. If you use our yarn in a project, don’t forget to tag @its.a.stitch.up on Instagram.
