greens

I’ve been looking for a green. Just the right shade of green for a cardigan. I searched Woolfest, and it wasn’t there. I’ve spent hours trawling online sources, without being convinced by the shades I saw (and could I ever trust colour as perceived through a monitor anyway?) Greens are difficult to get right. It had to be not too yellow. Not a flat artificial colour, but organic, alive. The green in my head, the one I was searching for would look as if had grown, not been made.

While we were on Skye, we went to Shilasdair. On first inspection, none of the greens looked right, but I fell in love with the colour of a jumper which was hanging up. It was The Green. But there was no yarn to match. I pondered, and prowled, and quizzed the shop lady. I realised the jumper was a different colour on the inside. The yarn had faded gently, in the light. I re-examined skeins of yarn from the shelves, carrying them around to the windows, the door, out into the bright clear sunlight, seeing what happened to the colour when I put it next to other colours. Slowly, I realised, as I watched the colour change, that this could be The Green (my non-knitting companion deserves much praise here, for not trying to drag me out of there much earlier…)

I bought these four skeins, dyed with heather and indigo, and spent the rest of the day exclaiming in delight, “I bought green!” Now I just need to find the right pattern…

But then, dear reader, I strayed into a yarn shop in Oban yesterday. There was another green. I loved that too. Maybe there wasn’t A Green, but many possible greens? See, this one is tweedy. It’s green, but it’s also red and blue and yellow and every other colour all mixed together.

Somehow, I came away with a large cone of this other green. I already have a pattern in my head for this one. It’s going to be Monami. This autumn, darlings, I shall be wearing green…