After My Hair Turned Grey, My Whole Outlook on Color Changed …

A funny thing happened when my hair began to grey.  I was thirty-five and resented a situation that seemed premature and, well, unfair.  For every grey hair I plucked, ten appeared, suggesting that resistance was futile. So I began experimenting with different DIY hair colors offered by the neighborhood drugstore.  Experimenting was fun.  I could choose shades with cool or warm highlights, go auburn in the summer, or Goth when I felt dramatic.  After a while, though, I sadly realized I wasn’t very good at covering what needed to be covered.  I sought professional help.

Between Brunette and Blonde…

My hairdresser worked for months to remedy the self-inflicted dye damage.  By now I was a decade older.  My underlying color was so grey that when brown dye was applied, my hair seemed blonde.  So, I became a dark blonde.  But it didn’t stop there—I went lighter and lighter.  My hair is now honey-colored, and I’m satisfied with the results.

My point is about personal color, but it applies equally to clothing.  No matter what, I want to look my best—don’t we all?  As I’ve gotten older, I’ve discovered that the colors most flattering to me aren’t the brights I wore when my tresses were chestnut.  With light hair, I prefer neutral and natural shades.  Fortunately, I really like neutrals and naturals.  They seem serene, and they play well with jazzy accents.  I love a camel coat with a crimson scarf, a grey tunic with a cobalt shawl, and anything black with apple green.

…And Every Shade in Between

My knitting, of course, reflects this preference.  Right now I’m in the mood to knit a beautiful sweater to wear in the cold months ahead, and I want an interesting yarn, as enjoyable to work with as to wear.  And—total wish fulfillment!—I’ve discovered Lion Brand’s Scarfie!

The Scarfie palette fits my personal color theory exactly. Scarfie is an ombré yarn that subtly moves from one shade to another.  It’s dreamily dynamic, hypnotic, and outright magical as it transitions from light to intermediate tones, then darkens. Working with it is like watching clouds at sunset or morning haze over mountains, except it’s you and your pattern, not Mother Nature, behind the changes!  The natural shades have a rustic purity, from cream to taupe in one skein, from silver to charcoal in another.  There are stunning low-key colors, too—rich cranberry to deep black, forest to deep black, denim to midnight.   All of them are in the palette most flattering to me.

It’s called Scarfie because one generous skein makes one generous scarf.  But I’m determined to do something larger—a sweater.  The gorgeous “Free Spirit Topper” in the Lion Brand Pattern Finder is exactly what I had in mind.  But there’s also a high-fashion crochet pattern, the “Duo Tone Throw” which is ultra simple to make but totally interesting at the same time, because two different shades of Scarfie, moving along their individual paths, create a rhapsodic interplay of colors.

I might have to make them both….

Knit Free Spirit Topper	Crochet One Ball Scarfie	Crochet Duo Tone Throw
Crochet Pero Poncho	Crochet Diagonal Shaded Shawl	Knit Neutral Slant Shawl