Walking in my neighbourhood today, my attention was grabbed by the colour of the flowers on two hydrangea plants in a garden I passed. I find hydrangea flowers fascinating anyway because of the fact that the colour can be changed by increasing or decreasing the acidity of the soil. However, what struck me about these (and my apologies for the blurry photos but my phone camera is old and very basic!) was the shades of blue. As I walked on, I reflected on the colour blue. It is my favourite colour and has been since childhood. My bedroom when I was growing up was almost always papered in blue. (I do remember one design of little pink tulips on a white background, after my parents pleaded with me to pick something other than blue for a change, but that didn't last for long!) A look through my wardrobe will show a definite bias towards blue clothing. Even my car is blue!
I know I am attracted to blue yarn when choosing colours for projects or when shopping. I have two projects on the needles at the moment, and they're both blue! The sweater (on the right, it's the beginning of Elphaba by Mary Annarella) tends towards the teal-er end of the blue scale, but both that and the shawl I'm working on would definitely fall under the heading of 'blue'.
I know I am attracted to blue yarn when choosing colours for projects or when shopping. I have two projects on the needles at the moment, and they're both blue! The sweater (on the right, it's the beginning of Elphaba by Mary Annarella) tends towards the teal-er end of the blue scale, but both that and the shawl I'm working on would definitely fall under the heading of 'blue'.
From there I got to wondering what it is about particular colours that attracts people. I mean, I like blue, yes, but there's also something about it that means that in a yarn shop, or a paint shop, or a clothing shop, or anywhere else where there's a large choice of similar items in a range of colours, I always find myself drawn towards the blue ones. There is something about blue as a colour that calls to me.
I had a search online and there's surprisingly little out there to explain it. There's a lot of psychobabble about what colours to wear to attract a potential partner or to strike a successful business deal, or about the emotions associated with different colours, but no scientific stuff about what it is about a certain wavelength of light (which is all colours are) that should be so attractive to different people.
There are particular colours or groups of colours that might suit people better, and there are a lot of internet articles about that as well. If you want to find out whether you're a "warm" or "cool" person, or which one of the four seasons you fit into (!?!), there are plenty of suggestions about that. Someone with an educated sense of what makes them look good might gravitate towards colours which they know enhance their appearance. For myself, I know I look better in cooler or blue-toned colours. I have pale, pink-toned skin, dark hair and eyes. Anything too yellow or orange makes me look ill. I look much better in bluer-toned shades. On the other hand, my sister with her green eyes and olive skin looks fantastic in the earth tones and autumnal shades that she always wears, which would make me look like I'd escaped from Plants vs Zombies. As an adult, one's favourite colour might be influenced by fashion or by knowing what looks good from a clothing (or make-up) point of view, but people often have a favourite colour from childhood and I wouldn't have thought knowing whether they were a "deep winter" or a "cool summer" would influence a child's decision to pick red or purple as their favourite colour.
I did find one article on a psychology website which suggested that colour preference has a learned component. If your parents always dress you in a certain colour, or decorate the home in a certain colour, you associate that colour with a sense of security or well-being. With this theory in mind I thought about myself and my own children. I know there are a lot of pictures of me as a small child (not old enough to be making my own wardrobe purchasing choices!) wearing a lot of blue. Because I like blue, I choose a lot of blue clothing for my children. How much of that is because they're both boys and a lot of boys' clothing is blue is hard to say, but I know I definitely go for blue if there's a choice. My six-year-old is old enough to express a preference, and believe me he's not shy about doing so, and he also prefers blue. He says his favourite colours are "light blue and bright blue". On the other hand, his little brother who is two years old and so still at the age of being dressed in what he is put in also wears a lot of blue but, if asked, will tell you his favourite colour is "purple". Take from that what you will!
I'm still none the wiser about what it is that makes me choose blue, draws me to the colour in all its shades, almost to the exclusion of most other colours. I sometimes make myself pick another colour - I've been consciously trying out red recently, just to see what things look like in other colours. And when I say the exclusion of most other colours, I decided to pull my yarn stash out and see just how much of it is actually blue. It's quite astonishing, and perhaps a little embarrassing! For the purposes of the photos, I have included in "blue" anything that's on the bluer end of the blue-green spectrum, or the bluer end of blue-purple, and also any multicoloured yarns that are predominantly blue.
This is my collection of blue yarns.
I had a search online and there's surprisingly little out there to explain it. There's a lot of psychobabble about what colours to wear to attract a potential partner or to strike a successful business deal, or about the emotions associated with different colours, but no scientific stuff about what it is about a certain wavelength of light (which is all colours are) that should be so attractive to different people.
There are particular colours or groups of colours that might suit people better, and there are a lot of internet articles about that as well. If you want to find out whether you're a "warm" or "cool" person, or which one of the four seasons you fit into (!?!), there are plenty of suggestions about that. Someone with an educated sense of what makes them look good might gravitate towards colours which they know enhance their appearance. For myself, I know I look better in cooler or blue-toned colours. I have pale, pink-toned skin, dark hair and eyes. Anything too yellow or orange makes me look ill. I look much better in bluer-toned shades. On the other hand, my sister with her green eyes and olive skin looks fantastic in the earth tones and autumnal shades that she always wears, which would make me look like I'd escaped from Plants vs Zombies. As an adult, one's favourite colour might be influenced by fashion or by knowing what looks good from a clothing (or make-up) point of view, but people often have a favourite colour from childhood and I wouldn't have thought knowing whether they were a "deep winter" or a "cool summer" would influence a child's decision to pick red or purple as their favourite colour.
I did find one article on a psychology website which suggested that colour preference has a learned component. If your parents always dress you in a certain colour, or decorate the home in a certain colour, you associate that colour with a sense of security or well-being. With this theory in mind I thought about myself and my own children. I know there are a lot of pictures of me as a small child (not old enough to be making my own wardrobe purchasing choices!) wearing a lot of blue. Because I like blue, I choose a lot of blue clothing for my children. How much of that is because they're both boys and a lot of boys' clothing is blue is hard to say, but I know I definitely go for blue if there's a choice. My six-year-old is old enough to express a preference, and believe me he's not shy about doing so, and he also prefers blue. He says his favourite colours are "light blue and bright blue". On the other hand, his little brother who is two years old and so still at the age of being dressed in what he is put in also wears a lot of blue but, if asked, will tell you his favourite colour is "purple". Take from that what you will!
I'm still none the wiser about what it is that makes me choose blue, draws me to the colour in all its shades, almost to the exclusion of most other colours. I sometimes make myself pick another colour - I've been consciously trying out red recently, just to see what things look like in other colours. And when I say the exclusion of most other colours, I decided to pull my yarn stash out and see just how much of it is actually blue. It's quite astonishing, and perhaps a little embarrassing! For the purposes of the photos, I have included in "blue" anything that's on the bluer end of the blue-green spectrum, or the bluer end of blue-purple, and also any multicoloured yarns that are predominantly blue.
This is my collection of blue yarns.
That includes full skeins and partial ones, including a sweater quantity of navy DK, another sweater quantity of dark blue Rowan Kidsilk Haze, a few odd balls of DK in various shades of blue, a cone of blue lace weight, and most of the rest of it is skeins of sock yarn.
However, the picture that really puts it into context (and the reason why the photograph is deliberately off-centre) is this one, of my entire stash.
However, the picture that really puts it into context (and the reason why the photograph is deliberately off-centre) is this one, of my entire stash.
From these pictures, it's clear that at least half my yarn stash is blue, or variations on the theme thereof! There's a bit of undyed sock yarn (which may well become blue at some point in the future!), a little bit of red, a little bit of green, some oddments of neutrals, and two skeins that I decided were slightly too purple to be included in with the blues. This is the first time I've actually looked at my yarn by colour. I usually classify it by weight. I store it by weight and I buy it by weight. Clearly, though, whatever weight it is and for whatever project there's something about blue that I just can't resist!
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