In search of colour

All things pink...

I took a casual glance at my Instagram grid the other day - does anyone even look at that any more? - and was a bit horrified to realised that I almost didn’t recognise it.

Somehow most of the photos there seemed quite beige and lacking in colour. Not a conscious choice I don’t think but more about how maybe subconsciously we select photos for our grid that we think are least likely to be jarring or to visually stand out too much. The result being that slowly they start to all blend into an amorphous blob of ‘greige’.

🩷 Either way I decided it was time to inject a little more colour.

Incidentally does anyone else still struggle with the way Instagram now has our grid in non-square format? I’m old school, I must confess and I have a deep and abiding love for the cute 3x3 square grid. Seeing the larger format 4:5 (even though it isn’t quite proper 4:5) is always still a tad disconcerting.

All the pink

Pink has been my theme of the week and totally coincidentally, pink peonies have been popping up all over the place. Such a beautiful flower that never fails to make me smile. I’m always a bit reluctant to pay full price for them (even though they do give masses of value) so I am forever haunting the discounted section in the supermarket in search of bargain ones.

Some of the supermarket ones can be a bit hit and miss though. After I complained to my mum that a recent purchase had completely failed to open - the buds just shrivelled and died - she shared a cunning tip. You have to gently massage them! Who knew.

Apparently the peony bud is covered with a thin waxy layer to deter insects, especially when picked a little early which most supermarket blooms tend to be. Giving each bud a gentle massage (yes, really) can help to encourage them to open up.

There are some more handy hints to encourage them to open here, in case you are interested.

Baby knitting

Baby Vertebra

I’m not normally one for gendered colours when it comes to baby knitting and I do tend to avoid pink on principle. But this pale pink sock yarn was just crying out to be knit up into something cute.

If you haven’t tried the Baby Vertebra pattern (free download is available on Ravelry here) yet please do consider it. It is a total gem of a pattern - taking up less than a skein of sockweight yarn. It knits up fast and is seamless in construction. It is essentially a frontless cardigan and is so useful for when babies are still at the early scrunched-up stage, especially if their parents do a lot of baby wearing.

It adds some extra warmth for their little backs/arms and means that any milk dribbles go straight onto the onesie below - less washing!. If you use a standard 75/25 sock yarn it can stand machine washing too so it’s perfect for gifting to a new parent.

I’ve honestly made so many of these over the years and they are always well received.

What’s made me smile this week

🩷 “Be the first penguin”. A friend told me this week about an award her kid’s teacher gives out at school - First Penguin - in recognition of volunteering or being the first to try something or venture an idea. Penguins are naturally cautious creatures and resistant to anything new in their environment. But, given enough encouragement one slightly bolder penguin can often be persuaded to try out the new ‘thing’. Once other penguins see that nothing bad happens they will often enthusiastically join in. I just love that concept. Hooray for First Penguins.

🩷 I loved all the comments on my post earlier this week about Flow - definitely made me smile

🩷A wonderful article from

Kavitha

on the eternal appeal of the one-skein project. I think we can all relate to this one.

The Promise of One Skein

🩷 Fun fact (apart from penguins) Pink is the oldest surviving pigment found on Earth. Scientists recently discovered bright pink pigments that had survived 1.1 billion years underground within rocks. The natural pigments came from ancient algae, whose molecules have survived trapped inside oil shale deposits.

🩷 Cake! Specifically it was a Nutella-topped sticky bun from Fitzbillies in Cambridge - but that didn’t fit with the pink theme 😂

🩷Have a lovely weekend - may you have pink cake and matching knitting 🩷