One of the things I enjoy most about designing yarny things (apart from buying LOTS of yarn), is playing with different colour combinations. It isn't easy - there are many theories on why certain palettes are particularly pleasing to the eye. Getting it right takes practice. I have to practice, for every project I do. Sometimes I get it right, and sometimes I have to go away only to realise I really didn't. Often I'm swayed by trends or too many pinterest-hours, and have to struggle to come back to what defines my own style. 

No matter what happens, however, the process is great fun. I look for interesting colour schemes everywhere; I may or may not have once tried to photograph a bit of a stranger's jacket, it was that good. Looking around me for inspiration teaches me to think beyond my own comfort zone colours (grey+blue and maybe a hint of something warmer, as the palette of this blog will tell you!). When a certain combination captures me, it turns into an obsession. Before long I'll try to look for it everywhere, photograph it, make stuff with it, bring it into my designs and even look for socks that match (okay maybe not quite, but almost!). 

To document these palettes I'm starting the Colour Obsessions series. Perhaps it will inspire you to try new combinations too, and if you're on Instagram feel free to use the #colourobsessions hashtag to show me your favourite colour schemes. 

This week I'm starting off with a combination I'd never given much thought to but which I now love love LOVE:

An impulse buy from Ness when I visited York last year (and couldn't cope with the bracing British weather after 4 years in Milan at all!) is entirely to blame for this obsession, I think.

In case anyone from Ness is reading this - if you ever decide to make a Swedish winter-appropriate version of this coat I will be the first to snap it up, I promise! 

Anyway, after the accidental coat+bag incident came my usual game of "spot that colour combo". Turns out shipyards are quite a good place for burnt orange and teal/turquoise.

I haven't gone as far as to incorporate this scheme into my own designs, but the burnt orange has been creeping in to some other makes. It love how it worked with purple in the Nordic Shawl

​I've recently gone over to the dark side and taken up knitting (I know!), and for my very first attempt at knitting something wearable I've chosen orange and indigo. I really like it, but how hilariously gappy is that casting-on row! I think I need a bit more practice at this too...

​So there you have it, my first in a series of Colour obsessions: Burnt Orange & Teal 

What do you think, does this colour scheme rock your boat, or is it not for you? 

Three months in our new home, two months since my last update. It’s been two months of some great highs, and some pretty terrible lows too. I don’t want to dwell on the latter too much - it’s a normal part of starting from scratch somewhere new. Suffice to say that bureaucrats and the boxes they attempt to fit you in are as stretched, beleaguered and cantankerous the world over. Harrumph.
In between the highs and lows things have just been ticking along. And that’s rather nice. I think when you move abroad people expect you to be off adventuring and discovering at every opportunity, but after the physical and emotional upheaval of shifting our entire lives across Europe, ticking along is good. Ordinary, safe, just nice.  
And in other news...

LIFESTYLE
In a word: outdoorsy! It’s one of the main reasons why we moved here and, my goodness, autumn has not disappointed. Brief, yes, but stunningly beautiful. And so our ordinary rhythm, when we’re not working or at school, is to head out and just walk.

On the (many) days it rains and we’re just not quite Swedish enough yet to brave it, we laze, code, bake cheese scones (Bean’s current obsession) and make hats and scarves and things for the months ahead.
Uneventful but, as I said, nice.

HOME
We’re down to just 7 unpacked boxes! Perhaps destined to stay that way forever unless I really need something at the bottom of one of them, because let me tell you: I am done with unpacking boxes.
But despite the box fort in the master bedroom it does feel like home. The layout feels right, as does Swedish insulation. Bar curtains and wall decorations, the Bean’s bedroom is finished and super-cosy. The kitchen table by the window is my favourite spot from which to crochet and cheer on the plants braving the autumn chill on the balcony. It feels right.

WORK
Lots of it! Bean started preschool in mid-September (more on that below) and as soon as the settling-in period was over, it was nose to the grindstone for me. A good thing too, as I haven´t earned a thing for 3 months. It’s been reassuring to get back into it, and now the next milestone will be to officially shift my accounts from Italy to Sweden in the New Year. Oh the excitement!

THE BEAN
Ups, downs and roundabouts with this one. The great big up that really needs celebrating is that HE LIKES HIS PRESCHOOL. Oh the relief… We like it too - it’s light and cheerful and safe, the staff are kind, the kids go traipsing round the woods nearby and eat like pint-sized kings. He is happy there, and comes home singing Swedish songs about purple lions (I think).

Being two (nearly three!) is complicated though. When we first announced we were moving many people said that he would “be fine, kids are adaptable”. And he IS fine, in general, but then there are days when he is really not. Daddy went away for work for a few days in October and that was absolutely not fine. He still remembers what came before, he still struggles with the idea that he can’t just go back. Perhaps he still worries that one of us might just go and not come back, one day. So he is fine, he is adapting and becoming less of a little Italian and more of a little Swede by the day, but he reserves the right to feel crap and anxious about it all sometimes. As we all do, I think.

CULTURE SHOCK
More like weather shock, predictably! We have become wimps after 5 winters in Milan, especially when it comes to wind. And then there’s the fact that cowering indoors is not an option - it’s neither healthy nor realistic (unless you want to become a fuzzy-haired, barely intelligible hermit for 6 months of the year). Becoming braver and understanding what is meant by “appropriate clothing”, as preschool so helpfully put it, has been quite the education. It’s an excellent excuse for making woollie things though, as I said, and for buying a lovely new coat that is warm, windproof, waterproof AND stylish. As soon as I find one, that is (suggestions??).

SOCIAL LIFE
Kind of okay. No real friendships yet because these things take time, and so there are definitely days when we feel lonely. A few visitors (and more coming every month for the next three months!) have helped lift the mood greatly though. As has Instagram for me. No, seriously - it turns out there are some truly lovely people on there, and every now and then you get to meet up in person and talk yarn or food, and always pretty pictures. It’s a godsend, I tell you!

Come say hello: 

As regular readers of this blog will know, we packed up all our belongings and moved from Italy to Sweden a few months ago. And do you know what the best thing about unpacking was? Getting my yarn back! OBVIOUSLY I had put a couple of little projects in my suitcase until the boxes arrived, but oh my, it was lovely to see the lot of it again. Especially all the beautiful colours that make up my Crochet meets Patchwork blanket.

It's been in progress for over a year now, this blanket. A while ago I took a big step back and changed the colour scheme (you can read about that and see the new colours here, if you missed it). I just love it now, and every now and then I even get the chance to add a couple more rows to it ;-)

Anyhoo, it's time to reveal the completed fuchsia block. I adore this colour for the way it pops against the greys and the white. Wherever possible, I’ve linked to the original patterns and their designers. As you’ll see, however, there are a couple that I can’t track beyond Pinterest. If anyone knows who owns the copyright to these pattern, I’d be very grateful if you could get in touch.

There you go, nine lovely free granny square patterns! To join them I used this tutorial by Carina at Carina's Craft Blog and the edged it with a continuation of the Block Stitch. The whole lot is to go with the green block I published previously. On to blue (coming very soon) and that unfathomable but beautiful colour called "brique"! 

Do let me know if you decide to make any or all of these - I’d love to see your take on my crazy patchwork project!

Tag me on Instagram (below is an "on my desk" shot I shared a couple of weeks ago) or twitter using the #crochetmeetspatchwork hashtag, or come join me on the Pasta & Patchwork facebook page.