From Cathe Ray,  Needle in a Haystack

A Gallery of CATHE'S COLORS FOR MYSTERY IN ST. TROPEZ

Creative Lesson in Watercolours

St. Tropez is the Watercolours I used for doodling the patterns.

Below is an updated photo of the colors I used for my own St. Tropez doodles

I never made a completed Mystery, I didn't want to influence your choices.

After all, the point of Mystery in St. Tropez isn’t to reproduce what I did, but to make a little Creative adventure of your own.

Above is a simple formula for producing a Mystery in St. Tropez.

There is another path to choosing colors and I would like to explore it a bit here for the more experimental

among you.

Before I begin, I have one very important note about Watercolours: don’t cut it into strands, roll it into a ball like

a knitting ball. That way you can cut strands according to the color flow, giving you more control of many more options.

Now look at the photo below. Notice it shows an expanded path of what I might start with. Reading the photo from the topto bottom: a pearl cotton, four Watercolours, three ‘blue/purple’ Kreinik braids, one Vineyard silk plus two Pepper Pot silks, one yellow silk, one ball of pearl cotton and three light purple Kreinik braids.

Let’s say your  St. Tropez Watercolours doesn’t have all the purple, or light blue, or whatever you want more of.

With different blues, purples and a pale pink/green, you have many more options for adding emphasis to your St. Tropez where you may wish it.  

Wishing for more purple in your St. Tropez? Add it by cutting a length  from the extra skein of purplish Watercolours.

Wishing for a little bit of a value change? Add it from the extra skein of pale pink/green Watercolours.

Loving more blue? Cut it from the bluish Watercolours.

Look at the photo above, and notice the light purple Pepper Pot solid. Now look at the photo below

and you will see I added a paler purple Pepper Pot and a pale light blue Vineyard silk for more options.

You might choose only one, but you might use all three to add a subtle bit of dimension.

If someone is following a set pattern, so many stitches in blue, so many in purple, so many in yellow, etc.

then a set number of threads works. Mystery in St. Tropez isn’t one of those. It offers you a chance to experiment,

and by expanding the collection of threads, you are building in many more creative opportunities.

One more note: notice below that my supporting colors for St. Tropez are all also Watercolours.

If the texture is the same, then the evolution of the color sequences becomes more believable.

Mystery in St. Tropez is supposed to be a creative adventure you take. Choose the colors you like, modify them however you like, stretch a bit, try something you may not have tried.

That's why I made these little ornaments: something small, something quick, something super easy to finish, ie a perfect place to try out new colors and threads.  Use these as auditions for colors, see what works for you, then make the Geometric.

Read the Lesson and then Scroll down and look with fresh eyes at Cathe's threads.

Do you see them now in a different way?. In my Facebook Stitchalong Room, I hinted at this process by saying, Look at Lilac A and Victorian Red A. IMHO they are dying to be united!

So say you wanted to unite these: I'd make at least two ornaments to help me work out proportions and colors, then I'd have an idea how to start the Geometric.

After the Sale: we will revisit Cathe's Colors and talk much more about combos, including the two I bought. I will show you how I plan to combine them and what I will inevitably add to them and why. Color Lesson #2.

Tomorrow a Surprise: how would you like to see the Mysteries that Val, Sue and Kim, my proofers,  made in proofing the pattern?

Above:

Fronts.

Right: backs

Scroll down for CATHE'S COLORS

All 16 choices are there.

CATHE'S FRENCH BLUE A and B

Scroll down and look now at Cathe's French Blue A and B.

Put them together and you have a close variation to my colors..

Ask Cathe to add a couple of different Watercolours and you will be set to go.

For Reference: the Beginning of

Mystery in St. Tropez.

Everyone works these steps then the Mystery begins as you choose colors and you choose from the options included in the pattern and for the more adventuresome of you, choose what you might wish to add.