For me, the colors I choose for any given project are not simply a color wheel exercise meant to replicate the work of others. Instead I choose colors based on the particular feelings and sentiments that evoke when they are juxtaposed in unexpected ways, and sometimes the shape of the motif — like crochet hearts and roses — changes the way the colors interact.

When I made a granny square blanket for the toddler daughter of one of my mom’s neighbors, I did not set out to do a formal color study. Instead, I used the assorted colors to help recreate visually, some of my favorite experiences as a child.

I used color to create movement, quite moments and to evoke my favorite of all seasons, summer, and here was the end result:

After talking with the child’s mother, it seemed that I had succeeded in sharing some of my own favorite childhood experiences though the use of color. The little girl used her blanket as a personalized play area — a kind of colorful, portable fiefdom that no one (save herself) was allowed to be on.

After sorting through my many crochet motifs and settling on a selection of crochet hearts and roses, I found myself trying to accomplish something similar with the colors of the four graphic crochet rose granny squares that are remnants of another project:

I tried several colors in an effort to create a particular feeling, and while the colors I experimented with all looked fine, they did not evoke the feeling I wanted to recall, so with some trepidation, I got out some Red Heart Super Saver aran and took a walk on the neutral side:

To my delight, the neutral did not overwhelm the colors, and so I finished up the graphic granny crochet heart square:

Which led me right back to my ever-so-slightly-too-small nine-patch crochet rose square:

It needed an ever-so-slight border to make it a seven-inch rather than a six-and-three-quarter-inch square.

Using the same technique I had employed on what I think of as “the Miami Dolphins” square”

I crocheted a slip stich in the “back bar” loop just below the back loop of the outer round, and not only did it get the square to the desired size, it added a lovely texture that made the whole thing “pop”:

No doubt when I finally begin the process of joining the remediated squares, I will find myself faced with a number of color conundrums, but I know that by choosing with care and persisting even when others might think it is a waste of time, I will create something that is not just a “warm blanket,” but that also brings forward in color, the memories of my life.

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