Pantone’s Color of the Year 2019: Living Coral

Love it or hate it, Pantone has just announced their 2019 color of the year: 16-1546 Living Coral. Personally, I love it! My own closet is full of black and gray. Coral is that perfect pop of color against a background of neutrals.

We happen to have varying shades of coral in many of our yarn lines. A lot of them are spot on to Pantone’s specific coral pick. Here’s a sampling:

Corrrllll. Brief aside: Tori Gurbisz (who used to be a designer here) and I used to have this inside joke that caused us to roll on the floor laughing anytime we heard the word “coral”. Andrew Lincoln, the actor who plays Rick on The Walking Dead is British (but plays an American), and his son’s name on the show is Carl. In earlier seasons before Lincoln mastered the southern American accent, anytime he’d say his son’s name it sounded like Coral, rather than Carl. We found this hilarious.

Anyway. Coral. It’s so fun and vibrant. It makes me happy because I have a few designs coming down the pike for spring that incorporate this color, and I can’t wait to share them with you. But in the meantime, let’s look at some other coral-y goodness.

Cotton Supreme DK and Cotton Supreme DK Seaspray

Classic Shades in 743 Oasis. A nice example of how coral can look so pretty with other orangey shades and blue.

Rachel Brockman’s Sailor’s Delight Socks in Mini Saki

Coffee Beans and Sugarcubes hats in Uptown Super Bulky

And of course, you can crochet or knit anything you want in coral or any other color! If you’re thinking you’d like to start with a pop of coral rather than using it all-over in a project, how about the Citron Scarf in Cottonwood? You could crochet the body of the scarf in a neutral, and add color 41107 Monica (coral) as the fringe?

Happy making!

It’s Free Pattern Friday!

Today, the Beyond the Sea Cowl in Revolutions and Cotton Gold (pattern link here).

This cowl is named for the Bobby Darin song, that talks about how the singer’s true love is waiting across the waves. But it also hearkens to song’s original French inspiration, La Mer, with its visions of the sea dancing along the shore, shimmering under the rain.

Mixing the warmth of Revolutions‘ alpaca and mohair halo with the glitter in sequined Cotton Gold captures the feel of the light sparkling on the waves.

The main pattern is a three row repeat using very basic crochet stitches, making this a suitable project for an adventurous beginner.

The finished product has a warm and relaxed fabric, both dressy and practical. It’s easy enough to widen this cowl, if desired. It uses an 8 stitch repeat, so just start with more stitches in that 8 stitch increment and you’re set.