As you probably know by now, I am HUGE fan of Sonya from Woolen Boon. Like, stalked-her-until-she-let-me-carry-her-yarn-in-the-shop fan. Which sounds creepy, but I promise...it was out of love. So when I approached her with the idea of creating a custom color for La Mercerie and she was excited about it, I was over the moon!
I wanted to share the inspiration with you so that you can see how indie dyers like Sonya go from idea to product. I couldn't believe how gorgeous it turned out based on where the inspiration came from!
We started brainstorming inspiration and colors probably two or three months ago. There were so many amazing ideas thrown back and forth that it was hard to decide which direction to go! But ultimately, we decided on what ended up being Flower Girl - inspired by my wedding in July.
As cliche as it may be, I love peonies. But not just any peonies...the huge coral ones with the golden yellow center. Every year, I make trip after trip to the farmer's market to stock up while they are in season. I just can't get enough. So of course, they were the inspiration for our wedding colors, as well as the starting point of the inspiration for Flower Girl.
From there, we found images that played off of those hues and created a palette that Sonya could work with. We ended up deciding on shades of coral and dusty pink, with pops of gold and green...just like a peony.
We talked about whether this yarn would be more color-prominent, like her Vicious Trollop colorway, or have more of a softer base, like Peach Perfect. To me, the beauty of peonies is that they are beautiful in their simplicity...one stem is just as beautiful as a bouquet. Because of that, we decided to keep the base a more neutral, cream color, and let the colors pop.
And then it was up to Sonya to work her magic! I'll be honest - when I first saw a sneak peek, it looked a little more pink than I initially thought. But I should know better than to question Sonya and her methods...once it's swatched up, the colors blend and become more subtle. It's perfect.
I had a giveaway earlier this week and asked everyone to tell me what they would make with this yarn...there were so many good ideas! I thought I had it all figured out for what I would cast on next, but now I'm not so sure.
Of course, there's socks. Because...#lamercerieyearofsocks. But I love how many people were excited about using this in some of the many fade patterns that are out there right now! It really would be the perfect transition yarn. Some people wanted to use it for a shawl or cowl. I'm really excited to play around with some swatches and see what it looks like when held double or with another tonal yarn! I'll share my swatches as I go. For now, I'll just keep squishing it until I make a decision...
Someday, I'm going to get myself together and write a blog post with all the handmade details of our wedding, because it's something I'm really proud of. But until then, here are a couple details that show you how Flower Girl is our perfect wedding-inspired yarn!
