What Colour is Winter?

A warm hello to you all!

 We have had the great fortune of a three-day weekend as Armistice Day is a public holiday in France.  The weather has been glorious.

It is already mid-November and we are hurtling towards the winter solstice.  I have been thinking a great deal about why I love winter so.  When I was a child I would peer through the window every morning in the hope of finding snow or sparkling frost on the ground.  I fed my fascination with winter by reading  Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen and The Little Match Girl and would while away the dark afternoons by listening to Tchaikovsky's Winter Daydreams Symphony No° 1.

And now I find myself wondering what colour is winter? 

 This week as I sat nursing my bronchitis (I am feeling much better, thank you) and knitting this shawl the soft shades of celadon and gossamer grey reflected my idea of winter perfectly.  Old Man's Beard,the bright yellow pigments of lichen with a splash of berry red provide the perfect colour backdrop.

I will be working on the association between winter and colour over the next few weeks for no doubt - fickle creature that I am - my perception will change.

 In The Morville Hours

Katherine Swift writes:

"My garden was conceived in winter: a garden of ruler-straight lines and precise measurements, of black ink and white paper, moonlight and shadows."

 She continues by giving her thoughts on the colours of winter in the second paragraph on the following page:

She finishes by writing:

"I dress in monochrome, too: working with old books in out-of-the-way corners of dusty libraries I long ago adopted black as a simple everyday expedient.  Is there a connection? The subfusc of academic uniform, the black velvet of winter parties, the black and white of text on page, this liking for winter?"

Black and white for the garden lover and writer Katherine Swift.  Greys and pale jade green and blue for me.

And now I ask what colour is winter to YOU?

Before I leave you I urge you to pop over to visit Annie's amazing blog.  She is having a most marvellous giveaway so hurry, hurry over!

Have a beautiful week,

Stephanie

Shawl: by Never Not Knitting 

 Yarn: Madelintosh DK in Celadon and Gossamer delivered, you may recall, by the Madelintosh Fairy in the cabbage patch.

A blissful knit.