winter survival: color therapy

Feeds:: Posts; Comments

winter survival: color therapy

February 21, 2011 by Katie Noah Gibson

Even with the occasional blue-sky day around here, winter still involves a lot of black, gray and brown. The skies are often gray, and it still gets dark early. The piles of snow are rimmed with gray and brown, splashed up onto them by passing car tires and frozen into place. (City snow is NOT pretty – the falling snow is actually a blessed relief when it covers the landscape in a pure white blanket.) And my down coat, my boots, my gloves and lots of other winter accessories are black.

So I’ve been needing some color therapy. Although I don’t usually splurge on fresh flowers, I’ve bought a few bouquets, most recently these cheery daffodils:

I picked up a coral sweater and a bright mustard top off the Gap clearance rack the other day. I’ve been eating lots of bright orange clementines – cheery, healthy and delicious. And I’ve knitted myself a cozy cowl the color of raspberries:

(That’s the honey cowl, doubled up around my neck. Love it.)

What are your color therapy tricks for wintertime?

Posted in knitting, musings | Tagged color, comfort, flowers, knitting, winter | 8 Comments

8 Responses

on February 21, 2011 at 8:37 am | Reply Roxanne

This post was color-therapy in itself! Flowers are my chosen mode of brightening up a day. This past weekend my boyfriend and I drove to a field of blooming anemones and their vivid colors are staying with me as I face another Monday…
on February 21, 2011 at 10:36 am | Reply Felicity

I left up my greenery from Christmas that includes red berries and a bit of glitter. And when the sun came out last week, I made sure to just stand still and soak some of it in!
on February 21, 2011 at 10:58 am | Reply Bethany

Even tho there’s not much green outside yet here in TN, I know it’s coming soon because the colorful birds are coming back! The cardinals and bluejays just stand out that much more against the brown-grey winter branches.
on February 21, 2011 at 1:25 pm | Reply Jet

Lovely colours. I tend to gravitate to my photos – the ones from spring and summer. They feed me.

That circle scarf is lovely – looks so cozy. Did you also knit or crochet the table runner? It is beautiful.
- on February 22, 2011 at 9:11 pm | Reply Katie @ cakes, tea and dreams
  
  Jet, the table runner is actually from Eternal Threads (http://eternalthreads.com) – which employs female artisans in developing countries. I love it!
on February 22, 2011 at 3:58 am | Reply Christy A.

You are a flippin’ genius! I JUST picked up a skein of Madeleine Tosh that is waaaay too pretty to go on my feet and could NOT find a vowel pattern I liked enough for it. That our knitting tastes run so similar, my dear Kate, always makes me smile.
on February 25, 2011 at 4:33 pm | Reply domestikate

Love this! Daffodils and clementines are definitely good colour therapy for me too, but I also turn to my bright green winter coat (I refuse to ever buy a black one, too depressing!) and I always wear colourful socks. Not that anyone can see them, but it helps me to know that underneath my big winter coat there are some cheery stripey socks!
on March 22, 2011 at 8:53 am | Reply late winter survival: color therapy part II « cakes, tea and dreams

[…] wardrobe. (See spring skirt with winter layers, above.) Also: browse the consignment shop for colorful pieces that won’t break the bank. Such as a bright melon scarf, and a sweater the color of tender, […]