COLOUR CLASS: ORANGE
The most edible segment on the colour wheel, orange shines vividly. Golden light, vitamin C, glorious free-range eggs, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrots, it’s the signature colour of vitality.
While, these days, I’m a pushover for orange cardigans and kitchen utensils, it hasn’t always been so. Perhaps its presence during my 1970s childhood – a time when (and this hurts to write) brown and orange were often paired together – may have had more than a little to do with it. Even back then I knew it was not OK!
Orange can be a wonderful and colourful friend. Even though it has an ability to dominate the conversation, it’s equally happy to step back and a take supporting role in a colour scheme.
This very reason is why I chose an analogous selection of yarn for this month’s project. In a sherbet palette (pastel with a fizzy pizzaz), Papaya, Salmon and Mustard create a bright, in-your-face harmony. Watch out though, they’re so mouthwatering together, like a bowl of sunrise!
COLOUR FACTS: ORANGE
Orange was named most sensibly, after the citrus fruit, in the early 16th century. Nestled between red-orange and yellow-orange on the colour wheel, it was often referred to as red (hence red hair) or saffron.
Because of its vibrancy, black boxes on planes are actually orange.
‘Realgar’ was the name of an orange paint pigment from ancient to Medieval times.
Beta carotene is the orange pigment found in fruit and veggies, and converts to Vitamin A when eaten. Vitamin A (though toxic in high quantities) helps support eye health, so that old saying ‘eat your carrots so you can see in the dark’ has more than a ring of truth to it.