Neutral Zone
Today I'm celebrating Beige. It's not easy for me to love Beige, because I consider it a non-color. I'd call it anti-color, but Beige doesn't even have that much conviction. As a person whose very life depends on color, though, it seems unfair to ignore the ones that aren't that bright.
I blame my mother for my Beige problem. She loathed (feared?) Beige in any incarnation. She wouldn't even call it by its proper name. Instead she always said "Blah-Beige". And it wasn't just the color she impugned; any person whom she considered to have too much neutral in their life was also called "Blah-Beige"; as in "Oh, you know, he's one of these Blah-Beige people without an original idea in his head..." This was describing a neighbor who, on retirement, bought a brand new taupe and white RV, and a factory-matched taupe truck with which to pull it.
But I'm a big girl now (with the pants to prove it), and it's time to give a fair shake to Beige. I realized this when I was gifted with an otherwise unobtainable skein of Plucky Knitter Primo sock yarn. It's maker, Sarah, aptly named the color "Oatmeal". What a lovely and approachable way of describing the color. Nothing wrong with oatmeal at all. In fact, you'd never expect or want oatmeal to be any other color than what nature made it. So because I was in love with the yarn, itself, I decreed that I would step outside my comfort zone and embrace my inner neutrality. I made swell toe-up socks which were fun to knit, and pretty to wear. And I put them together with my favorite summer party shoes. Then I looked down to realize they were standing on my beloved new floor, whose wrinkled brown paper has every color of, guess what? Beige in it. And you know what else I love that's Beige?
Backstage at the sock photo shoot. Bailey found a stray Milk Bone and would not get out of the shot.
A certain four-legged blonde, without whom we could not imagine our lives.
So there you have it. I still prefer "real" colors. But it turns out a little neutrality is not a dangerous thing.
Simple, toe-up Diamond lace socks with a hemmed picot edge. Post a comment if you think I should publish the pattern, or if you'd like to rant in defense of all things Beige.
