Inspiration while Traveling

 As some of you might know, I just recently came back from traveling to Ghana. We went to go spend time with my husbands family. I was a little nervous before our trip. International travel combined with meeting new people and the language barrier. But, It was the best vacation ever. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Ghana and cannot wait to go again. 

Photo from Google Maps

One aspect that had me very nervous was the flights. I don't have a fear of flying. I was more worried about security and what I would spend time doing on the flights. People told me to take some books and maybe even my knitting. I went back and forth on packing my knitting.

I have heard stories about it not being allowed on the plane and projects being ripped out by security. I did not want anything to prolong that security line. I had also heard about people dropping a ball of yarn on the plane having it roll away from them. Knowing my luck and my tendencies to drop things this would not work out well for me. I ended up taking my knitting, but I put it in the checked bags. 

When I put the knitting in my checked bag, I decided that instead of physically knitting I would allow myself to be inspired while traveling. Once I made this choice it was easy to see inspiration in every little thing. The two areas that spoke to me the most were colors and shapes.

Getting to and from the airport was a four hour car ride. I spent most of these hours staring out the window. Something that I noticed fairly quickly were the buildings and how they were painted. A lot of the buildings that I could see from the car were painted using great color combinations. Some use more expected pairings such as brown and yellow, dark blue and yellow, or gray and light purple. Then there were others that used more unusual pairings such as sea green with a light pink, light blue with purple, or orange and green. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures that could give a good example of these buildings. 

Three examples of fabrics.  

My color inspiration extends to more than just the buildings. I was also inspired by school uniforms and fabric in general. I found the uniforms to be better than any of the ones we have in America. The shorts or skirts were a solid color typically brown. The tops or dresses were different for each school. I saw pink, yellow, and green; just to name a few. Depending on the grade you might have a pattern or a solid top. I liked this idea and the colors that they used if only because it is different than what I am used to. For the fabric the colors are bright and will have either be patterned or striped. Thankfully I did bring back some fabrics and clothes, so you can have a small idea of what I am talking about. 
 

I tend to play it safe when it comes to color. I might have a bright color, but I would pair it with something safer. I would not put two bright colors together. Seeing all of the color combinations and the bright colors inspires me to be more adventurous when it comes to colors. Since coming back I have been looking at a lot of Fair Isle knitting patterns and other ways of incorporating more color. Now I even have a Pinterest board just for color work.

Shapes were another area of inspiration for me. While flying into the Paris airport I noticed the land and all of the different shapes. The fields were not all squares and rectangles that come together at right angles. There was nothing uniform about these shapes. As you can see from this picture, that I attempted to take from the plane, the shapes are all different and join at odd angles. The colors are all fairly similar, so it is the angles and non-uniformity of the shapes that make it interesting.

I imagined this aerial shot as a blanket. It would be monotone, maybe all grays and blues. However, it would be the shapes and the angles that would make it different from other blankets. There would be no set pattern. I would start it off with one shape and then pick up stitches to add a new color that would come at a different angle. This might be a fun idea just to play around with and see what happens.

While in Ghana this balcony caught my eye. I liked the way that the diamonds looked and how it was open and not closed off. I picture this as a lacy scarf or shawl. It would have a row of diamonds going from the bottom to the top. Like the balcony, it would be open. Using a lightweight yarn and having yarn overs throughout the project would give it the same feeling as the balcony.

These are just a few ways that I was getting inspiration for knitting even though I only picked up my actual knitting once or twice during the whole trip. Anything can be an inspiration if you are open to it. Have fun and allow yourself to have some knitting daydreams you never know what new idea they may produce. Inspiration can be found no matter where you are.