What do kaleidoscopes and knitting have to do with each other? I’ve come to find out that the beautiful patterns we all enjoyed as kids looking through kaleidoscopes and the yarn colors we use as knitters today come together through a nifty gizmo that KnitPicks calls a Teleidoscope.

The Teleidoscope is a simple cardboard tube.

teleidoscope-2

The clear ball lens at one end distorts whatever you’re looking at – in this case yarn. You look through the other end, down through mirrors that crate a kaleidoscopic effect.

I’m embarking on another stranded knitting project. It will – I hope – help bust a bit of my stash. I knew I wanted to use a teal-ish blue I have on hand, plus a creamy white. But I needed some accent colors to jazz it up. How would they look all together? This is where the Teleidoscope came in. Here are the two main colors as seen through the the Teleidoscope:

teleidoscope-2a-colors

As you look through the Teleidocsope you add and subtract yarns to see their effect on each other, including the proportions of one color to another. I tried a variety of accent colors, and here’s how a mustard looked added to the original:

teleidoscope-3-colors

I kind of like it. But the pattern I’m using calls for “bright, multi-colored ribbing.” Hmm…. it needs more. I threw in a bit of brown I have left over from a scarf. And then tossed in a coral from another project. Here are how the five balls of yarn looked through the Teleidscope: 

teleidoscope-5a-colors

I’ll use all five of these colors in the ribbing for my new project – fingerless gloves. The colorful stripes will make a nice accent to the teal and white hand, and will maintain the pattern’s ethnic tradition. I can hardly wait to swatch!