Just Cruisin'

Vintage Combinations - celebrating Cruising & Art deco

We are very lucky here at The Yarn Kitchen.  Our Mill is based in Napier, Hawkes Bay on New Zealand east coast.  It's sunny, coastal and historic, having the largest concentration of original Art Deco architecture in the Southern hemisphere.

Around 50 ships dock in Napier during Cruise Season

This means that from Spring through to early Autumn, Napier hosts tens of thousands of cruise ship visitors.  We see plenty of them at our Skeinz Shop and they add colour and vibrancy to our lovely city.

Art Deco Napier - Our Mill Technical Direcor Ian Kelly picture in the Red MG with his wife Maureen.

I often blog about where our inspiration comes from for colours and ranges: Nature, sunsets, places, people - in this case it is those visitors who we welcome to our shores to soak up the Art Deco splendor and sunshine of our fair city.

The Vintage Cruise Collection

The obvious yarn choice for this limited edition was Vintage, one of our first Skeinz yarn's and one that took it's inspiration directly from the Art Deco culture here.  So the next step was finding colours that reflected - what if Deco went not just seaside, but ship side?

The ultimate nautical combo: Navy with Porcelain & Carmine

Having a Navy in the range was colour choice #1.  Navy is a colour that has been out of vogue in recent years, but for our Cruise collection navy, we juice the colour up so it has an almost indigo edge to it - it's rich and saturated, without being bleak or cold.  Teamed up with Carmine and Porcelain from the Vintage range it makes the perfect nautical trio - vintage, retro, classic.

Great friends:  Grey with Coral & Aqua

Colour #2 in contrast is the palest shades of Grey.  It's that slight whisper of Spring sea fog that often greats the ships as they arrive into port.  It's a subtle colour that makes an amazing contrast, it's less blue than Pewter and goes with all the other colours in the collection.

Aqua with Porcelain & Oilskin

Aqua with Sweetcorn & Grey

From fog to foam, colour #3 is just called Aqua and it is taken from the colour that the ocean around the Napier Port takes on during a fine still morning.  It's a chameleon colour, changing it's mood depending on who it is paired with, looking chic and classical when out with Vintage Oilskin and Porcelain, slightly flirty when playing with Vintage Grey and Sweetcorn and looking dangerous when out on the town with Vintage Navy & Nasturtium.

Coral is the ultimate party girl - here with Sweetcorn & Pistachio

Lastly, by no means least, is Coral, our 4th and last colour in the collection.  This is the party girl who makes sure everyone is having fun whilst on board and on shore. Playful when with Pistachio & Sweetcorn, sophisticated when she is with her cabin mates:  Grey, Navy & Aqua.  Coral is that colour which will liven up your wardrobe & wants to have fun.
So if you are cruising this season & are visiting Napier - we'd love to see you.  Check out our website for opening hours & Bon Voyage!