SCOUT ~ Zollie Newsletter #5

Posted by Grace Casey-Gouin

Dearest Zollie Community,

This will be my final edition of the SCOUT newsletter, as I am no longer going to be in my role as Zollie's Creative Director. Developing this amazing brand and family of products over the last few years has been such a cool journey and learning experience. I am proud of what we've created, and am excited to watch this community continue to grow. I'm sure I will be back to develop further products in the Palette Scout and Zollie family, so this is just goodbye for now!

In these difficult times in the world, I hope we can all find a way to live closer to our values by supporting small, independent companies like Zollie and Gist Yarn. I hope we can spend less time in the digital realm, and more time with our families and communities building a future that we can be proud of—and I firmly believe that color, art, and joy are a big part of that story. Keep on exploring, dear friends.

SEEING

Seeing artist Tomislav Topic's work pop up in my feed a lot and decided to take a dive through the installation archive on his website. I love the way these large scale installations use layers of transparent painted mesh to create a gradient of color that appears both sheer and solid. The individual layers of the mesh seem to be a solid color, but the layering creates a blending effect that feels magical even on camera. I imagine these are quite impressive in person, and like this example that was installed at the Color Factory in Chicago, which seems very worth a visit if you are in the area.

CRAFTING

I've never knit a blanket before but I must say this free pattern by Purl Soho looks tempting. Imagine making a palette for it with Palette Scout!

OBSERVING

This year, we were hit hard by the sight of the Pantone Color of the Year. We were not the only ones to feel brought up short by the...whiteness of it all, so we selected a range of candidates and you all voted on your favorites until we landed on the Zollie 2026 Color of the Year: Ocean 2! This year we will be paying special attention to this lovely color. We will be crafting with it, leaning about it's history, and trying to spot it "in the wild". If you spot this color in your own life, send it our way, we'd love to see!

UNDERSTANDING

Take your brain for a spin around the block by checking out this video that dives into the "geometry" of color. For instance, did you know about something called the "Optimal Solid" which is a theoretical object that represents all visible colors up to a certain level of luminosity? Me either.

TRANSFORMING

Right now I am reveling in the return of snow to my home state, and the way that a huge dump of white that sticks to every surface changes the value contrast of everything in the environment and helps things stand out in ways that they typically don't. Some things are, of course, buried, but some things are revealed—like a subtle tilt in the landscape, a sky line, or a particular bend in a tree that is highlighted by the snow clinging to the branches and creating a bright outline that we usually can't observe.

Just For Fun

What I'm listening to: All the music my mom loved to find escape and joy in when I was a kid. It brings me back to those moments with her, and I now get to pass that beloved music on to my own little one.

What I'm making: I'm currently working on a sweater knit with alpaca yarn that I started back in 2021? 2019? Somewhere in there. I just finished up a rug I warped on December 16th, 2022 and finished on December 17th, 2025. It actually only took me about 3 days of spare time to make, but 3 years to make the time.