I am in the process of planning out a Fair isle/color work sweater, after I do a little bit of practice on some smaller projects. I have an Icelandic fleece that I spun up which I am planning on using for my sweater, but I need to dye the yarn first. Which means I need to pick out some colors to dye my yarn. I was wondering if there are any resources that others might use in planning their color work projects to get ideas about color combinations. I do plan on dyeing some samples first before I do a large dye job, but need to at least get an idea about colors. The pattern I am planning on using is “Fallen leaves” by Andrea Yetman which can be found here https://biscotteyarns.com/collections/free-knitting-pattern/products/fallen-leaves-free-yoke-sweater-pattern Looking forward to hearing what others use to help plan their projects. Thanks
Sometimes I use a photo as color inspiration. I’ll open it in a paint program and pull out colors to get the RGB values. I make a page with all the colors I like, then look at it in grayscale to see which ones pop and which have similar value. The picture below is a collage of some dishtowels I made. But the same principles could apply to a Fair Isle project.
This one gives a starting point for “modern” combinations: https://www.canva.com/learn/100-color-combinations/
This interactive color wheel calculator can be helpful too. https://www.sessions.edu/color-calculator/
Good luck!
I love color theory and could give you a variety of answers but the best color advice I can give came from my mom.
Gather up a bunch of clothing, pillows, shoes, bags or whatever - items you have in your house. Find a neutral environment - like plain white/gray a sheet. Arrange and rearrange with them, play with them! Eventually we will come up with something you like. That combo that you like gives you a starting point for your creative embellishments.
I look up Knitting Masterclass by Juliet Barnard every time I need ideas for colour work. The Fair Isle section there is pretty comprehensive, showing all kind of colour combinations.
This is going to sound weird but I crave colors. It’s kind of like food – sometimes I just need Chinese or Mexican. This morning I was craving orange and was in the market for a new bracelet so I searched for orange bracelets on Amazon and had a very good time shopping. All this to say I usually start off knowing the main color I want to use, that is, the one I have been craving. Then I use a color wheel like the one mentioned above to see what goes with it, if I don’t already know. Don’t know if this helps any. I’ve always had an intense, strange, and emotional relationship with color. One of the reasons I adore knitting!
[SIZE=12px]Margaret Radcliffe wrote a book you might find helpful: [/SIZE][SIZE=12px]The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques: Multicolor Yarns, Plain and Textured Stripes, Entrelac and Double Knitting, Stranding and Intarsia, Mosaic and Shadow Knitting, 150 Color Patterns.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12px]The first chapter is Color Basics and talks about how to figure out color combinations that should work.
Your public library might have a copy of this book, which would let you take a look at it before deciding if you want to add it to your library.[/SIZE]
Sometimes I use the app from Sherwin William’s paint. I can take a pic of a color pattern Ilike such as a pillow and it gives me the color (paint) combos. I also go to home stores and take the free paint combo suggestion brochures. This really helped when I needed baby colors for a blanket book. Pulled the booklets for the latest in baby room paint colors. It was fun too.
Paint chips from home improvement stores -
first to set them next to each other and decide
then to take to the yarn to find colors that match
or dyes that seem to come close in the fiber you are working with.
I use a color wheel and I often refer to websites such as Design Seeds: https://www.design-seeds.com/.
I do this too! It’s a great resource.
I was just going to suggest this!
That is such a cool resource!
Pro tip: Take a photo of your yarns next to each other then put it through a black and white filter, this will really allowyou to see if they will have enough contrast. I have often thought two yarns would work well and then realized as I knit that the contrast wasn’t enough to really visualize the pattern. 