Hello again! Have you ever struggled with choosing colours for a crochet or knitting project? I'm frequently asked how I go about choosing my colour schemes and so in this blog post I am going to share 3 practical tips to help you make the most of colour.
Tip no. 1. Play with colour!
Start by keeping things simple with just 3 colours at a time. Choose balls of yarn from your stash to help you with this or perhaps you have yarn wound round pegs or you could even use paint swatch cards from the DIY store. Look at your 3 colours and ask yourself "Do they go together? Are they working in harmony?" If you like them, take a quick photo, if not substitute just one colour and try again.
The more you play around with colours and experiment with what works for you, the easier it will become. Back in June 2017 I wrote an extensive blog post about choosing colours with a little bit of colour theory thrown in too. If you'd like to read that blog post, you can find it here.
Tip no. 2. Create a mood board
Pinterest is an amazing resource to use when planning projects. You can create a board that saves colour schemes you like and can refer back to (f you like, you can make it a secret board). Try not to overthink it, simply save pins with colour schemes that appeal to you. Once you've saved a few pins have a look and see what they have in common. Ask yourself "Which colours work well together? What colours am I drawn to?" If you haven't used Pinterest before it's a wonderful resource - think of it as a big search engine for looking for creative ideas. Warning: pinning can become addictive!
If Pinterest isn't your thing, you can always create scrap book pages with colour combinations you find pleasing. Rip out colour schemes you like from the interiors section of magazines, add in strands of yarn, buttons, bits of food packaging, ribbons, photos, paint swatch cards, feathers and other found items. Keep adding new pages with new colour combinations to look back on. (These torn pages were taken from Mollie Makes magazine).
Tip no. 3. Look to the natural world
Go for a walk outside and bring your camera with you! Take time to notice colours that sit side by side in nature and look good together. If you spot a pleasing colour combination, take a photo! You can even print it and add it to your mood board, helping to build a bigger picture.
Think of seasonal colours that work in harmony: oranges, rich browns, burgundays in the autumn; pale blues, lilacs and fresh green in the spring. Or consider the colours of the landscape: blues, sandy oranges and yellow at the seaside; a range of greens and browns in the forest. Nature has an amazing colour range - copy it!
I hope you have found these 3 tips helpful. Leave me a comment below or find me on Instagram if you have any questions or want to share your recent colour combinations, I'd love to see them!
Marta xx
