Look for inspiration everywhere. Books, nature, photos, Pinterest. One of my favorite baby blankets of all time was inspired by this book. I’ve also used color palettes on Pinterest, flowers, and clothes as inspiration. Just be sure to take pictures or notes of what you think would make a wonderful combo so you can refer to it later.
Add white between every color. Sometimes you’ll find that colors don’t look as nice side by side as you’d anticipated. They still match, but they just look muddy when they’re together. Try throwing white or cream between them. The blanket pictured above is absolutely gorgeous. The colors are stunning and eye catching. Put the brown and turquoise next to each other? You certainly wouldn’t have the same stunning effect.
Be willing to frog your work. Sometimes you’ll be a ways into your project and you’ll realize that your project isn’t turning out the way you’d hoped. It’s okay to undo your work. Yes, it’s going to take lots of time, but consider the final product. Will it bother you later that you didn’t take the time to make it perfect? I was working on a blanket once and I added and removed purple two or three times before finally deciding whether it worked or not.
Do you have any surefire ways you use to come up with beautiful color schemes?
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Well, it may not be a sure-fire way to choose my colors, but sometimes I use Adobe’s Kuler (https://kuler.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/) to help me with my color choices. By the time I get to the store, I may not find the exact color that I want, but I may find something close to it and this helps me.
This is an awesome tool! Thanks for sharing the link. I just book marked it in my browser for future reference.
I go into my local paint store and pick up the cards that have the colors of paint on them. Some have just one color on them and others have different shades of the same color. I use it as my color wheel.
Excellent idea!! I am running out to the paint store right now, as I have a BIG project that needs to be started and have not even put hook to yarn due to the color issue!!! Thank you!!
What a great idea about the paint cards! Thanks for passing on the tip.
Good idea.
When I swatch for gauge, I also swatch for color. This will give you a better idea of how color will affect your finished piece. Sometimes multiple color swatches give you the chance to go from nice to extraordinary.
I look to Pinterest. I especially love the color swatch samples from Design-Seeds.com. I came up with some great, unexpected color combos that way. I also find that using scraps to make granny squares can give me inspiration… I’ll try colors together that I wouldn’t normally put together. Then if I like it, I can go get more yarn and try it as stripes, ripples, whatever!
I started a secret board on Pinterest with pictures of color schemes I never would have thought to use. I just look through the board for inspiration. Ravelry also shows a project with many different color schemes from other crafters. That sometimes helps me narrow down my selections.
There is a wonderful website design-seed(s).com. They put colour palettes together, I use it a lot for colour scheme ideas. Beware, it’s highly addictive!
!sigh! I know you warned us but that website is fantastic!….and highly addictive 🙂
I often look at yarn websites. They have all the colors, not just the ones carried at my local shops. It helps me see what is new and exciting in the yarn styles I use over and over again. I don’t mind taking out yarn, especially since I normally crochet “on the fly.” When I find a stitch and some great colors, then I play and play and play until I’m happy.
I’ve used the “Multicolor Yarn Coordinates” chart at the Red Heart Yarns website for multistranded projects on big hooks (f.ex. pet rugs & “giant granny square” afghans). Even if I’m not using one of the multicolored yarns at the moment, it’s quite likely that one of the solid-color yarns I have will be on that list as a coordinating color for 1 or more multicolor yarns. I then can choose a 2nd or 3rd strand of yarn in a color which coordinates with the same multicolored yarn as what my 1st strand does.
I occasionally look for variegated yarns. Most of the color matching is already done on a varigated yarn. Then I select the colors from there. Even if I don’t purchase the variegated yarn, I know my yarn colors will blend well. White works very well between two different colors (say green and purple) that may be of the same intensity but differing hues.
Thanks jamie awesome tool
What I do is take the ends together and twist and then I can see how several colors look together
I take the ends of the yarn I want to use and twist them, this gives a realistic view of the color combos.