Knitting with colour seems a long way off when you start knitting. You knit a blue hat for a newborn baby boy, maybe a purple scarf for your Auntie and as you get a bit more adventurous you discover the variegated yarn that makes your knitting look like you’re the Fair Isle queen and your friends bow down and worship you!
So how can knitting with colour be easier? How can it become something that beginners can achieve without the need for perfect tension and major yarn tangles while using multiple balls at once? You can avoid those loose ends and holes that appear thanks to YouTube videos not quite explaining the full intricacies of intarsia techniques!
I have knitted for years with colour and made my life easier by enjoying some quick hacks. It's wonderful to utilise stripes, contrasting tassels and pom-poms and the simplest options of changing colour once the band of a hat or cuff of a mitt has been finished.
It’s choosing those colours that can be action-movie- gut-wrenching; standing in a yarn shop and gazing at all the options, along with sifting through the different choices online. Maybe the decision becomes so confusing that 3 hours later you’re lying on the couch with an eye pillow (and glass of red wine!).
I have a solution for you. It doesn’t have to be so hard.
The multi-coloured world gives infinite possibilities and I used to feel my head spinning until I came up with a few cheats and hacks that not only simplified my choices but brought colour to my world, not only in knitting but in my home, my wardrobe and my other crafts and artwork too.
- You’ll never be hesitant again, once you have these 4 options printed out and sitting next to you as you select your yarn online!
- You can use the full rainbow of colours from the colour wheel… with beginner’s knits, advanced knits and everything in between!
- With these rules for picking colour pairs, you can step away from the safe choices and learn to expand your colour horizon!
- And brighten not just the knitted accessories that you wear, but your knitting experience too!
Here we go then…
- pick two shades of the same tone… e.g. a light and dark turquoise or a light and dark mustard yellow
- find two tones that sit next to each other on the colour wheel… e.g. yellow and green or blue and purple
- decide on a neutral and be brave with the other colour… e.g. white and orange or black and red
- use colour wheel opposites for a strong overall statement… e.g. pink and green or blue and orange
For a free download including yarn suggestions and colour wheel, fill in your details here and I’ll send it to you lickety-split!