Color arrangements?

[Darsa]

Hey there  

 

I'm HORRIBLE at choosing colors that work well with each other, and I love ALL colors, so that doesn't help any, LOL!  

 

It seems like I've seen something at one point that helps you pick out coordinating/complementary colors (even if you don't actually think that they would), and am wondering if anyone might be able to point something like that out to me?

 

Thanks in advance for any/all help!  <3

 

 

[redrosesdz]

When I'm stuck on which colors work, I walk around the yarn until I see someone else looking at yarn.  I ask them what they think.  (Love striking up conversations with strangers!)  If no one shows up, I'll ask the store employees.  If I'm still unsure, I'll do it a few times at different stores.

 

There are many tips and tools out there.  I just did a search on "choosing colors for yarn."  The first one that came up looks like a good basic tool ...  http://www.freshstitches.com/color-theory-101-selecting-yarns-that-go-together/

[Granny Square]

I like that site, with the yarn alongside the wheel!  

 

Here's another site, with a couple more ways to 'spin' the color wheel.  Google 'color theory' and you will find a lot more.  

http://boisemodernquiltguild.com/color-theory-and-quilting/

 

One of the hard things is 'warm' and 'cool'.  If you pick a scheme (triad, complimentary, whatever, except maybe analogous) you will usually end up with a mix of warm and cool colors.  Example, if you have 2 cool and 1 warm, let's say the warm is yellow:  there are yellows that are 'warmer' than others.  You'll want to pick a cooler yellow if you can to go with the other 2 cool colors.  This probably isn't the best example, but here are some 'Color Me Beautiful' color swatches that might give you an idea of the differences.  Winter (bright) and Summer (muted) are cool,  Autumn (bright) and Spring (muted) are warm.  Compare the pinks in the muted seasons Summer and Spring:  Spring's pinks are a little orangish (warmer), Summer's pinks are a little blueish (cooler).

[magiccrochetfan]

i like this color scheme generator http://colorschemedesigner.com/csd-3.5/

 

one thing that really helped me was learning about color "weight".  Laura Bryant talks about this in her books like http://www.amazon.com/Artful-Color-Mindful-Knits-Definitive/dp/1933064269/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438386948&sr=1-1&keywords=artful+color+mindful+knits

you can see some of the pgs about weight in the preview.

I learned that i can take a photo of a group of yarns, and change it to black and white to see which colors are heaviest and lightest. Then if some colors really stand out at either end of the scale, I remove them from the color scheme----unless I want one color to be very eye-catching.  I love color but I can't usually predict how colors are going to look in combination so this has helped me a lot.  

[Granny Square]

Ooh, I'm going to bookmark that generator, that is so cool!  Thanks!

[magiccrochetfan]

Ooh, I'm going to bookmark that generator, that is so cool!  Thanks!

 

It's fun, isn't it?   So just in case you have some more time to play with colors, have you seen the color tool on Halcyon Yarns site?  https://halcyonyarn.com/yarn-colors/pick-yarns-by-color.php   

[ReniC]

It's fun, isn't it?   So just in case you have some more time to play with colors, have you seen the color tool on Halcyon Yarns site?  https://halcyonyarn.com/yarn-colors/pick-yarns-by-color.php   

Love that link Kathy! Especially the app to coordinating yarns of theirs and uploading photos to match to. Glad you posted that- thank you.

 

ETA: I frequently use Design-Seeds website. It offers the same color search app along with beautiful photos that show color coordinating suggestions. If anything, it's nice just looking at all the beautiful photos. But then, I really should be crocheting, or housework. No...I'll just say crocheting.  

[Granny Square]

That Halcyon site is a brilliant sales tool.  

 

I managed to confuse Design Seeds (picked combos with no results), I'll have to play with that some more.

 

In case anyone needed another time waster http://www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge