Colour class!
Just been answering some questions for an upcoming interview for the blog tour and was reminded that not everyone finds it easy to throw colours together. So here's a question I answered in Ask Jean some time ago, with illustrations from Sweet Shawlettes, that might be helpful to those of you who dread using colour.
Q Intarsia knitting and working with colour scare many knitters. Are there ways of making these two things more foolproof and less challenging?
People
who have an instinctive sense of colour tend to take it for granted and forget
that many knitters fear and dread using colour. However, I firmly believe that everyone has
their own unique sense of colour and it’s important for us to be able to express this confidently.
Q Intarsia knitting and working with colour scare many knitters. Are there ways of making these two things more foolproof and less challenging?
Ruth
Sybers, Monticello, WI
A The
colour question is a dual-edged sword; how to choose and how to work. There are many ways of getting oodles of
colour into your knitting without using intarsia: stripes or stripey patterns such as Penumbra or Bronte, slip stitch and mosaic knitting, fairisles such as Miss Garricks, and
short-rows immediately spring to mind.
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| Penumbra |
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| Bronte |
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| Miss Garricks |
By applying a few principles of colour theory, you can be sure that your
choices will work every time. When a beam is passed through a prism, the white
light refracts into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet – the
colours of the rainbow. The colours in this visible spectrum are traditionally
joined end to end to make a colour wheel. Here are the basics for you to apply
every time you pick up your needles:
1 There are
three primary colours: red, yellow and blue at the centre of the wheel. These are the colours from which all other
colours are derived.
2 There are
three secondary colours: green, orange and violet, created by mixing together
any two primaries.
3 By mixing a
secondary with one of the primary colours from which it’s derived, you’ll
produce a tertiary colour. There are six
of these on the colour wheel, found on the outer wheel between their respective
secondaries and primaries, eg turquoise
between blue and green and lime green
between green and yellow.
4 Hot
colours (reds, oranges and yellows) advance, whilst cool colours (blues,
purples and greens) recede.
5 Harmonising
colours sit next to each other on the colourwheel and form the basis of a
colourway eg from yellow through to
red. Complementary colours sit directly
opposite each other on the colour wheel eg
red and green, blue and orange or yellow and purple. These have a
zinging effect on each other when put together They are perfect accent colours
to make a colourway come to life or ‘pop’, so always include one or two.
6 Choose
colours of the same tonal value. Limit your choices to pastels with pastels (tints),
pure hues with pure hues or shades (darker colours) with shades.
Now...the intarsia question. Definitely not my favourite type of knitting for a whole sweater, but it has its uses and can create excitement and add impact in small bursts, as in Madame Alfred, If your design has a background colour, then use separate balls for each of the contrast colours and strand or weave the main colour behnd. This cuts down on the number of ends and gives the contrast colours a slightly raised effect, which helps define the pattern.
For intarsia with random abutting shapes, use a separate length of yarn for each colour every time it occurs, twisting the two colour around each other to avoid holes whenever a different colour occurs. To eliminate tangles, either wrap each length around a separate piece of card with a small slit along the side edge to secure the yarn and dangle on the back of the work. If you want to treat yourself you can buy the readymade version in most yarn shops. Another alternative is to use short lengths of each colour (no longer than 24in/60cm) and untangle at the end of every row.
Now...the intarsia question. Definitely not my favourite type of knitting for a whole sweater, but it has its uses and can create excitement and add impact in small bursts, as in Madame Alfred, If your design has a background colour, then use separate balls for each of the contrast colours and strand or weave the main colour behnd. This cuts down on the number of ends and gives the contrast colours a slightly raised effect, which helps define the pattern.
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| Madame Alfred |
BLOG TOUR IN FULL SWING NOW!
Doing the blog tour would love to win a copy of the sweet Shawlette.
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