This post is titled Understanding Color Theory in Yarn, but the original title was Finding Your Passion. It was long. And wordy. Overall, boring. Already there were three strikes against it! Then I read over it again and realized there was no mention of crochet in it at all. What was I thinking?! Lately, I have been reading some really great, uplifting posts by some of my favorite blog authors and it resulted in me trying to be someone I’m not. Enough of the boring stuff; onto the crochet stuff! Well, yarn at least, and specifically, color theory in yarn.
WARNING: This post contains unfiltered photos of yarn in beautiful colors which may result in you running to the store.
Color Theory in Yarn
From Wikipedia (which we all know can be wrong on occasion):
Color theory is a body of practical guidance to color mixing and the visual effects of a specific color combination.
With that in mind, allow me to practically guide you through some specific aspects of color theory in yarn.
Warm and Cool Colors
There are many different ways to talk about colors. I was going to get all technical and talk about the color wheel, warm and cool colors, color schemes etc– I still am, but from a “yarny” angle. Traditionally, the cool colors are the blues, greens and some purples. The warm colors are red, orange and yellow.
You can even take the idea of “warm” and “cool” a step further. The reds above do a great job of introducing both warm and cool colors. The bright, Christmas red on the left is a warmer color red as it seems to be brighter. The red on the right, or what people in my area call crimson, looks a bit bluer. While one color seems to be brighter and lighter, the other seems to have a gray undertone. This takes color theory in yarn to the next step, which is tones and tints.
Tones and Tints
Let’s turn to Wikipedia once again:
In color theory, a tint is the mixture of a color with white, which increases lightness, and a shade is the mixture of a color with black, which reduces lightness. A tone is produced either by the mixture of a color with gray, or by both tinting and shading.
Tints
Tints are easy– think pastel colors. These are tints:
Tones
Look at the blue yarn skeins in this photo:
The bottom two skeins are tones. Can you see the difference in color from the two on top?
Let’s move the skeins around a bit.
Can you see the tones now? They are the outside skeins.
Merchants tend to call the tones “muted,” but I call them “greyed-down.” The brightness of the colors is muted when gray dye is added during the color creation process.
All of the colors in the photo below are tones, except for two. Can you pick them out?
The bright plum and the beige-looking gray (according to the manufacturer’s label it is gray) are not tones.
How Colors Affect Other Colors
Below you’ll see some of the same tone skeins, but this time I added brown.
Colors tend to feed off of each other and reflect the colors they are near. This affects the intensity–or the brightness–of the colors as you look at them. The yarn color doesn’t really change, it is just the way the cones in our eyes see the color. The phrase “color sense” actually has grounds in science. Everyone sees color in a different way. Some people see color more clearly than others.
Effects of Lighting on Color
The lighting in a room, or outside, can really affect how we see color. All photographers learn this or they know it instinctively. They make the best use of the lighting they have to affect the color in the photos. They also manipulate color with filters, Photoshop, and other tools of their trade.
If you look at the photo, you’ll notice the gray skein really looks beige–a nice, warm, beige color. It is affected by the brown directly adjacent to it.
Now, look at the photo below. That same skein looks more gray because of the simple addition of navy. Changing colors in a project can change the whole feel of the outcome.
Quick Review of Color Theory in Yarn
Let’s review what we learned today. (I alway seem to have the closing Veggie Tale music running through my mind when I say that.)
You need to remember that yarn color is affected by:
- Light
- Adjacent yarn colors
Two ways color can be changed and categorized into groups are:
- Tones — created by adding gray to the base color, which creates a muted color.
- Tints — created by adding white to the base color, which creates a lighter, brighter color.
Effects of Color Theory in Yarn
Most of the time people either use all tones (the grayed-down colors) or all tints. It makes the blanket a little more cohesive. Knowing this will help you pick out the yarn color that doesn’t quite look right in your blanket. You will be able to see one of the skeins is too bright or too muted, and you will know why.
You can also now see why adding or taking away one color can dramatically affect how the other colors will look.
Knowing that color will affect how cheerful the finished product looks will make it easier to pick out yarn. If your Aunt prefers more muted shades, rather than bright, sunny colors, you need to choose more tones. Tones look more serious; tints look brighter and sunnier. It all comes down to the addition of gray or white to the base color of the yarn.
Effects of Color Theory in Life
Color is generally affected by regional differences as well. For the most part, colder climates use more muted tones and tropical climates use the brighter tints. Think of the difference in clothing between Hawaii and Iowa. When we moved from Oklahoma to Iowa, my clothing was too bright and marked me as NOT from Iowa. As did our white minivan. White is not a good vehicle color choice in an area of the country where there is the possibility of being trapped in the snow. However, it is great in 100-degree weather since it reflects the light and keeps the interior cooler.
I say “generally” because there are places that contradict this. Think of the brightly colored houses in Iceland.
Color matters; in crochet, color is one of the most important choices you can make.
We will get into color schemes and the color wheel as used in crochet in another post. Tay tuned!
Talk to you later,
Karen