Category Archives: color

Save 25% on Yarn Samplers

We love color in all shapes and forms - especially when it comes to yarn! So naturally, we just couldn't help ourselves when creating all new yarn samplers. Inspired by different themes and scenes, each yarn sampler brings together a set of carefully curated colors that look beautiful and take the guess work out of color planning! The best part? Each sampler comes with full size balls of our favorite yarns and you get to save 25% off! Confetti Comfy Sport Sampler

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Color Palettes Using Apps

Picking color palettes has never been easier with the widespread use of smart phones and tablets. I'm going to feature four free applications that I use on my iphone to either pick from a photograph found online or a picture I snap as I walk around my neighborhood! Above is the sample image from a recent photo shoot that I used to test drive these different applications.

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Color Combinations for Knitting

It's easy to get into a color slump - we've definitely all been there. The good news is that it's just as easy to reinvigorate your creative senses and get inspired! One trick to creating color combinations for knitting is by beginning with a picture that makes me happy or evokes a strong feeling. By having a tangible reference or goal, it is something you can refer back to in your color selection process to help guide you (instead of being overwhelmed by indecision)! After I've decided on a picture, I choose a yarn that I want to use for the color palette. It's a fun challenge and forces me to choose unexpected combinations by paying attention to the smaller details that are sometimes overshadowed by the main elements. For example, here is a darling kitty and an equally sweet color palette in Lindy Chain. Lindy Chain (L-R): Swan, Blush, Celery, Ash, Black

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Color Theory Part 2: exploring hue, value, tint, shade and tone

When you first start to explore color theory, chances are that you'll run across a lot of new terms (and they might seem at first to all refer to the same thing - color)! However, once you dive into this fascinating topic - you'll learn the subtle differences between things like hue, value, tint, shade and tone. To start, let's go over the broadest term in this group of color theory words: hue. In painting, hue actually refers to a pure color - red, yellow, blue - without any white or black added to it. But in a broader sense, hue is just a fancy word for color! Another term you'll come across is value - this word is synonymous to what we describe a color as light or dark. You can also think about value in terms of how bright a color is. Tint, shade and tone are three other terms you might see when reading through color theory. Let's explore these qualities a bit more in depth.  

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An Introduction to Color Theory

Whether you're wanting to create a custom Fair Isle palette or are looking to experiment with dyeing one of our special reserve Bare yarns, it all starts with color. Which is why this week we'll be exploring more about color theory! Color is all around us - it has the ability to affect our mood, it can make us feel energized, it can make us sleepy, it can make us hungry. And yes, it can even affect our knitting and crocheting! Although the study of color is quite complex, getting a good foundation of the basics is all you need to expand the possibilities of your craft.  

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Our Knit Picks: Fair Isle!

We are definitely lovers of fair isle knitting around here, and whether it's the patterns from our new collection or elsewhere, we love marveling at the stranded knitting of crafters far and wide. Here's a round up of some of our favorite Ravelry fair isle projects (in a variety of yarn weights!), as well as a sneak peak behind the scenes of the photo shoot for the 2015 Knit Picks Fair Isle Collection.

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Palette Tonal | Knit Picks
New Yarn: Waves of glorious color with Palette Tonal!

Here at Knit Picks, our love for yarn is followed closely by our love for color. So it is with much delight that we announce that our much beloved 100% wool Palette is now available in 8 glorious tonals! The tones of each color dance gently from dark to medium to light, creating a stunning, yet subtle effect.

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Stroll Hand Painted Sock Yarn | Knit Picks
Another Treat for Your Feet

I finally just started wearing socks again last week. Having a clinically-diagnosed, severe case of OCD (Obsessive Christmas Disorder: Any adult that is overly excited about Christmas and has a more than normal preoccupation with Christmas decorations and clothing or has more than two Christmas trees), my subconscious is constantly on the look out for Christmas cues - those magical markers that point the way to that sacred time of year. Socks are one of them.

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Color Made Easy

The difference between a pile of yarn and the launching pad for your next creative masterpiece is color coordination. A thoughtfully-curated color palette will bring cohesion, beauty and sparkle to your project.

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Chroma Granny Stripe Crochet Cowl

I LOVE taking two radically different Chroma colors, pairing them up and then working stripes until both skeins run out. I especially like how Chroma looks in a Granny crochet stitch, each little 3dc cluster is a slightly different color from the last and the gradual fade between colors is wonderfully mesmerizing.

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