Colour Confidence: Easy Tips for Choosing Yarn Colours You Will Love

1. Colour Confidence: Easy Tips for Choosing Yarn Colours You Will Love: Ever come across a blanket with colors that just seem to flow together and wonder how they pull it off or glance at your own yarn stash and feel uncertain about how to blend those shades into something that feels like you? In this class, I'm going to share some of my go to color tips to help you build confidence and start creating palettes that you'll be truly excited to work with in your own crochet projects. Hi, I'm Jane. Welcome to this class on Tips for choosing your colors for your Crochet projects. I've been crocheting since I was very little, and from the very beginning, color has always been my passion. Over the past few decades, I've designed patterns for garments, home decor, written books, and talk classes. And what excites me most is how color can completely transform even the simplest project. What I'm really drawn to is Granny squares. They feel like little mandallas to me. Each one has a chance to experiment with shades, textures and endless color combinations. So that is how I express. Days, I share my love of color through tutorials on YouTube, my blog, and behind the scenes Extras on Patron. I've learned that the best way to discover your own style is to just let yourself play. Make mistakes and learn as you go. That's exactly what we'll be focusing on here today. A few of my color tips to make color play a little less overwhelming and a lot more fun. This class, I'm going to share how I get inspired. Everything from everyday life, nature walks and even scrolling through my own photo role. I'll show you how I organize my yarn, so playing with color combinations becomes easy and enjoyable. We'll use a simple Granny Square as a tool to experiment, and I'll provide a download pattern so you can follow along and try out your own ideas. We'll cover some simple tricks for understanding color value, the importance of swatching, and how to play with different color combos until they feel just right. The emphasis here is on exploration. No right or wrong, just learning and discovering what speaks to you. By the end of this class, you'll feel more confident choosing color palettes and combining the shades that you love. Class project will be to share a color palette of your own using the tips in this video. Share your journey, what inspired you, the colors you began with, and how you arrived at your final combination. It's a creative way to experiment, reflect, and celebrate your progress, while gaining confidence in your color choices. And the square that I use for the samples in this class is the basis for the one I use in my full Granny Square Scarf Class, the perfect next step for putting your new color palette into action. Grab your yarn and let's get ready to play with color. 2. Supplies: We start the first lesson, I just want to talk about supplies. We're just going to discuss ideas here and not actual crochet projects. You probably have some colors in your stash already that you want to play around with, and that is our goal. So that's the cool thing. Anything you have on hand will work for this. I'll be showing you how I create a little swatch square from my urn, and I'll be providing you with the pattern for this square. I call it my Easy Breezy Square because it's a simple and quick square to make with enough different stitches to give some texture so you can see what the color will look like in a crochet design. Light catches the texture and can make the color look a little different once it's worked up. And since I'm showing it to thought you might like the pattern for it. So you can find that in the project section. We're just discussing color here, so it doesn't really matter what you're using. The nice thing with it is it works across the board for any project, any yarn, and, of course, the hook that goes with your yarn. But this is going to lead you towards choosing colors for your own crochet projects. Now, are you ready to get inspired? Let's move on with our tips. 3. Choosing Your Colours: To play with color. In this lesson, I'm going to share a few fun ways to spark inspiration and show you how I organize my yarn so it's easy to mix, match, and experiment. Think of it like a little playground for your yarn. No rules, no pressure, seeing what combos make you smile. So one way I start is by browsing my camera roll. I love snapping quick photos of anything that catches my eye. Nature scenes, especially sunrises and sunsets, or even plants in my garden. These are all my favorites. I also have an inspiration board over on Pinterest, where I save images with cool color combos. These are the sources that kick in my inspiration, and these I can do anytime, anywhere. From there, I'll gather a range of yarn colors to experiment with. I do this with my little baskets of sample squares, but before I get into that, understanding the basics of the color wheel can be really helpful, don't worry, we're not diving too deep into theory here, but let's quickly review this. We start with primary colors, red, blue and yellow. Remember those paint bottles from school. Those are the foundations for all colors. Next, we have the secondary colors, green, orange, and purple. These are created by mixing the primary colors. Then we have what's called the tertiary colors, and these are the blends of primary secondary colors which often make up a rich varied palette, like my yarn wall. Then we have the neutral colors which are white, black, gray, and I include browns there when we're talking about yarn. These are often used as background colors to create balance and give space for the main colors to be the star of the show. We're also going to touch on color value, which is the light and darkness of a color, but that's something I'm just going to demonstrate a little bit later. Back to my sample squares, these are like fabric samples or paint chips for me. For every new yarn I bring into my home, I make a quick square using my Easy Breezy Square pattern. But you can use any square of your choosing. I like them all to be the same so that I can compare them easily. It's a simple square with a few stitch variations to add texture. So I can see how the color works in a Granny Square context, and I keep these samples organized by color baskets. Basket one has all the reds, blues, greens, yellows, purples, and oranges, and all the variations in between. And basket two, which oddly has the same number of samples has all my neutrals. So I have in there all my whites, my grays, my blacks, my browns, and the Bass. I don't label these squares because I handle them a lot and the labels tend to fall off. So instead, I have a binder where I keep samples of all my yarns with the brand information. And that way I can keep all the brands together. Helps me keep track because sometimes yarns get discontinued, so it's nice to have a record here so I can find a nice substitute if I need to. So let's take a look at an example here. This square is my sand dollar squared pattern, which I made using a fall inspired palette that also works well for the holidays. I pull reds, greens, ambertons and neutrals to figure out what I wanted to use in this square. For most squares, I stick to about three to four colors at the most, but for larger squares, I may use more colors, and definitely for blankets, I like to use a lot of colors. Ten to 15 colors to get that nice eclectic look that I spread out among all the squares. Like to dabble a little in quilting, too, so I love scrap quilt, and this definitely inspires my approach to crochet. Once I've narrowed down my choices, I make a variety of test squares, experimenting with different color orders to see what works best and which one feels the nicest. So that's a great start to finding some inspiration and starting to let yourself play with your colors. Up next, we're talking about color value, what's really happening when different shades come together, why some pairings just work, and what our eyes are noticing behind the scenes. I'll see you there. 4. How to See Colour Value: We're going to move on to color values, and I know that that can sound a little daunting. It's actually really easy and it can be really surprising what you discover. We're going to dive a little deeper into what your eye is really seeing so you can start to understand how light and dark contrast and balance really work in your color choices. This can significantly affect how patterns stand out. And without you even realizing it, it's the reason that you like some designs better than other designs. So what is my simple trick? Well, I just use the photo app on my phone. I take a picture of my swatches, and then I use the photo app, which is right on my phone. I desaturate the image, which means I remove all color from it. This can also be done on a computer as well, but any photo app or photo editing program will have a saturation setting. Whatever you have handy for editing your photos, use that. Choose the saturation setting and take it right down to the bottom. So this image that has all red swatches, when it's desaturated allows you to now see the color values, which are the lights and the darks that are involved within the range of reds. This is the part your eye sees, but you're not aware of. This helps when you're dealing with a large number of colors to choose from for your project because you want to see how they relate to each other in value. Do you want more contrast between them? Or are you going for a more monotone effect, which means they appear to be the same shade when you desaturate them? Sometimes we pick different colors thinking we'll have contrast because the colors are. Instead, they blend into each other because they have the same value. Here's a square where I use a green, a red, a caramel, and a putty. When I desaturate the picture, you can see the green and red are similar in value. The caramel is slightly lighter and the putty is much lighter, creating a lot more contrast. Using this technique really helps me decide on what look I'm going for. It's really just about the value of the color that you're looking at. Let's compare five versions of this square using the same four colors. Which one do you like best? Pause the video to decide and choose your favorite. Have you got your favorite? Now, let's desaturate them to check the values. Does your choice still hold up or have you changed your mind? This trick helps when I'm stuck between a few options. Sometimes I want colors with similar values for a softer, calmer look. While other times I prefer a high contrast for a bold statement. As you can see with these two examples, the square on the left gives you a much calmer look, and the square on the right has more of a statement. This shows up when you desaturate and look at the values. I hope this simple tip on desaturating your photos makes it easier to see the color values at play. Try it out not just with urn, but with any images that inspire you and notice how the values work together. It's about developing your eye for color through practice and experimenting as you build your color palette for the class project. And it will help you choose colors you truly love for your next crochet piece that you or someone you love will treasure for years to come. 5. Project and Inspiration: Congratulations on completing this class. I hope you're feeling inspired and excited to bring what you've learned about color into your crochet. For your class project, I'd love to see the color palette you've created. Share a little about your journey. What inspired you, which colors you pulled out first, and how you ended up with your final choices. Sometimes it's the unexpected combinations that surprise us the most. And I think it's always so interesting to see how each person's process unfolds. Be sure to post your palette in the project selection so we can all celebrate your creativity. And if you'd like to take it one step further, you can also share a square worked up in your palette so we can see how these colors come to life in stitches. I want you to remember that this is really just the beginning. Color is such a personal journey, and the more you experiment, the more confident you'll become. The key is not to stress about whether you're doing it right. Instead, think of color as something to play with. Mix shades together, try out different pairings, and see what sparks joy for you. Mistakes or what feel like mistakes, often turn into the most interesting discoveries. The heart of it all, what matters most is that the color speaks to you. Your palette is like a story told in urine. It can reflect your mood, a memory, or even just a color that makes you smile. Some projects call for a handful of shades and others, you just fill it up. It's all about what feels right to you. Trust your instincts and let your inner guidance lead the way. If you'd like to keep exploring, I have lots of extra resources for you on my YouTube channel, and if you'd like to go a little deeper, you can join me over on my Patron, where I share behind the scenes color samples and experiments from my squares and Crochet projects to inspire you further. I truly can't wait to see the palettes you put together and how you bring them into your crochet. My hope is that this class has given you the confidence and encouragement to embrace color more fully, to enjoy the process and to make your projects truly your own. If you'd like to take your color palette for a spin, hop on over to my Modular Crochet class where we use the same little square as a basis to make a gorgeous Granny Square scarf. It's a fun next step to see your colors come to life. Thanks so much for joining me and Happy stitching.