Colour Theory for Crochet

Picking the wrong colour yarn can be an expensive mistake, as I discovered recently! I chose the wrong colours because I forgot to  use the theory.

Some of you lucky people are naturally geniuses when it comes to colour but if you're like me and need a little help here is my guide.

First of all it might be helpful if we looked at a colour wheel.

The colours are laid out in the order they appear in a rainbow. The CreativeColorWheel has two sides. On one side the colours or hues are mixed with black - shades. On the other side the hues are mixed with white - tints or pastels.

Here's the boring bit.

 

Red, yellow and blue are Primary colours, they cannot be created by mixing any other colours together.

 

Orange, green and violet are Secondary colours, created by mixing two Primary colours together.

 

The additional hues are created by mixing a Primary and a Secondary colour together, they are the Tertiary colours. A colour circle can have as many Tertiary hues as you want, my example only shows 6.

Here are some ways to choose colour schemes.

The two main ways to pick colours is to choose either Harmonious or Contrasting. 

Lets start with Harmonious. You could select from:

• The Warm uplifting colours, which use red, orange and yellow.

 

•  The Cool calming colours, which use blue, green and violet.

•  Analogous colours are next to each other on the wheel and share something in common; in this example orange, yellow and green all share yellow in common.

• Monochromatic colours are variations of the same hue; in this example just orange including pastels (tints), and dark shades.

For more dramatic effects, choose from Contrasting schemes:

•  Complimentary colours are directly opposite each other on the wheel, they have nothing in common; in this example red and green, the colours of Christmas.

•  Split Complimentary, this is where we start drawing triangles! Choose three adjacent colours and add in the Complimentary opposite.

•  Triadic, imagine an equilateral triangle in the centre of the wheel and use the colour at each point.

•  Double Complimentary, if you want to go for something really dramatic. Try using two pairs of complimentary which is what I did when I made LillaBjorn's Sunny Mandala.
  

You might have noticed that there are a few colours missing from our colour circle.

Brown and Burgundy are a mix of Red, Yellow and Blue, so they don't fit anywhere on the wheel. For these colours I recommend you use the closest orange Shade for brown and the closest violet-red Shade for burgundy.

Black and white are also missing but you don't need me to tell you that they both go with any hue you can possibly imagine!

Grey being both black and white also looks fabulous with any other colour. But a note of caution; Grey is never just black and white. Sometimes it contains a drop of blue, or a hint of yellow or even a splodge of red. So take that grey to the daylight and compare it with your selection to make sure it really is the right tone you need!

Hopefully I will take my own advice and not make any more costly mistakes!!