Crochet: Crochet with Color

Crochet with Color

Table of Contents

Chapter One – Basic Color Theory

Chapter Two – Crochet Color Changing Techniques

Chapter Three – Intarsia Color Technique

Chapter Four – Fair Isle Color Technique

Chapter Five – Tapestry Color Technique

Chapter Six – Color Stitch Pattern

Working with color is one of the things I love about crochet – the options are endless. You can create contrast with bright colors, a soothing palette of pastel colors, or a gradient look by using varying colors of the same color family. How you use color is one way to express your creativity. In this chapter we’ll learn basic color theory and I’ll share some tips about choosing the colors for your projects.

This image illustrates the color wheel used by artists and illustrators.

Primary colors
are colors are the base for all colors in the spectrum. Primary colors are called “primary” because they are not created by mixing colors and include blue, red, and yellow.

Secondary colors
are a mixture of two primary colors. They include orange, violet, and green. Orange is a mixture of red and yellow. Violet is a mixture of blue and red. Green is a mixture of yellow and blue.

Tertiary colors
are a mixture of primary and secondary colors. These include yellow orange, red orange, red violet, blue violet, blue green, and yellow green.

There are colors between the three main categories and the shades, tints, and hues can be an endless combination of colors. Adding white to a color creates a lighter tint, while adding black or gray creates a darker shade.

White and black are usually considered neutral as well as gray. White is actually all of the colors in the spectrum, while black is the absence of color. This may sound counterintuitive, but we see color when the colors in the light spectrum are absorbed by a material. White absorbs all the colors so our eyes see it as white. Black material rejects, or bounces back, the colors of the light spectrum, so we see these materials as black.

Now if you are mixing paints you know that if you mix all the colors together you get a muddy black, but as far as the light spectrum and what makes colors appear as they do, black is actually the absence of color.

This information really isn’t important for the crochet artist, but it is fun knowing these facts if color theory is something that interests you.

Colors are normally categorized into two main types; warm and cool. If you look at the color wheel you can see where the colors change from warm to cool and this divides the color wheel almost exactly in half.

Warm colors include orange reds, browns, gold, orange, orange yellows, and yellow greens. Warm colors tend to create a calm and soothing color scheme.

Cool colors include violet, violet reds, blue, blue greens, and silver. Cool colors create an energetic and vibrant color scheme.

Black, white, and gray are considered temperature neutral and can be used in combination with warm and cool colors.

How you use color will determine the look of your project, and the feeling the colors evoke. Color has very strong psychological impact and there have been several studies about the effect color has on people. As a crochet artist it is good to know the “rules”, but feel free to break them. Some of the prettiest projects I’ve seen use all sorts of colors ignoring all of the traditional color scheme rules. Use the information in this section as guidelines, but don’t be afraid to experiment and combine whatever colors you like.

Contrasting Color Scheme

A contrasting color scheme uses colors on the opposite side of the color wheel. If you look at the color wheel you will see that red is opposite of green, orange is opposite of blue, and yellow is opposite of violet and are known as contrasting colors. You can also use secondary and tertiary colors to compliment your main color selections. When paired with black or navy blue, contrasting color schemes are especially bright and vibrant.

Analogous Color Scheme

An analogous color scheme uses colors right next to one another on the color wheel. Usually the colors are in the same color family such as green, green blue, and blue. You can also use different shades of these colors to create a very pretty and rich looking project. One option is to use analogous colors as a gradient going from light to dark, or dark to light. This effect can be really stunning in a project if the light color is very light and the dark color is very dark.

Triadic Color Scheme

A triadic color scheme uses colors which form a triangle on the color wheel. If you look at the color wheel in the image above you will see an example of a triadic color scheme would be orange, green, and violet. Another example would be the main primary colors of red, blue, and yellow.

Tetradic Color Scheme

The tetradic, or rectangular, color scheme uses two sets of contrasting colors for a very vibrant color combination. For example, orange and blue paired with violet and yellow. If you connect these colors with lines, they form a rectangle. When using a tetradic color scheme it is a good idea to choose one color as the dominate color and be aware of the combination of cool and warm colors if you want a particular color temperature in your project.