Which yarn colours to choose?

I think all knitters must have been bitten by the same bug as few of us can resist popping into a wool shop whenever we pass one. This invariably means, of course, that we won't be leaving the shop empty handed.

 

Once home the yarn is unpacked and admired and unless it has been purchased for a particular project it is added to the ever growing stash.

I store my yarn in large cardboard boxes and like to keep tones of one colour in the same box.

 

 

 

I've always loved working with colour. In my early childhood I played shops with the buttons in my mother's button tin, mixing and matching colours and grading sizes.

Choosing interesting colour combinations when knitting a garment isn't easy. A favourite method of mine is to use shades found in pretty fabrics. Floral dress fabrics are ideal and the colours always look good when used together.

 

 

It isn't necessary to have the actual fabric in front of you as it's easy to find numerous attractive fabrics pictured on the internet. 

 

I very often find pleasing colour combinations using this method; ones that I wouldn't have selected if I'd chosen at random from my yarn boxes.

I sometime use dark colours to enhance the vibrancy of other shades. In this example navy could be the dominant colour or simply used occasionally, perhaps as a narrow stripe.

My Rainbow Rascals love posing for the camera so little Poppy was happy to model her two skirts. The colours in the floral fabric were used for the knitted skirt so Poppy has ended up with two skirts, one for winter and one for summer. Little girls loving giving dollies a new 'look' so the easy to remove skirts are ideal and of course Poppy is able to swap clothes with her other Rainbow Rascals friends. 

 

 

 

I'd just like to put a good word in for green yarn. When I ask for green DK in wool shops I'm invariably told it isn't popular so green isn't stocked. This is a shame as I'm lost without green in my yarn colour palette. When knitting dolls it is natural to choose pastel shades and pink is very definitely the number one favourite. When I made Kate she reminded me of a little girl I sat next to at school when I was six. She often wore a green cardigan and in my yarn stash I had just the right shade. So I made Kate a green cardigan and have been amazed at the number of knitters who have said they like it. My school friend's green cardigan didn't have pink buttons but Kate insisted on having them!!

 

 

 Kate's cardigan is made from Stylecraft Special DK - colour is 'Meadow'1065.

 

  

I'm now addicted to the colours in the Stylecraft Special DK range as there are so many to choose from and I'm happy to say there are several different greens. The 100g balls are excellent value for money and ideal for making knitted toys. It is widely available in the UK and also in selected outlets in other countries.

You'll find a large selection of Stylecraft Special DK online and the Loveknitting website is currently offering 10% discount on this yarn when you also purchase a knitting pattern from an Independent Designer on their site. If you are looking for particular Dollytime patterns you'll be able to find them in the Indie section (search for Dollytime). They are all listed in UK pounds sterling and all are instant downloads so you can start knitting straight away!

 

I'm hoping to write something next time about choosing a suitable flesh colour for my dolls. Below are a variety of colours currently used by knitters. Next time I'll tell which one is my favourite and why. I update my Facebook page frequently so I'll let you know on Facebook when I've written the blog post about flesh coloured yarn.