If you do an Internet or library search on "colour theory," you will find thousands of hits, articles and books. These can be very interesting and give lots of guidance and ideas. This, however, is not yet another article on the subject of colour theory (I seriously doubt the worlds needs another one, and would in any case not be qualified to write it). This is about how you recognize the colours that you love, the colours that make your heart sing.

Colour – an individual thing

Different people like different colours. The very same colour or colour combination can be judged ”beautiful” or ”nasty”, ”sexy” or ”vulgar”, ”elegant” or ”boring”. Clearly, different people see different colours differently.

I have read that colour perception changes over the life-time. That small children see and love primary colours best, and then, as they grow up, move on to distinguish, at first blends of primary colours, and more muted colours. I don’t know anything about the scientific background to this statement, but it makes at least some sense. Small children are attracted to bold primary colours. If you want to make your three-years-old happy, try giving him or her a pair of red shoes! I can see how my eight years old daughter absolutely loves orange (a mix of red and yellow) as well as lilac and purple (mixes of red and blue). And I myself can today appreciate muted colours, which I would have dismissed as ”muddy” earlier on in my life, and even wear brown, which was a definite ”no-no” just a few years ago. This is no absolute rule, however. I still love red shoes.

It is rather well known that you will also see different colours differently depending on which culture you belong to. Colour carries strong symbolic meaning, and different colours can give very different and powerful associations, depending on cultural context. The classical example here is the colour white, which in contemporary Western culture is the symbol of purity and innocence, and therefore is very often worn by brides. In China, I am told, white is the colour of grief and mourning.

And even if you are standing next to your best friend, who has the same cultural background as you and the same age, and you are both looking at the same colour, you can never be sure that you both perceive it the same way. Which, in my opinion, must mean that however ”universal” colour theory pretends to be, there is a limit to it. And that what really matters is your very own perception of colour.

The power of colour

Generally, we tend to underestimate the importance of colour in our everyday lives. We rent a new apartment, and if the colour of the walls is not absolutely unbearable, we go on with our busy lives and leave the walls as they are. But the colours that surround us affect our mood, and can change our whole outlook on life.

My husband and I once rented an apartment where the (very small) bathroom was painted in an extremely dark blue colour. I felt like dying every morning when I walked into the bathroom. (Yes, we took the time to re-paint it – very soon). And ever since we moved to Alsace, where the sky is frequently grey, we have used warm yellow on the walls in the different kitchens we have had here. It feels as if the sun is shining at breakfast every morning.

Colour definitely affects your mood. It’s true for interior design, and it’s true for clothing. You feel different if you’re dressed in brown than if you’re dressed in red. And if your jacket and trousers are grey, you will feel different wearing a black T-shirt than wearing a pink one.

You can actively use colour to improve or change your mood – but then you must know which colours will work for you. And even though you can plow through pages and pages of colour psychology, no one else will ever be able to tell which colours really give you a boost.

Listen to your feelings

If you really pay attention to colours around you, you will notice that you don’t just see colour. You experience it physically. Some colours make your heart beat faster. Or you get this strange, or funny, or wonderful ”gut feeling” – in your stomach! Or you feel peace and calm invade your whole body, like a soothing blanket being swept around you, or like letting yourself glide into a nice, hot bath.

A ”good” colour is not always one that perks you up. It can be one that calms you down, or one that makes you feel comfortable, at ease. But a ”good” colour for you, is not one that leave you unaffected, in a neutral state of mind. Your colours are the ones that do something to you, and for you!

Find your inspiration

So, how do you find out which colours make your heart sing? Well, actually, you open your eyes and look.

Nature is a wonderful source of inspiration. I read somewhere that green is the one colour that the human eye is the most sensible to, the colour of which we can see the greatest number of different shades. But there are so many more colours in nature. Take a handful of gravel in your hand and see all the colours there. White, all shades of grey, some greyish reds and pinks, brown, and some with a definite blue or green tinge. Wet the gravel – the colours deepen and start to glisten. Let it dry, and the colours are lighter, crisper. Pick up a bigger stone, look close, and see that it is never uniform, hardly ever of one single colour. Look at a few flowers. Once again, look really close. In many flowers you see how lines and dots of different colours build up to create what you first thought of as one, single colour. Watch the leaves change colours in the autumn. Look at the sea, or a lake, and see how it changes colour on different days, in different lights.

Even if you’re more a ”high heels” or ”slippers” person (as opposed to a ”hiking boots” person), you have plenty of resources that can be explored in a comfy chair (please, start by taking off any uncomfortable footwear). One of my favourites are magazine pictures of any kind, especially interior design and fashion. Leaf through the magazine, and notice the pictures that make you stop and look closer. And then, look really, really close. I will not admit publicly to how much time I can spend staring at a picture of, say, a garment from Missoni, but believe me, it’s too much for any hardworking, child-rearing person in this world. Sometimes you just have to chose between being a perfect mother and fueling your inspiration.

What applies to magazine pictures also applies to art and photography, of course. Go to an art museum, push the door to a few galleries. When something really moves you, stop in your tracks and look.

Open your wardrobe, or go shopping. Clothes and fabric are evident sources of inspiration, far too easy to overlook. When you fling your wardrobe open, or step through the door into a store, where are your eyes first attracted? (This works better for me in stores than in my wardrobe, since the latter tends to be… let’s say… not as neatly organized as it could be). Any multi-coloured fabric that you like is a gold-mine. Look closely, and you will see how the designer has balanced the colours. When there are many shades at play, you will often notice that the design includes colours that, on their own, you don’t really appreciate. But if they were taken out of the combination, the effect would be different, and often less appealing.

Find yourself a couple of ”masters”. There are lots of people in the world with a marvelous sense for colour. Some of them are famous, others not. Maybe one of your friends is a potential ”colour master” for you! Among the famous ones, two of my favourites are Kaffe Fassett and Tricia Guild. The very first garment I ever crocheted for myself, in a colour combination which is rather ”untypical” for me (sand, turquoise and orange), was directly inspired by a fabric designed by Tricia Guild – even though I can bet that nobody but me could tell!

Mixing colours

You have listened to yourself, and now you know which colours you really love. Using one single colour that makes you feel great in a garment, a scarf or a blanket is wonderful. But while you have been looking carefully at all these colours around you, you have, of course, noticed that when several colours are combined, the final effect can be bigger than just the sum of the parts.

So, how do you mix colours?

I’d love to simply tell you that there are no rules for this, but I doubt you’d find that very helpful. And there are of course, if not strict rules, at least tips, tricks and hints to get you on the way.

You can of course turn to colour theory. There you will find tips for ”foolproof” colour combinations: complementary colours, shades, tints, hues… If you feel unsure, it might be a good place to start. You can also go back to the multi-coloured fabric I talked about above, that you’ve hopefully found during your explorations.

Remember, if you want you use such a ”tried and tested” colour combination, you are still the one to decide on the proportions of the colours you will be using. A three colour combination is not necessarily an equally proportioned mix, where no colour is allowed to dominate the two others. A three-colour combination can be a whole lot of colour A, much less of colour B, and the tiniest flecks of colour C. Or it can be equal parts of colours A and B, with regular guest appearances of colour C.

Once you’ve picked your colours, and decided on how to use them, surprises may still be ahead. Sometimes, when you crochet your swatch, one or more colours seem slightly different than they looked in the skin. This is because colours interact when they are put together, just like human beings do. You may act a little differently depending on who you spend time with – a very cheerful or a very sad person. Some colours may too. I have found this to be especially true when it comes to red, which is a colour that can change rather dramatically depending on it’s company.

Finally, I would like to suggest that you try adding an ”off ” colour to any colour scheme that you basically like, but want to give an extra edge. A very subtle colour scheme, at the verge of blandness, can suddenly ”pop” if you add just a few strokes of a stronger colour. I once made a jacket for a baby boy in different shades of blue and grey. Nice, but slightly sleep-inducing. I added an almost neon-like green verging on yellow – and suddenly it all came to life. I would never imagine making a complete garment in this extremely intense colour, especially not for a tiny baby boy, but here, used rather sparingly, it added excitement without overwhelming the other colours.

Conversely, a colour scheme with many bright colours can benefit greatly from the addition of one (or several) muted colours. They will enhance and deepen the overall impression, giving the vivid colours even more glow.

Another spin on the ”off”-colour concept is to try adding a colour which doesn’t seem to fit in, maybe one that you don’t really like, just to see what happens to your colour scheme. You might be very pleasantly surprised!

Go for it!

There comes a moment when you must stop pondering your colour scheme and just go for it. Dive into your yarn stash, or go to your yarn store, or both, and be prepared to face reality. Sometimes you will find the yarn(s) of your dreams. Sometimes you will not. For many yarns, the colour range may be a bit limited. Or you find the perfect colour match, but the price won’t match your budget.

When yarn-shopping, I try not to stick too hard to my initial idea, or I might end up never taking the step from thinking to doing – thus neglecting an opportunity to make my dreams come true. If I have an existing colour scheme in mind, from a picture or a fabric, I don’t bring it to the store. I write down the colours used, in my very own words – and if I don’t find exactly what I thought of at the start, I might find sometime which will works as well, or even better.

Be open and prepared to improvise. If you have developed a good feeling for colour, you will always be able to pull it off. You can try replacing crimson with turquoise. You can try mouse grey instead of chocolate brown. If your gut tells you it’s great – then it is.

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