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They are a great idea, right?
Well they look great, and there are so many places you can find colour boards or mood boards, you can also, easily make them yourself.
BUT…. How do you make a colour board for a crochet project, and how do you then transfer the idea to your project?
After spending hours, and hours, and hours, making hundreds of colour boards, from photos people have been sharing in my Facebook group, Helen’s Hookaholics, this little blog post is to help you to understand the process, and what to do next.
We had a little competition in my Facebook group, and Deramores kindly offered to make up some yarn packs, using the three most popular colout boards.
They are:
Fire in the Stone – Lisa Klein
The pack contains 18 x 100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK in the following shades.
Citron x 2 – Saffron x 2 – Spice x 3 – Tomato x 3 – Magenta x 2 – Grape x 3 – Plum x 3
Succulents – Mary Green Charles
The pack contains 18 x 100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK in the following shades.
Citron x 2 – Meadow x 2 – Cypress x 3 – Sage x 3 – Aspen x 2 – Shrimp x 2 – Spice x 2 – Grape x 2
Sous-bois – Fabienne Zéziola
The pack contains 18 x 100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK in the following shades.
Walnut x 2 -Khaki x 3 -Copper x 2 -Gold x 3 -Citron x 2 -Camel x 2 -Pistachio x 2 -Parchment x 2
If you would like to understand more about colour, then please check out any of these posts – A World of Colour – Colour me Happy – Choosing Colours for Your Crochet Projects
♥ So, you have a new pattern you want to make. Great.
♥ Now lets’ choose the colours you will use….. uh oh, where do you start?
♥ Take a look around your home, what colours are you happy to spend a lot of time with?
♥ Let’s say you are a neutral person with the odd splash of colour. That is what you need to look for in a colour board. That way you will make something you will love to have a round all the time.
♥ Spend the time looking for pictures that inspire you, but that you feel really comfortable looking at time after time.
An example; I love bright colours, I think sunset pictures are amazing, but I would never have oranges around me all the time, so pointless looking at those photos.
I love to be surrounded by blues and purples, but I like clear colours, not muted ones. I love reds and pinks, but not too much. Green I am very fussy about!
Here are a couple of my favourite pictures – the first is a beautiful Amethyst cave, I took this photo when I visited The Crystal Castle in Australia, the second is a picture I saved from the internet years ago, I have used it as the background for poems I have written, I LOVE both of these pictures
♥ I know what colours I like to surround myself with, but what colours do you feel really, comfortable with?
♥ This is Mum’s Living room, as you can see she likes Earthy tones, blended with neutrals. Although the Citrine cave and the Buddha are mine. 🙂
♥ Now you have thought a little about colours, go find some pictures or better yet, take some photos.
♥ Then, take a look at the yarn you are going to use, we all have our favourites, but remember that all yarn ranges are limited to the number of colours they have, so you may need to compromise a little.
♥ My favourite yarn is Stylecraft Special Double knitting, that is what I have used for this tutorial.
There are many ways to make a colour or mood board.
A mood board is exactly what it says it is, it reflects your mood, or the mood that the colours create. This is all about how colours make you FEEL. You are the one who has to live with them, exactly the same as buying a new top to wear, it may look fantastic in the shop, but how does it make you feel, when you put it on?
You don’t wear the same clothes everyday, but you will look at items you make for your home everyday, so take the time and get it right, make sure it is what you want to spend lots of time with, then you will gain far more enjoyment from creating something, and it won’t end up hidden in a cupboard.
♥ Match the yarn colours to the colours in the picture you have found.
If you have pegs or swatches with all your yarn colours on, hold the swatches against the item you want to use as inspiration, and get the closest match you can.
♥ Make a colour board.
There are many ways to do this, personally, I like to use Microsoft Office Publisher, as I can then save as a Jpeg to my photos and crop etc. from there. There are many free photo collage sites, like Picmonkey, which you can also use.
Here I have made colour boards for both of my purple pictures.
This is the one to match Mum’s Lamp.
The next thing you need to do is look at the ratio of each of the colours in your chosen picture.
You will need to match the amount of yarn to maintain the balance.
To make a blanket to match Mum’s Lamp, I would need approx 18 x 100g balls maximum.
The predominant colour is Parchment, with only small parts of the other colours.
I would split this as follows:
60% Parchment – 11 x 100g balls, with the remaining 40% or 7 balls as one of each colour.
Copper – 1 x 100g ball
Camel – 1 x 100g ball
Saffron – 1 x 100g ball
Gold – 1 x 100g ball
Vintage Peach – 1 x 100g ball
Cream – 1 x 100g ball
Walnut – 1 x 100g ball
♥ Lilac Lane is approx. 30% Lavender and Wisteria, 30% Meadow, 15% Mushroom, 15% Dark Brown, and 10% Spring Green.
♥ Amethyst Cave is approx. 50% Graphite, 20% Lobelia, 10%Violet, 10% Lavender, 5% Midnight, and 5% White.
Now that you have your colours, and the amounts of colour, the last step is to think about when and where you will use the colours. This is where you need to be creative, use what feels right for the stitches in the row or round you are going to make. Remember that mid to light colours will always show more textured stitches, dark colours are great for plain sections.
If you wish to follow the way the colours occur in your picture, then you need to think about which pattern would be most suitable. Amethyst Cave would look great as a C2C [corner to corner], as the diagonal nature of a C2C matches with the photo perfectly.
Lilac Lane, would be perfect as a Mandala type design or a square blanket working out from the centre, most of your Lavender and Wisteria would be around the outside of the project, with the greens and Mushroom in the centre.
Remember these are only guidelines, you can be as creative as you like, you can take the colours as a lucky dip, and just use what ever comes next. Because you love the way the picture looks and feels, any way you use the colours will feel great to you.
Just remember ratio!
If you are purchasing Stylecraft Special yarns or the many others available through Deramores,and Woolwarehouse, or any of the links on the right side of my website. I really appreciate you using these affiliate links as it supports me as a designer. Bless you ♥
♥ If you need help and advice, the quickest way to find support is to join Helen’s Hookaholics Facebook group. There you will find a very supportive group of likeminded people. It’s also a great place to share your crystalsandcrochet makes, and see what others are making, and see what I am up to.
♥ If you are not a fan of Facebook you can always email me with any questions you may have by using the contact form here.