Have you ever noticed that quilters rarely use solid colored fabrics when making quilts. Most quilts that I see are made up of patterned fabrics.What quilters have figured out is patterned fabrics give their work a certain vibrance and depth. Look at these two quilts side by side.

Images via left:Shopmartingale.com, right:Noga Quilts

See how the quilt made of patterned fabric has way more depth than a quilt with solid fabric(don’t get me wrong both awesome quilts, two very different looks). This is totally something that applies to knitting/crochet/even spinning.

I know especially with hand painted or handspun yarns and rovings, there are so many colors in each skein or braid, it is hard to imagine how to combine them. I find that squinting when looking at my yarns and rovings will give you an overall feel for what color is dominant is as a whole. Squinting helps blur the colors into a single representative shade. A perfect example of this can be found in George Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

Notice how in the close up that each color was made by tiny dots of many colors.

There is so much more depth when you combine colors this way. Don’t be afraid to combine the many colors in variegated yarns or rovings. You might be pleasantly surprised by the depth in your work.

What are you working on? Shoot me an email and let me know what your are working on. I love to geek out over knitting(crochet, weaving, tatting!) projects.