Why is picking the colors life or death?

#1

i am knitting blocked; it takes me literally weeks or months even to pick colors for a project. i cant just pick them and live with it because what if they arent the PERFECT colors?? what if i find even more perfect colors after ive picked the first ones? this is beyond difficult for me. i can imagine so many possibilities but i have no idea which one will be perfect.

i want to make a bag but each group of colors has a negative. it wont match with absolutely everything or it might make a statement that im not trying to send or the colors might look ugly together or i never wear “autumns” so why am i so attracted to the cranberry and tan? UGHHHHHHH

is this a problem for other people, or am i the only color handicapped person out there?

#2

Sometimes I have that problem, so I tend to go the opposite way and just pick a color while I’m standing in the store. I don’t want to stand there for the hours I’ll agonize over colors if I’m ordering yarn online, so I just reach for something and that’s the color I use.

#3

I have cross stitched for nearly 20 years (wow!) and I’m the same way with floss. To this day I STILL have my mum, despite the fact that I’m in WA & she’s in TX, pick my colors for me when I start a custom project. I email her links to colors I think I want to use and then she picks out ones that actually go together and go with my house. lol

With knitting I’ve found that I tend to go with just one color that coordinates with my house or my jacket, or whatever. If I had to try and find TWO colors that went together with a 3rd I’d go nuts!!! In fact, so would my mum. :roflhard:

#4

I use to be like that but I have learned that no matter how long I agonize over the yarn and color choices, I ALWAYS find another yarn or color combination later that I think I like better. So I have given up on the agonizing. I figure it is pointless.

#5

well although i havent solved the bag colors crisis, i was laying with my toddler while he was going down for his nap and dreamed up the white stripes - de stijl inspired colors (black white and red) for the tubey. jack adn meg have inspired me. i might even try and do a couple blocks and lines on the sleeves. WOOHOO

i think the only real way to pick colors is to muse until inspired. i gotta try to quit forcing it! :smiley:

#6

I’m like that with my scrapbooking. I’m a huge fan of color blocking and I found the use of a color wheel an absolute life saver. I take it with me still when picking my knitting yarns, too. It tells me exactly what colors will complement each other and which ones won’ t go together. :slight_smile:

#7

I was agonizing over what I would pick for my quilt. But then I got to the yardage shop, picked out the fabric that ‘spoke’ to me and then pulled out bolts that seemed to go with it. I also had the shop owner helping because she has a good eye for color. I thought it would be impossible because I had to pick out 20 different, yet coordinating colors, but I managed to do it! I was actually rather proud of myself - I’m normally quite the agonizer.

My lys owner has a good eye for color too. I let her pick out my SP’s yarn based on what she wrote she wanted, and my SP loved it!

I do admit I need to be braver in some of my choices. I figure I’ll probably rarely wear bright colors or bold colorways, so I’ve started surrounding myself in color, either in knits (throws and purses, etc) or in fabric (quilts).

#8

I forgot to add: you can get a color wheel at any good craft or art store. :slight_smile:

#9

Have a best friend who’s an art teacher is REALLY helpful to me :slight_smile: When I don’t have her physically with my when choosing colors, I use this tool which is actually for quilters (hence the name)… I bought one for my fabric stash too. I’ve found that quilt books on color theory to be really helpful.

#10

My mom used to be like that with her quilting. She’d pieced so many quilts in her lifetime, that she was burned out. She used to have my sisters and I lay out the pieces in color schemes that we liked, because she was tired of picking colors. Sewing them together was the easy part.