Color Tools

by Gail Callahan

This innovative little laminated color tool helps take the anxiety out of color choices. You choose one color, use the larger hole in the tool to locate the color, and the Color Grid identifies the analogous colors and the complement that perks up the combination.

If you are designing a Fair Isle you will need to ignore the values the Color Grid picks; just use the entire color family to get the contrasts and sequences that you need.

Gail is the author of Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece, an excellent book on dyeing yarn, roving, and fleece. The Color Grid was recently reviewed in Knitter’s Review by Clara Parkes—take a look for more information about how the Color Grid is used.

DVD by Laura Bryant

In this DVD Laura Bryant, a color and fiber expert, teaches a new way of sorting colors and seeing relationships, showing how to arrange a motley group of colors into a pleasing project. Her motto is You don’t get WOW by doing the expected!, but without some structure it can be hard to get to WOW rather than GAH! Bryant demonstrates the process and provides the structure

Please note this DVD is not about Fair Isle color use, although the skills Bryant teaches are most certainly helpful in designing for Fair Isle knitting.

So you can’t afford a full set of mini-skeins or balls of Jamieson Spindrift but you’d like to see more of the colors than the color card offers? I now have a very limited number of bobbin sets—3 yards of each color wound onto a bobbin labeled with the color number. I have learned a lot by arranging and rearranging the bobbins into pleasing combinations!

Sorry—no additional discounts.

2/7/12 Now there are three sets left in stock and no plans to have more made!

A full set of Jamieson Spindrift Mini-skeins (approximately 20 yards each): 8 naturals and 202 dyed colors! Imagine having your own color box of Shetland to play with!

Regular price: $410 Special price for the full set: $357, a 15% discount! Plus free shipping, of course.

(Sorry, no further discounts on this package.)

One ball of each of the 202 dyed colors and 8 solid naturals at an amazing price! The photo doesn’t show all the colors–how could I possibly fit them into one picture?

Special price for the set: $940.80, a $235.20 savings!

(Sorry, no further discounts on this package.)

Small samples of the 223 colors of Spindrift that are currently available. Invaluable when you are planning your own colorways!

Note: January 2012. The color card is on backorder at the mill. The estimated delivery date is mid- to late January. Please feel free to place an order now; I will bill and ship when the cards arrive.

Joen Wolfrom

This expanded color wheel shows 24 color families with examples of saturated hues, tints, shades, and tones. Flip the hue card over to find complements, triads, and analogous relationships. This tool changed my understanding of color! (And if you happen to run across her out-of-print book Color Play, be sure to pick it up, too.)

by Joen Wolfrom

This is a companion volume to Joen’s 3-in-1 Color Tool. The book expands upon the 24-color wheel–Joen discusses the complements, split-complement, analogous, and triadic relationships for each color family, with lots of photographs and illustrations. An excellent volume for your library if you are interested in how colors interact.
Paperback; 144 pages.

by Joen Wolfrom

This book, written for quilters, shows how many different people use a source of inspiration to guide their color choices. Joen offers insightful comments about how the colors are used, what works and what doesn’t. This is the way I choose colors for my stranded colorwork; if you are intrigued by this method, you will find this book very useful. Joen is the author of Color Play and the 3-in-1 Color Tool.
Paperback; 96 pages.

by Jean Wells

This playful book, written for art quilters, has lots of value for knitters as well. The author uses photographs to develop her pieces; she covers issues of proportion, abstracting a design from a photograph, and color intensity, personality, and temperature. Although roughly half the book focuses on quilting issues, I think it would make a good addition to the library of any color-obsessed knitter who already has the basics.
Paperback; 96 pages.

Deb Menz

This is a comprehensive and accessible guide to color relationships. Deb Menz, a master a color in fiber, looks at such elements as value keys, color harmonies, saturation, proportion–nothing is left out! Menz shows how this information translates into different media by offering samples of spinning, knitting, weaving, embroidery, beading, quilting, paper collage, and surface design that demonstrate the principle being discussed. To top it off, there are pull-out color tools (including a color wheel) in the back of the book!

Spiral bound in hard cover; 116 pages text; 32 pages color tools

These university testing booklets make perfect, portable mini-journals for your projects! Glue construction paper and pictures to the cover to make them your own. Eight lined pages; 8.5″ high by 6.75″ wide.

Sold as a package of 10 blue books for $5.00.