When ordering yarn online, it's sometimes difficult to tell the more subtle variations in shades. Let's be honest. No matter how careful, the lighting required for photography and the individual variations in screens will change the colors - sometimes vigorously and sometimes in a more subtle fashion. And, outside of a major metropolis, it's difficult to find a store that carries all the colors you want that are available on the manufacturer's website.
When trying to measure coordination and contrast for a project, that can be extremely frustrating. There are some easy ways to minimize - and sometimes eliminate - that frustration.
For starters, always order the yarn for each project from the same company and always using the same monitor. I'm not saying that all your subsequent projects have to be done in Red Heart if that's what you do your first project in. I'm saying that using a single manufacturer on a each project makes it easier to coordinate colors than mixing Red Heart with Caron or a store brand.
The photographic distortion of color is generally consistent within a single company's web site. Companies tend to use the same photographer and each photographer has their preferred techniques and equipment. So, if one image leans slightly green, all of the images will lean slightly green.
At the same time, using the same monitor for the selection process means that the monitor distortion is consistent as well. The cumulative result is that you might not get the exact colors you want, but they will work together. The ones that you want to blend or contrast will actually blend or contrast.
When working with multicolored yarn, this can get a little more complicated. The obvious answer, for contrast, is to put the multi next to black or white. Sometimes, though, you want to use color and other times you want to blend. How to do that?
On Red Heart's website, like many yarn manufacturers, they have a handy chart that shows what dyes go into each multi and what solid color yarns match. (It even lists discontinued colors if you have any sitting around!) To coordinate or contrast with Icelandic, you go down the list and choose one or more of the solids that they list or the contrast to those solids. To coordinate or contrast multiple multi colored skeins, you can see what dyes - and therefore solids - they have in common. Icelandic and Grape Fizz have no solids in common, for example, so they won't blend together. But, as one is blues and one is mostly purples with a bit of blue, you can easily pick a contrast that will work with both.
Another option - if you don't want to dig through the chart or the manufacturer doesn't have one - is to get them in your shopping cart. Frequently the shopping cart thumbnails are for the color you're actually ordering, not the default for that yarn. You can easily choose to coordinate a specific color by getting them all in front of you this way. Remove the yarns you don't want.
Barring that, you can also take a screenshot of the thumbnails. (Windows has an wonderful program that simplifies this. Go to your Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > Snipping Tool.) Pull those thumbnails into a graphics program, and move the them around until you have a good idea if you're on the right track or not. If you are, place your order in relative confidence. If not, try again.
They aren't perfect techniques. Sometimes, it just won't work. But, barring ordering a skein of every color a manufacturer offers or finding a local store that offers them all, these tricks are your best bet.
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| Red Heart's Macaw yarn is actually vibrant shades of blue, in spite of what my camera wants to show. |
When trying to measure coordination and contrast for a project, that can be extremely frustrating. There are some easy ways to minimize - and sometimes eliminate - that frustration.
For starters, always order the yarn for each project from the same company and always using the same monitor. I'm not saying that all your subsequent projects have to be done in Red Heart if that's what you do your first project in. I'm saying that using a single manufacturer on a each project makes it easier to coordinate colors than mixing Red Heart with Caron or a store brand.
The photographic distortion of color is generally consistent within a single company's web site. Companies tend to use the same photographer and each photographer has their preferred techniques and equipment. So, if one image leans slightly green, all of the images will lean slightly green.
At the same time, using the same monitor for the selection process means that the monitor distortion is consistent as well. The cumulative result is that you might not get the exact colors you want, but they will work together. The ones that you want to blend or contrast will actually blend or contrast.
When working with multicolored yarn, this can get a little more complicated. The obvious answer, for contrast, is to put the multi next to black or white. Sometimes, though, you want to use color and other times you want to blend. How to do that?
On Red Heart's website, like many yarn manufacturers, they have a handy chart that shows what dyes go into each multi and what solid color yarns match. (It even lists discontinued colors if you have any sitting around!) To coordinate or contrast with Icelandic, you go down the list and choose one or more of the solids that they list or the contrast to those solids. To coordinate or contrast multiple multi colored skeins, you can see what dyes - and therefore solids - they have in common. Icelandic and Grape Fizz have no solids in common, for example, so they won't blend together. But, as one is blues and one is mostly purples with a bit of blue, you can easily pick a contrast that will work with both.
Another option - if you don't want to dig through the chart or the manufacturer doesn't have one - is to get them in your shopping cart. Frequently the shopping cart thumbnails are for the color you're actually ordering, not the default for that yarn. You can easily choose to coordinate a specific color by getting them all in front of you this way. Remove the yarns you don't want.
 |
| Easily choose a green that works. |
Barring that, you can also take a screenshot of the thumbnails. (Windows has an wonderful program that simplifies this. Go to your Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > Snipping Tool.) Pull those thumbnails into a graphics program, and move the them around until you have a good idea if you're on the right track or not. If you are, place your order in relative confidence. If not, try again.
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