Choosing Colours for Double Knit Projects
On Friday, 15th May, the Gemini Season started a little early for us at Qing Fibre. We introduced four colour combinations, each pair celebrating the joy in colourwork.
We also collaborated with the talented Katharina Kuntz, whose beautiful double knit designs are a perfect way to explore tones together. She designed the Zodiac Signs Scarf with our Dashing Fingering yarn in mind, and we paired the pattern with two kits - one in Ninja Turtle and Hero, and Guardian and Liminal Space.
Double knitting graphics can be very intricate, often using single stitches to bring out delicate patterns. The colour choices play a big role in how well your graphic stands out in the FO, so we put together this blog post to go through the key points on how to make sure your scarf is as eye-catching as possible.
Go by value:
Value here means the darkness or lightness of a colour. The two colours you choose for any double knit should be far apart in the value to make sure they allow the other to stand out.
This works for both colours that are a similar tone and ones that on first sight look completely different. Pairing our Soot with Pearl is almost an elevated version of black and white.
We also tested the scarf pattern on our Shrimp and Cucumber pairing (that works great in other types of colourwork) but due to the tones being very similar, the pattern gets lost.
Quick Tip: Check your colours in black and white. Do they look very similar? It's a no-go!
Complementary colours:
Staying near complementary colours is always a good idea. These colours create a strong contrast when placed next to each other, and make for a striking combo. Our Ninja Turtle and Abyss pair is close to the complementary pair of blue and yellow, with the neon of Ninja Turtle giving the colour the extra intensity to shine through.
Check the variegations:
When working with variegated yarn, make sure you're paying attention to all the colours the yarn has to offer. Sometimes, it is these smaller sections of yarn that end up in crucial points on the pattern, making some of the stitches disappear.
This was the case in one of our Gemini Season pairings, Merida and Reverence. Even though muted blue and orange are complimentary colours in the RYB colour model, the pink in Reverence shows up a lot.
Testing-testing-testing:
The best way to know you're on the right track is to test the colours before committing to the full thing. Making small swatches will not only show you the colour pair outcome, but give you a small trial on knitting the stitches as well. Double win!
If you're keen to knit the Zodiac Signs Scarf, find our recommended colour combinations here! If you need some help with choosing other combinations for this or any other double knit project, do not hesitate to reach out in the comments or on Instagram (@qingfibre).