Knitting for your 12 season color analysis season
A collection of knitting patterns and knitting tips
Knit a Christmas hat
Forget the Christmas Sweater. Why not knit yourself a Christmas hat? If you start knitting this Christmas, it will be finished and ready for wearing next Christmas.
Here are some ideas for the main Season categories:
SUMMERS
This hat has just the right pink-taupe and kitten white for the Summer Seasons.
And I love how the tree pattern meets at the top of the hat. Pattern HERE
WINTERS
White, grey and bright red! What a lovely colour combo for Winters.
For Bright and True Winter, go with this bright red. Dark Winter, see if you can find a burgundy wine red.
Pattern HERE
AUTUMNS
Teal and mustard, yummy! and notice that the light colour is beigy-grey, not bright white. Good for Autumns.
Pattern HERE
SPRINGS
A cheerful coral red hat topped with a pom-pom, what could be more perfect for channeling Christmas cheer with Spring energy?
Pattern HERE
The Musselburgh Hat
My latest knitting obsession is the Musselburgh hat by Ysolda is adapted from a WW2 period hat knitting pattern, a genious way to create a double-layer hat in one long tube. And their pattern is adaptable to absolutely every conceivable kind of gauge and yarn. Nifty, yes? Here's a link to the Musselburgh hat pattern.
I love Ysolda because they have such interesting patterns. Their sizing is inclusive, and so is their attitude towards all genders!
If you search for #musselburghhat in Instagram you'll see all the different possibilities. I knitted mine in a lovely cool grey merino wool/silk blend (pictured above), but I'm intrigued by a rainbow version, this one:
The Musselburgh hat knitted by @january_one
The Lit'n'knit club
Literature and knitting. A perfect combination. One of my favouritest things to do is discussing the latest book with a friend while knitting.
And favouritest is a word. Haven't you watched Derek?
Or when it's Friday and I have a new knitting project. And an audio book to listen to. It doesn't get much better than this.
Let me know what you are knitting and reading (listening to) in the comments section below the article.
Listening to:
Shtum. A fascinating story about a young boy with autism and the struggles his family goes through to deal with this. Contrary to what one might expect, it's told with deliciously elegant language and full of humour.
Knitting:
Dinosaur sweater for a five-year-old. but I can never stick to a pattern, so it will look a lot different from the photo. And in different colours. Of course.
True Autumn
Ah, the rich, burnished colours of True Autumn's knitting projects! Spiced apple cider, red apples, crunchy leaves and delicious pumpkins.
True Autumn cardigan
This cardigan can be knitted in several of the yarns suited to the True Autumn palette. You'll find the pattern on Susan Crawford's blog.
Soft Autumn
The Soft Autumn knitter has an easy task picking colors for knitting projects these days, as the selection of yarns seem to be mostly in the low chroma end of the scale.
Furthermore, the Soft Autumn knitter can soften the effect of the colours by choosing a knitting project with small scale pattern. The overall effect of the finished project will be softer than when you look at the balls of yarn separately before you start knitting.
Soft Autumn socks
The melange effect of this varigated yarn gives a super soft overall effect. These colors are also very much suited to the delicate Soft Autumn palette.
Bright Winter
The Bright Winter knitter needs brilliant colors. I recommend fair isle knitting in high contrast colors, it gives a fabulous Bright Winter effect.
Bright blue yarn
It's rare to find intensely pigmented, bright colours in natural fibre yarn. But here is a lovely exception to this.
This delightfully bright silk mohair blend seems perfect for a light, fluffy Bright Winter sweater.
I have no idea why Pickles.no calls this colour Mustard Seeds, but they may have their own reasons. In my mind, there is nothing mustardy about this colour, and would happily pick a knitting project for Bright Winter in this yarn.
Bright Winter Wrist Warmers
Wrist warmers are quick and easy to knit, and they are a super little element of color that you can add to a neutral outfit, without feeling that you are going overboard with color.
This marachino cherry red is a great color for Bright Winter.
Also, the pattern is interesting but since the wrist warmers are a solid color it doesn't feel overly busy.
It's difficult to pick the right yarn for your season.
I love knitting. I knit all the time, and I'm always on the lookout for new projects.
A lot of my clients are knitters too, and I get emails from them with questions about colour matching yarn to their fans. Which I try to answer as best I can. We all know how hard it is to judge colour on screens, so I always emphasise that your eyes on the items in real life trumps any opinions others (including me) might have based on screenshots and photos.
MY KNITTING STORY FOR YOU:
This is a story about the time I wanted to knit a new hat and went shopping for yarn.
I am sharing this story with you because I made a mistake last time I went shopping for yarn.
I know, I know, I'm a PCA consultant and make a living telling other people how to use their colours, and I still make mistakes when I shop for myself sometimes. It happens, ok?
My mistake this time was I got too eager to go home and start that knitting project, so I settled for a colour that was "sort of ok" instead of saying "no thanks, I'll wait".
Second mistake: I didn't bring my colour fan when shopping (which is one of the most common mistakes when shopping for our colour tone, as you can read about in this guide)
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED WITH MY KNITTING PROJECT:
Here's the scenario. I own a scarf that I absolutely love, this one:
It's a soft and lovely merino wool scarf in red, pink and turquoise. I use it all the time in winter.
The photo doesn't do it justice, it is brighter in real life than the picture, but you can see from the photo that it plays well with my Bright Winter colour fan.
I absolutely adore the quirky combination of colours, red and pink, with the splash of bright turquoise. It makes me happy.
So I set out to get some yarn to knit a hat to go with the scarf.
I came home with a muted, quite lovely turquoise that I thought might be ok, and guess what? It was a total flop. Complete disaster.
LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES
I finished the hat even though I knew it was going to be wrong, because I thought I might share the lesson I learnt with you.
Here it is, on the left. A lovely hat, lovely colour, but it is not Bright Winter. Can you see how it looks dead and forlorn next to the Bright Winter colour fan?
It looks dusty and boring, and the fan looks a bit "plasticky".
NEXT ATTEMPT
My next attempt was more of a success. This bright peacock blue yarn is a much better match to my Bright Winter colour fan, don't you think? See how happy the fan looks? And the blue hat looks like it belongs next to it.
Look at the pinks and reds, how well they match. One could imagine those lipstick colours on me as I wear the hat, right?
The hat isn't perfect for my scarf, though, so I'm still looking for yarn.
OLDIE BUT GOODIE
This is the old hat that I have been using with the scarf, it is a happy and bright turquoise colour and blends nicely with my colour fan. But it's old and tattered and needs replacement, and soon.
I'm quite happy with this old hat and will use it for now, but I am still hoping to one day find a really truly bright turquoise yarn to knit a new one.
And I will bring and use my colour fan next time I go shopping.
Are you wondering what colour tone could wear that muted turquoise hat? So did I.
AND THE WINNER IS...
My best bet would be Soft Summer.
The melange effect of this yarn is nicely suited to the summer colour tones, and there was definite harmony between the muted cool/neutral Soft Summer palette and the hat.
Compared to how dead and dust gathering the hat looked next to the Bright Winter colour fan, it looks positively vibrant here.
A useful lesson, I thought, and worth sharing with you.
Knitters need inspiration.
Every month, I send out an email with one single wardrobe tip.
It's short, sweet and to the point, and totally free:
Hello, Jorunn. I live in Michigan and am a 75-year-old Soft Summer. I just listened to you and Christine do your podcast on coloring our hair vs going silver. I loved it! So glad I joined your site, too! I like to knit easy shawls and scarves — they don’t have to fit. And I love to read! So much fun and so many good ideas on your site. Thank you for this.
Oh Genie, This makes my heart sing! I’m so happy to hear that you’re enjoying the podcast. I’ll be sure to tell Christine next time we talk! ANd thank you for your kind words about my site.
Jorunn, I had a feeling that was a Soft Summer hat — I can spot my colours a mile away now. I have a very good friend who lives over a day’s drive away so we don’t get to see each other very often (especially with covid…) We have a weekly Zoom call where we knit together and discuss the books we’re reading. It’s so therapeutic on many levels! Favourite yarns for me would have to be merino and angora. Really enjoying your blog! – Natasha
Oh, what hat is that you’re referring to? The green Musselburgh hat? It might be a Soft Autumn green, if it isn’t cool enough to be for one of the Summer Seasons. I’m knitting my Musselburgh hat in a grey merino wool/silk blend, such a nice neutral. Knitting and talking about books sounds like heaven. Friendships between knitters and readers are the best. I love this quote by Irving Stone: “There are no faster or firmer friendships than those formed between people who love the same books.” At our local library we have “Knit & Listen” evenings, where people bring their knitting and listen to someone read. That’s really nice, too.
Dear Jorunn, thank you very much for the tips! And for the link to this mohair yarn! I am a bright winter knitter, and I have found these angora wool not bad: http://www.angoratradition.com/pages/nos-produits/laine-80-angora.html
I knitted myself a sweater in black and rubis. Although I am not sure the rubis color is really bright winter (it is actually bright but maybe it lacks a little hint of warmth) (but I guess I am a ‘warm’ bright winter so I have facilities with reds–and difficulties with blues–)…That said it is possible to ask for samples which is great 🙂
The only problem is that the website is in french….
Hello Nathalie, what a wonderful website! I love angora wool. So soft, light and warm.
The colours are gorgeous! Judging from the photos, I can imagine that Rubis/Ruby would be a lovely colour for a Bright Winter who leans warm…
For blue, I wonder about Violin, it is a lovely periwinkle that looks like it has a little bit of warmth to it, so that might be one to try for you. And the blue/purple Encre/Ink looks divine…. Do you live near this place, or did you order by mail?
Dear Jorunn,
I live in Brussels, and found this farm by looking for yarns on the internet. So I ordered via mail (or maybe phone).
What is great is that they (freely) send samples, so it is easier to check for the right colour. Furthermore, the colour is sometimes different than from how it appears on their picture. I am gonna check the samples I own with my fan and write you back ! 🙂
Hello again Nathalie, I would love that! And maybe I should write for samples and write a blog post about their yarn!