This will not be a post about colour theory or how to put colours together or even how colours work in weaving. Because I’m really not good at putting colours together. I’m better than I used to be but I’m really conservative in colour choices. Usually I pick a variegated yarn and pair it with a solid colour that appears in the variegated skein. Lately however I’ve been pondering Noro yarns. Somehow, there are a million colours in one skein and it works! Is it just because someone else put the colours together or is it because all colours go together?

Tea towels are my favourite experimental projects so I decided to try putting colours together. I’ve also been fascinated by the table cloths at a local restaurant…lots of bright colours in no seeming order. So I decided to warp my floor loom for table runners and placemats, and my rigid heddle with tea towels. I knew I wanted 8 colours for my floor loom so I gathered all my 4/8 cotton and started playing. I lined them all up and picked my favourites. Then I took out the ones that seemed “wrong” and added some that looked “right” . I looked for a balance of light, dark and made sure I had a bright pop. I shuffled the order, checked colour scale, added, took out, wished for another colour, determined I did not need to buy more and rearranged some more. It was fun! And I‘m really happy with the results. I even did a little sample to try a couple different weft colours!

After success on the floor loom I found choosing colours for the rigid heddle much easier. This time I gathered all my 2/8 cotton and picked a main colour. The main colour sandwiches each of the other colours so it was easier to pick colours. Again, I lined everything up, added, took away (and wished for more colours). This time when I warped I did it completely random. The blue main colour was the constant, everything else was random. Again, I love the result! I will certainly be trying to more!

So the lesson? Be brave with colour, play and just have fun. It is just string after all!