5 Fun Ways to Add Color to Your Knitting

As the colder months draw to an end, you may be thinking about knitting projects with bright pops of color. Whether you are a beginner or intermediate knitter, there are lots of fun ways to add color to your knitted garments. In this article, we talk about a few of our favorite ways.

Use Variegated Yarn

This is our personal favorite way to add color to your knitting. Our Zen Yarn Garden yarn dyeing team carefully applies dye to create one-of-a-kind colourways that reflect the artistry of the process. The incredible team comes up with new and innovative ways of applying dye to create interesting variations that will reveal lovely patterns in your knitting. It all starts with our hand selected, luxury yarn bases spun in Italy and Canada. 

Using variegated yarn is the easiest way for beginner knitters to add color to their knitting projects. Depending on the yarn you select, the color change can be gradual or dramatic. With variegated yarn, you are not limited to a specific knit stitch and are free to knit the same way you would with a solid color pattern.

Create Stripes

Another method of adding color to your knitted garment is to create stripes. Decide how thick you would like the striping to be and then change the color at the end of the row. Knit back and forth between the same two colors or add various color stripes. Snip the yarn at the end of a row and work in the new color at the start of the next row. Remember to leave enough yarn on each row to allow you to work the loose yarn in with a needle. 

Knitting stripes is fairly easy to do and you have complete control over where a new color starts and stops. Stripes can be created with any type of stitch.

Intarsia Knitting

Intarsia knitting is a more challenging way to add color, but this style allows you to have complete control over your colors and patterns in a sophisticated way. Intarsia uses various colors in blocks. This Faded Flare Wrap is a great use of intarsia and a beautiful burst of color. This style of knitting is sometimes called "picture knitting" because of the ability to knit shapes into the garment. Beginner knitters can dive into intarsia knitting as long as they have a specific plan for their colors and patterns before getting started. 

Related: Beginner's Guide to Knitting Intarsia

Duplicate Stitch

Also referred to as Swiss darning, the duplicate stitch is a method by where you stitch over a stockinette stitch to add color or embellishments. The matching stitch blends right in with the original stitch. If you prefer not to plan ahead for your design elements, duplicate stitch is the way to add color after the garment is knitted. The end result looks similar to fair isle knitting. 

If you decide to use duplicate stitching to add color to your knitting, keep in mind that the second, overlaid stitch will raise your stitches a bit, creating more of a textured look.

Whichever way you choose to bring color into your knitting projects, we know you will enjoy the bright, brilliant finished project.