Blanket Planning with Yarn Pegs

I love making these blog posts to share with you all, I've had the best time faffing about with my yarn pegs and camera and uploading all the images this morning. Many of you will be very familiar with my yarn pegs and the way I use them to help me choose and arrange colours for my crochet blanket projects. I receive a lot of questions about my pegs on social media, so thought it might be helpful to share some more details.

First of all, the pegs themselves - they are cheap and cheerful wooden clothes pegs (clothespins in the US) - here in my town I can buy a pack of 24 for about £1 in the supermarket or cheap home store. You can find them easily online too {Amazon UK :: Amazon US}. Before I wrap the yarn, I write the colour name on the end of the peg (the end that you press, not the end that grips) using a fine biro type pen. To start off your yarn, secure the end with the grippy bit of the peg, leaving a small tail end sticking out (above)

Now begin wrapping the yarn around the peg - cover over the tail end and keep a tight, even tension as you wrap.

Wrap the yarn evenly and tightly up the length of the peg in a single layer, stopping when you get to the point just below the colour name.

Now keeping the yarn nice and tight, wrap it over and over back down the length of your peg so that you end up back where you started (down at the grippy end of the peg). Pull the yarn tightly up between the two grippy prongs at the bottom of the peg - pull it really as tight as you can so that the yarn lodges itself snuggly. Now snip the yarn off close to the peg.....

....and that's your yarn peg made. Pop your wrapped up pegs in a pretty bowl or a small bag and keep them handy for reference  - it's a lovely practical way to keep a track of colour names once you've taken the paper band of your yarn balls. But they really come into their own when planning and I truly wouldn't manage without mine. My yarn pegs are an essential bit of planning kit.

Usually my pegs live in my studio as I play with them almost every day when I'm there. I have them in a shallow ceramic dish on my studio table so that they are always to hand when I need a fix for my colour addiction, yeah, colour-junkie that I am ;) As I've been at home a lot more of late whilst I recover my energy levels, I decided to bring my pegs home for a bit. I found I missed my fix (can't do cold turkey I'm afraid) especially at this time of year when much of my time is spent planning and pondering. It's been fun to have them here at home, if a little distracting at times. I've found myself walking around with them, not even realising that I'd picked up the tray in the first place. It's as if my colour-seeking brain homes in on them, looking for a  solution to my over-stimulated and foggy thought processes as I try and make sense of my colour plans.

I want to try and explain a little bit about how I work when I'm planning a blanket or playing with colour ideas. So much of what I do is instinctive, but I think it might be possible to dissect the process a little and talk about it with you here.

The first thing to say is that I don't often dive into my colour pegs cold - I usually have some sort of an idea or a point of reference before I try and translate into colour. It might be an image, a photograph, a memory, a feeling even. Sometimes the reference is very clear (eg. the colours on the front of a magazine), and sometimes it is maddeningly vague. I often have strong memories/thoughts which evoke an emotion I feel like I want to translate into colour (eg that feeling when there is the first whiff of Spring in the air after a long winter) - this is quite hard to capture straight away and I often ponder on these "colour feelings" for a long time before settling.

For my blankets, I find that I naturally settle for odd numbers of colours, 15 being my favourite. Fifteen seems just right somehow, it's five groups of three and my brain likes that. Fifteen gives enough room for contrast and interest, whilst still maintaining a harmonious whole. I usually start with my favourite colours first - for me this is always the blue/green part of the colour wheel. Once my favourite blue/greens have been selected, I move out around the colour wheel and choose some purples and pinks. Then I decide how much heat I'd like in there - how much of the red/orange/yellow should I include to balance it all out? Sometimes neutrals/greys come in, sometimes they don't. Sometimes I don't have any heat at all (like my Harmony colours which are all blues/green/purples/pinks).

One thing about my colour palettes which never seems to alter - they are all very balanced without too much contrast. By that I mean I don't tend to go for very dark or very light colours in the mix. That is my "signature" I guess, the thing that defines my colour choices more than the colours themselves.

Once I've made my yarn peg colour wheel and everything is looking balanced and harmonious, I jumble the colours up and see how they start to play with each other. This gives me a chance to fine-tune the selection, to see if any colours are standing out too much or not playing nicely with the rest. Usually by this stage I'm really happy with my choices, often I'm positively jumping off the walls with excitement. The final test comes now.....

.....I have a go at ordering the colours as if I was planning a random stripe. I try hard to resist the urge to rainbowify them, and instead look for some unlikely but lively juxtapositions as well as some harmonious runs. This is a lot of fun, and I do spend a long time messing about here.

I photograph much of this process so that I have a record of my colour-thoughts. Often these playtime sessions will result in the whole lot being thrown back into the bowl without much of a second thought, but it's very useful to be able to revisit the images at a later date. The yarn pegs I showed you yesterday (inspired by Mollie Makes magazine and a greetings card) were made a year ago in January 2015 - I had pretty much forgotten them, but when I look at the photos I can remember exactly why I was pondering on those colours at that time, there are strong memories attached for sure.

At the weekend, I thought it would be interesting to present my yarn pegs to the Little People and see what they might come up with. Children generally have a terrific, natural instinct for colours which is based purely on the colours they "like", so it's fun to watch them make their selection and talk about their choices. I told them they had to choose fifteen shades, and that they should start by choosing their favourites first.

The above yarn wheel was Little Lady's choice - she started out with purples (her favourite colours), then moved into the browns. She balanced these with a selection of soft bluey-greens, and then popped in the Citron because she said it was warm and sunny and she liked it, and the Apricot because she said it was too pretty to leave out. I loved her brown/purple/soft blue choices, but really couldn't handle the Citron and the Petrol was jumping out at me as it didn't seem to want to play with the other colours at all. So I swapped those out............................

..............I took out Citron and replaced with Lemon. Took out Petrol and replaced with Sage. So basically these are the same colours, but softer versions, and Little Lady thoroughly approved.

The above yarn wheel was Little Lady's second go - again she started out with the purple/pinks, then balanced them out with blues and greens. I was surprised she chose the very dark shades (Burgundy and Emperor) but they look terrific here, and the whole colour balance is really great. Interestingly, no yellow this time!

So this is Little Man's yarn wheel, and I absolutely love it. He started with greys and the dark shades of blue (typical choice for a teen boy), then moved through the colour wheel and added in the deep greens. I expected him to perhaps put in some dark reds next (I offered up Claret and Burgundy, but he didn't like them one bit). He finally settled on some spicy heat to balance out the cool of all those blues, and wow, those hot colours really transformed the palette. Just put your hands on the screen and cover up the gold, spice and tomato and see how it dramatically alters? I felt really excited by this yarn wheel and could instantly see a bold, stripy blanket. I asked him if he would like me to make him a blanket in these colours, and truthfully he looked at me as if I was absolutely insane. Oh, that look. It was withering in the extreme. So that'll be a no then. Ohhhhh-kay, lets step away from the pegs then.

If you are wondering about my little six year old, he could not be persuaded to play with my pegs at all. No, no, no. He just didn't want to concentrate and apply himself, which is completely fair enough. I couldn't even tell you what his favourite colour is, he is a child that will not be pinned down to anything, quite the strong spirit that one.

Do you know what your favourite colour is? Do you have colours that you are instinctively drawn to? Are you there with the cool blues and greens, or do the fiery reds and oranges float your boat? Maybe you're a pink and purple kind of a girl? Do you like rainbows? Brights? Pastels? Vintage tones? Earthy colours?

Isn't it just the most amazing thing to be able to feel colour???!!!!! Love love love love love, times a gazillion.

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ps. the yarn on my pegs is all Stylecraft Special DK.

pps. this is not a sponsored post, just me being a colour-junkie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[dette]

Ok you have convinced me,was never quite sure of the point of pegs ,but your pictures and explanations have swayed ne. Especially the colour wheels made by your kids. I cant wait to see what colour personality my children are. And they are much more arty than me so nay help me with colour choices. Thanks for the great post

[Pam Roach]

This was the MOST amazing and informative !!! Thank you for all the time you put into this and the photos are GREAT!!!

[E.]

Hello Lucy,

I'm always impressed by your eye for colour! The yarn peg technique is surely a great way to progress for people like me who are less skilled with colours too. However, it only works well if you have a large choise to play with on hand.

It would be interesting if we could buy kits with yarn-peg length samples of every color in the range instead of the standard shade cards which do not provide this flexibility.

Actually this could be an Attic24 kit, including the "naked" yarn pegs. I could even imagine sets with say "only" 20 shades, with suggestions from you of several palettes of about 10 colors combining yarns from the set. Sorry to bring my ideas, but your creative mind is contagious! Thanks for sharing it with us :-)

Completely unrelated (or not), when I saw this photo, I instantly thought about you (and your winter palettes): http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/snowy-robin-sweden

[DebW]

I've been trying off and on for a week to reach the wool warehouse site to order yarn packs, but their site just won't come up.
Have you heard this from others Lucy? Any word on what the problem is?

[Charlotte]

Great idea Lucy. I am wrapping as I open a new color of yarn. Keep up the good work.

[CathieJ]

I love this peg idea. I have a whole package of clothespins and now clotheslines to use them on. Now I know what to do with them. I am partial to the blues and purples, but I really love most color combos. I do like your teen's selections.

[Mudhooks]

I would have a wall of these, simply to look at. Of course, the OCD in me would be constantlybe rearranging them.

[Ann]

Ah, I'm planning a new grannie blanket for my bed, and your process is hugely helpful. I too love colour, but have no training in how to fine tune. Thank you for sharing (that must have taken an age to write out). Also, what talented kids you have!

[Nienke]

It's funny; when I read this, the colour part of me thought: But how can she gravitate towards blues instead of reds?

Which shows you clearly that, yes, apparently I do have favorite colours/hues. The reds always speak to me most, as do the vibrant, bright colours. That said, I'm starting to like the softer pastel colours more and more. Even though they're SO girly. :P

[Annemieke]

I love your blogs about colour, I can so relate to the playing around with yarn and I get inspired all the time by your pictures.
I live in a world where everybody I hold dear 'is' a colour, my family is a nice mixture of blues and greens; my three girls 'are' light grass green, baby blue and turqoise, my husband 'is' bright blue and I 'am' olive green...maybe that's why I relate so much to your lovely blog, you are a blue and green girl too! :)
Good luck with getting your healh back!

[Linden]

I actually like the Citron choice in the colour wheel chosen by Little Lady, because it "lifts" the overall scheme. I would get rid of the Parma Violet and Apricot from that wheel because the Parma Violet is very much like the Silver (as seen in the picture) and the Apricot doesn't go with anything else. I would try adding in Sage and a darker grey instead. Isn't it interesting how we all see colours?

[Yvonne]

I love the peg idea and will definitely magpie that idea. I am fast becoming a lover of style craft wool too. Very economical and a good quality. Love what you do. Enjoy half term break with the kids. Von xxx

[Julie White]

These two colour posts are so interesting and helpful Lucy. I finished the coastal blanket just before Christmas and could see from the posts when you made it how the colours reflected the coast. So inspirational, thank you.

[Estella]

Yes it is great to feel color! Does it count when you see a certain color on a person? This might sound wild but when I was was much younger someone would remind me of an avocado someone else a pineapple etc. and each image was very colorful. I just realized that I might have been thinking color. Hey, we are all different!

[Mary]

In my day they were called clothespins LOL!!! Thanks for the great idea!

[On the Green]

Hi Lucy, love your blog. I am a colour junkie too, but lately seem to lean mostly towards shades of green as my lead colour. I have a special note book displaying each STylecraft colour as I get it and so slowly building up a good range.

Ruth

[Robin Summers]

I have a huge container of my own sweet Stylecraft DK. I love playing with them to try and come up with an idea of my own blanket. I enoy them immensely. Thank you for the inspiration. I purchased my pegs at the dollar store. You did great on this post.

[Clare]

lovely lovely colour I really enjoyed that on a grey rainy day my all time favouirte stylecraft colour is sherbet, and I'm a bit of a pastels girl
Clare x

[Sam]

Oh Lucy, I had a right good giggle when I read the part about Little Man not wanting a blanket. I can just imagine the face!!!!! But, do,you know what, make him the blanket without telling him. Keep it locked away for a few years and when he's settled down, got his own home or family, give it to him. He will more than likely love it so much and be so precious to him xxx.

[Rose]

Choosing yarn for a project makes me tingle with delight. I do this consciously; thinking about the person the project is for, the raw materials of the yarn, the texture and feel I want to achieve and of course the colour palette.
Your method is interesting and works very well if one limits oneself to one particular yarn. For your business this seems ideal!
As a hobby crocheter and knitter, I will continue going down to my local yarn shop and enjoying the full range of sensorial pleasures wool has to offer.
Thank you for your lovely blog.

[Caroline]

Hello
Great post. With over 80 colours in the Stylecraft range - buying all of the colours to make the sample pegs is not really viable. There definitely is an opportunity for someone to package small quantities of the whole range, either on pegs already or for buyers to "peg".
I tend to be a muted blues/ greys girl myself!

[Charlotte]

The first time that I saw your yarn pegs I wanted to do this. After you remove the label it is hard to remember the color name. Was going to buy clothes peg but someone gave me card boards to use for ribbon and floss. Perfect and I can use the peg money for yarn. Good idea, Lucy. Do not think we are playing follow the leader but using a very good idea from you. Thanks for your idea!

[moran malron]

Your yarn pegs are such a perfect idea, I think I'm gonna use it for my yarns, Thank you!!

[Sarah Jones]

Dear Lucy I just love playing with pegs and coming up with different colour
combinations. Stylecraft yarns are great for this. I am going to start taking photographs of the grouped pegs for future reference. Thanks as always for the inspiration.

[Angela-Southern USA]

A fab post!Great insight into color Lucy! My favorites would also be in the blue and green range but, other times I like them all. Depends on the mood for me. : ) L. M. I know that look s-o well! Even though I don't have any boys.lol Have a color filled weekend! Especially filled with that big yellow orb in the sky!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx