Yarn Colour Combinations Tool — The Yarn Stash Picker
Unlock the potential colour combinations hiding in your yarn stash with my FREE interactive, fun Yarn Stash Colour Picker.
Do you ever look at your yarn stash and feel… stuck? You know there are gorgeous colour combinations in there somewhere, but they don’t always jump out at you. Often the best colours end up buried at the bottom of the pile, so you reach for the same “these will do” shades — which means you’re missing out on those magical matches made in heaven.
That’s exactly why I’m so excited to share my brand‑new interactive Yarn Stash Colour Picker. It’s a clever colour wheel tool that helps you uncover beautiful, unexpected palettes using yarn you already own. Think of it as your personal colour‑confidence booster, your mood‑board inspiration, and also your stash‑busting best friend.
And you won’t be surprised to hear that I’m slightly obsessed with it. I’ve been having the best fun creating mood boards in Canva. Hot pink with neon green is definitely my new favourite colour combo!! I enjoyed creating this stunning mood board and as a result, I now have a bright new project already on my needles.
Use The Colour Picker Tool To Choose New Yarn Colour Combinations
This tool helps you see your yarn stash differently. Instead of guessing which colours might work together, you simply click, explore, and enjoy — no colour theory needed.
It’s simple, fun, and surprisingly addictive — and it helps you discover combinations you might never have thought of on your own.
Who This Colour Picker Is For
The Yarn Stash Colour Picker is designed for anyone who works with yarn and colour — whether you knit, crochet, design patterns, dye yarn, or simply love exploring new palettes. It’s especially helpful if you:
- Have a yarn stash full of leftovers: Perfect for oddments, mystery balls, missing ball bands, and especially those “no idea what shade this is” yarns we all have.
- Are a knitter or crocheter who loves colour: Ideal for choosing colours for granny squares, blankets, garments, accessories, motifs, and stash‑busting projects.
- Are a crochet or knitting designer: Great for planning colourways, building mood boards, testing palette ideas, and creating visually cohesive designs.
- Are a yarn dyer looking for colour inspiration: Use the tool to explore harmonious, bold, or unexpected colour combinations before dyeing your next batch.
- Struggle to choose colours or want to try something new: If you tend to reach for the same safe shades, this tool helps you break out of your comfort zone with confidence.
- Love visual planning: Perfect if you enjoy colour journals, yarn pegs, swatches, mood boards, or organising your stash by palette.
- Want colour harmony without learning colour theory: The tool does all the clever colour‑matching for you — just click, explore, and enjoy.
Whether you’re a hobby maker, a professional designer, a yarn dyer, or simply someone who loves playing with colour, this tool helps you see your yarn stash in a fresh, exciting way and discover palettes that spark new ideas.
Colour Match Your Stash Following The Steps Below
The Yarn Stash Colour Picker is further down this post, but before you dive in and start clicking colours, it’s really helpful to read through these steps first. They’ll show you exactly how the tool works, how to get the best results, and how to turn your palettes into real yarn combinations from your stash. Once you’ve read these, you’ll be ready to explore the tool with confidence and get the most out of every colour you choose.
Step 1: Choose Your Main Colour
The outer ring of the wheel is your starting point. Click anywhere on it — either choose a colour you love, or something totally outside your comfort zone.
As soon as you click, the tool pulls up all the colour harmony combinations that work with that hue. These are the kinds of palettes designers use all the time, so now you can use them too. And the best part is that you don't need any colour theory knowledge at all, because you can just click and go. The tool does all the work for you. And if you want to know more about colour theory, I’ve included a handy explanation list at the end of the post.
Step 2: Adjust the Hue Slider
This is my favourite part, because once you’ve chosen your main colour, you can use the hue slider to fine‑tune it, because maybe you want your blue a little more teal, or your pink a little more coral.
The clever bit? The colour combinations don’t change — only the main colour does. So you can explore subtle shifts in your palette without losing the harmony.
This is brilliant for stash‑busting because you can tweak the main colour until it matches a yarn you already have in your stash. Then you can stash dive for the new colour combinations you've found.
Step 3: Save Your Favourite Yarn Colour Combinations
See a palette (or palettes) you love?
- On mobile devices: Screen shot to save.
- On desktop or laptop: Click Export Palette PNG to save to your downloads. The tool will generate a neat image file showing your chosen colours to save.
Once you have your saved image you can:
- Use it to create a Canva mood board.
- Print it and add it to your colour journal.
- Use it to match yarns in your stash.
- Keep it for future project planning.
It’s like having your own designer colour portfolio.
Step 4: Make Yarn Pegs or Colour Cards
Once you’ve printed your palette, grab your yarn stash then start matching colours. You can:
- Wrap yarn around a little card.
- Make yarn pegs (these are so cute!).
- Use generic colour names (Teal, Hot Pink, Neon Green) to search online.
- Write down matching brand shades, and yarn details.
- Make a mini knitted or crocheted swatch.
This becomes your personal treasure trove of inspiration you can return to again and again.
Step 5: Build a Colour Journal
I love this part. Create a colour journal where you keep:
- Colour cards.
- Mini swatches.
- Notes about which yarns you used.
- Ideas for future projects.
- Thoughts about how these colours make you feel.
Over time, you’ll build a beautiful, personal record of your colour experiments, so you’ll start to see patterns and inspiration in what you love.
Step 6: Turn Your Palette Into a Project
Once you’ve found a palette you adore, you can:
- Use up small amounts of yarn for quick makes.
- Create striped cushions, hats, cowls, or bags.
- Make granny squares or motifs.
- Start a scrappy blanket.
- Plan a full garment or large project.
- Buy extra yarn to complete a bigger idea.
And the best part? You’ll be using colours you never would have thought to put together — and they’ll look amazing because the colour picker has already done the harmony work for you.
Get Started Choosing Yarn Colour Combinations For Your Stash Yarn
- First click on a colour from the outside of the wheel.
- Use your mouse to choose any colour from the outside ring of the wheel.
- A little black dot will jump to that position — that’s your selected colour.
- See your main colour Information.
- The tool will show the details for your chosen shade, including the Hue, Saturation, Lightness, and Hex code (the letters and numbers are explained below the tool).
- Watch the colour combinations appear
- As soon as you pick a colour, all the matching colour harmonies pop up automatically below — scroll down to see complementary, analogous, triad, tetradic and more, therefore no colour theory knowledge is needed.
- Fine‑tune your main colour
- Use the little cross inside the Hue box (below the wheel) to lighten, darken, or soften your main colour. This doesn’t change the combinations — it simply adjusts the main shade so you can match it more closely to yarn in your stash.
- If you don't like the colour pallets you see, simply click again on a different colour on the wheel.
- Save your favourite palettes
- On mobile devices: Screen shot to save colours and hex codes.
- On desktop or laptop: Tick the boxes beside any palette you love, then view or export as a PNG file to your downloads. You can print these colour cards, add them to your journal, or use them to match yarns in your stash.
A Quick Note About How the Tool Works
The Yarn Stash Colour Picker is built using simple HTML colour‑wheel coding — it isn’t an AI tool. It reads the colour you click, calculates the matching harmonies, and displays them instantly. Everything is based on standard colour‑wheel logic, so the palettes you see are reliable, repeatable, and easy to use with any yarn in your stash. Due to limitations of downloading on mobile devices, export button works only on PC — so switch to a PC if you'd like to use the download feature.
The numbers and letters are explained here:
When you click on a colour, you’ll see a few numbers above and beneath the little colour blocks. These aren’t scary or technical — they’re just a quick way of showing where your colour sits on the colour wheel and how light or dark it is. You can simply ignore these - but they may also be useful if you want to know the hex code of the colour for further use.
Here’s what they mean:
- Hue (H°):This is the degree number you’ll see above — for example, 240° or 15°. It tells you where the colour sits around the 360‑degree colour wheel.
Think of the wheel like a clock:- 0° = red.
- 60° = yellow.
- 120° = green.
- 180° = cyan.
- 240° = blue.
- 300° = magenta.
- Hex Code (Hex): The digital version of your colour, written for computer language, so it's always handy to know — you can use it to match colours in Canva.
- It’s made up of a hash tag, followed by six characters (numbers and letters). For example: #A3D5FF or #F28C8C.
- S (Saturation): This number shows how intense or muted the colour is.
- Higher S = bright, bold, saturated.
- Lower S = softer, more muted, pastel‑like.
- L (Lightness): This number shows how light or dark the colour is.
- Higher L = lighter, closer to white.
- Lower L = darker, closer to black.
The Colour Combinations are explained here:
- 🧶 Graduating Palette
- Gentle shifts in colour that blend beautifully.
- Great for blankets, shawls, fades, ombrés, and also gradient stripes.
- Gentle shifts in colour that blend beautifully.
- 🧶 Complementary Palette
- High‑contrast pairs with strong visual impact.
- Ideal for colourwork, tapestry crochet, intarsia, and bold stripes.
- High‑contrast pairs with strong visual impact.
- 🧶 Triad Palette
- Three lively colours that balance each other.
- Perfect for playful blankets, granny squares, geometric patterns, and also multi‑colour accessories.
- Three lively colours that balance each other.
- 🧶 Analogous Palette
- Soft, harmonious colours that sit close together and therefore easy on the eye.
- Lovely for soothing shawls, baby knits, ripple blankets, and also gentle striping.
- Soft, harmonious colours that sit close together and therefore easy on the eye.
- 🧶 Split Complementary Palette
- A balanced mix of contrast and harmony. Vibrant but controlled.
- Great for colourwork sweaters, mosaic knitting, socks and accessories.
- A balanced mix of contrast and harmony. Vibrant but controlled.
- 🧶 Tetradic (Rectangle) Palette
- Four colours with lots of variety. Rich, dynamic, and full of possibilities.
- Ideal for complex blankets, large crochet projects, patchwork, and multi‑colour garments.
- Four colours with lots of variety. Rich, dynamic, and full of possibilities.
- 🧶 Monochromatic Palette
- Different lightness levels of the same colour. Elegant, simple, and also timeless.
- Perfect for textured stitches, cables, lace, and also subtle striping
- Different lightness levels of the same colour. Elegant, simple, and also timeless.
- 🧶 Tints Palette
- Soft, pastel versions of your colour. Light, gentle, and uplifting.
- Lovely for baby projects, spring palettes, delicate shawls, and airy crochet.
- Soft, pastel versions of your colour. Light, gentle, and uplifting.
- 🧶 Random Palette
- A playful mix of unexpected colours. Fun, surprising, and creative.
- Great for scrap blankets, granny squares, stash‑busting, and experimental projects.
- A playful mix of unexpected colours. Fun, surprising, and creative.
Copyright Notice
The Yarn Stash Colour Picker is a custom HTML‑based colour tool created exclusively for Knit Crochet Create. It is designed for personal use to help you explore fun, fresh colour palettes and discover combinations you may not have thought of. All content, design, and functionality are copyright ©Knit Crochet Create, therefore do not copy, reproduce, or redistribute the tool or its code.
Looking for projects to use with your new colour palettes?
Try my FREE knitting or crochet patterns. Here are a few that would be perfect:
- Easy Ribbed Socks for bold stripes and also cheerful colour pops.
- Easy Knitted Shawl for gentle gradients, fades, or harmonious palettes.
- Helix Cowl for mixing unexpected colour combinations.
- Granny Hexie Cardigan where every round becomes a colour experiment.
- Cross-body Granny Bag for contrast, brights, or coordinated tones.
- Granny Hearts for testing tiny colour palettes before starting bigger projects.
Share your makes
If you love this tool, then I’d love to see your favourite yarn colour combinations, colour cards or swatches. Tag me on Instagram [@knitcrochetcreate] so I can admire your colourful palettes.
About Lynne from Knit Crochet Create
Lynne Rowe is a UK‑based knitting and crochet designer and best‑selling author, recognised for her clear, easy‑to‑follow patterns and her dedication to making knitting and crochet accessible to everyone. She is also the founder of Knit Crochet Create, with a strong focus on stash‑busting projects that promote sustainable, mindful making. Lynne’s work encourages the use of your yarn stash — helping you transform small leftovers into joyful creations.
Let's keep in touch!
I'd love to chat more.
Sign up for my newsletter and receive a weekly dose of crafting inspiration, featuring the latest trends, tips, and projects to fuel your creativity.
