Lion Brand Notebook ®
Vanna’s Choice yarns are great to work with and easy care, but did you know that all the colors were expertly designed to go with each other? Jess and I decided to test the theory, and using Vanna’s Choice and Vanna’s Choice Baby we came up with over ten different color palettes! The options are endless, but these few color combinations are a great jumping off point. You can use them as they are, or pick as many colors as you need from each.
We started with the basics (note: captions list colors in order from left to right, top to bottom):
Then we picked palettes based off of individual colors (Greens, Neutrals, and Pinks):
Silver Blue, Silver Grey, Charcoal Grey, Dark Grey Heather, Navy, Pearl Mist, Wheat, Oatmeal, Grey Marble, Barley, Taupe, Chocolate Cake, Toffee, Chocolate, and Espresso
Dusty Purple, Dusty Rose, Antique Rose, Pink, Rose, Lullaby Pink
Then we picked color themes (Muted, Deep, Brights):
Purple, Dusty Blue, Taupe, Rust, Mustard, Honey, Antique Rose, Dusty Rose, Dusty Purple, Dusty Green
Rust, Olive, Pea Green, Cranberry, Wildberry, Burgundy
Magenta, Sapphire, Fern, Scarlet, Mustard, and Berrylicious
We also picked seasonal colors (Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn):
Charcoal Grey, Dusty Blue, Navy, Purple, Espresso, Olive, Burgundy, and Cranberry
Little Boy Blue, Lamb, Toffee, Ducky, Sweet Pea, Magenta, Dusty Rose, and Fern
Angel White, Mustard, Terracotta, Pea Green, Mint, Pink Poodle, Cheery Cherry, Eggplant, Sapphire, and Aqua
Rust, Mustard, Toffee, Cranberry, Pea Green, Brick, Terracotta
You could also make your own entirely different Vanna’s Choice combos or themes. No matter what colors you pick from the line, they always look perfect together. The Vanna’s Choice Fan Club on Ravelry picks color themes and does swaps, knowing that no matter what they end up with, it’ll match perfectly. What are you favorite Vanna’s Choice color combos?
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Sonja
Oh those colors! Just one of many reasons it’s my favorite yarn!
Sierra Pelona Crochet
I’m now crocheting a scarf using Dusty Blue, Dusty Green, Dusty Purple, Purple, Burgundy, Dusty Rose, Mustard and Pea Green. It’s going to be spectacular! 🙂
Iris
I was trying to decide what colors to use to make a crocheted ripple afghan, and now I have several great starting ideas.
I will show this to my daughter and daughter-in-law to ask them what they like best.
Thank you for this post.
Martha S.
I found a great scarf pattern made of of tiny two-row squares in all different colors. These color combos give me a great start for ideas!!
miki Thompson
WOW- I never see the colors together like this and just love them. I never realized how amazing the colors are. Together it is a totally new look.
Judith
I love all these color combinations. I wish there was some way you could save them on your website for those of us who are color-challenged!
Judith
Zontee says: Hi Judith, all posts on our blog stay up indefinitely. You can simply bookmark this page, if you want to refer to it in the future.
Carolee
Please tell me why nobody has a peach color? wana make a shawl with rose and peach, not even in baby yarns is there a peach?
Zontee says: Hi Carolee, I’m not sure exactly what kind of a peach color you’re looking for, but our Baby’s First in Twinkle Toes is a peachy color. Vanna’s Choice Baby in Goldfish is a peachy orange color, and Coral and Mango in Microspun are also peachy. However, since colors are so subjective, the best way to see them and consider them for yourself is always to order a color card for actual samples. To browse our color cards, click here.
Barb
Thank you for not calling them colorways. I look at colors all the time and am not sure why some people call them colorways and some say colors. Is there a difference?
Zontee says: Hi Barb, we often refer to a yarns that are multiple colors as a “colorway” or a garment in multiple color yarns as being made in a particular “colorway”, meaning that it is a specific grouping of colors.
Barb
Zontee,
That’s how I always understood it. I always think of Noro and various sock yarns as colorways, but lately I’ve been seeing what look to me like solid colors such as “my linen colorway” “my black colorway”. I sorta thought they should be saying colors and appreciated you making the distinction here with the Vanna’s Choice yarns. Thanks for the feedback.
cami
This is pure fabulousness.
Grace
I agree with the interpretation of “colorway” as a grouping of colors, like a theme. One color is just a “color”.
Nice blog post Lindsey! Now, if we can just see some more colors/colorways in Cotton-ease. **hint** 🙂
Carolee
Zontee, thanks for your ideas. the Babys first was the closest to the peach I am looking for, but the yarns to heavy for my shawl. The problem is I am trying to match some thing. The coral and blush in Microspun would work tho, I need to open my mind. I never would have thought to put some of those colors together but they are awsome! open mind wider!!
Cindi Gibson
You call ‘Vanna’s Choice’ yarn? It’s horrible! I made the grievous error of picking up a couple of skeins to work on a scarf based on the raves about it on this blog. However, the yarn is not twisted terribly well, it splits constantly, and is not what I’d call a good, or even decent, yarn.
Zontee says: Hi Cindi, we’re sorry you’re not happy with our product. Please keep in mind that you can always contact our Customer Service department with complaints, and we will do our best to help remedy the situation. Please e-mail them at support@lionbrand.com
Meg P. aka ColorJunkie
Thanks for satisfying my yearning to see colors, colors and more colors. I wish I lived in NYC so I could come in to the Lion Brand Yarn Studio and see ALL the colors — it must be dazzling.
I had pulled together something like your pink color grouping to show a friend color choices for the Lion Brand Best Bunny; she choose BubbleGum Pink with a dark purple Wool-Ease for the contrasting color. You should mention that Wool-Ease colors mix and match, too — and it offers and even larger color palette with a VIRTUALLY interchangeable yarn (I know it’s slightly different).
Thanks, Zontee, for mentioning a photo I sent you of my last Best Bunny on the podcast — it made me temporarily famous among my friends!
Zontee says: Hi Meg P., thanks for the suggestion, we’ll keep it in mind!
pat
I find the yarn ok to work with BUT! I made a shawl out of the green heather color about a year ago and it was not soft. It took several washings and lots of fabric softener to get it soft and non scratchy. I’ve used other Vanna’ Choice colors (solids)and not had a problem.
Zontee says: Hi Pat, in the future, if you find that a specific ball of yarn doesn’t seem to be of the same quality as other balls you’ve used. Please don’t keep working on it. Instead, contact Customer Service at support@lionbrand.com so that we can send you a replacement ball and get all of the information on the ball with problems, as we work hard to monitor quality and want to track any issues that appear in the production of our yarns.
meegan
Big Thanks, I love the combos. One suggestion, how about a combo of the month. Then we can post the items we made with those colors? I have these combos saved for future use.
Zontee says: Hi Meegan, thanks for the suggestion. We’ll keep it in mind for the future.
Beeknitter
I love purple and was considering usng this colour to knit an Alphabet Train blanket but I was not sure of what other colours to use to compliment this colour. Now I know and I will be using the colours in the first picture omitting the pink as I do not like pink.
Thank you.
Christi Orr-Karolevitz
Absolutely love these colors, but why must they be 100% acrylic? A cotton blend would rock!!!!
Zontee says: Hi Christi, Vanna’s Choice is a very popular yarn, which is why we are able to offer such a large selection of colors. However, if your preference is for blends, we have great cotton blends like Cotton-Ease, Recycled Cotton, and Baby’s First as well as wool-blends like Wool-Ease, Landscapes, Mystery, Wool-Ease Chunky, and Wool-Ease Thick & Quick. All of these have their own color palettes that you may like, and as Meg P. said above, Wool-Ease has a very large variety of colors.
Robin Smith
I LOVE Vanna’s Choice yarn. I use it about 90% of the time for my crochet projects. Couldn’t ask for a nicer, softer yarn.
Amanda
I would love to exclusively use Vanna’s Choice yarn for my clients. Do you have an electronic color pallette that can be used on a website for clients to choose the colors they would like? Thanks so much!
Zontee says: Hi Amanda, if you/they are on the Vanna’s Choice yarn page, just click on any of the color swatches to open them in their own separate windows. Once you’ve opened the ones you’re interested in, you can drag them around your desktop to see how they look next to each other.
KeriAnne
I love the chocolate, burgundy and lamb combo for making boys hats. The colors look amazing and masculine at the same time!
Tasha
I love Vannas yarn and it is by far my favorite for baby sweaters, I just finished a sweater in sapphire/linen/taupe and am making another in espresso/antique rose. The color combos are amazing 🙂
Jenni
I mostly use the Vanna’s choice for making bags. I stocked up on it during a sale, now I’m kind of stuck with it.I didn’t find any of the colors, even the baby’s choice, particularly soft once knitted and crocheted. I wouldn’t want it next to my skin all day, and I wouldn’t torture a small child like that!! LOL. I did find it untwists really easily while working, too!!
Zontee say: Hi Jenni, keep in mind that the texture of knitted/crocheted fabric is greatly altered by how tightly it’s worked. For a bag, you may want to use a smaller hook/needle size to make the fabric denser (and therefore harder), but for garments, if you’re finding that the fabric isn’t soft enough, it may be that you need to use a larger hook/needle size so that the fabric can move and have a nicer, looser drape.
Also, if you’re finding that your yarn is untwisting when you’re working with it, the best thing to do is to work from the other end of the ball. When we knit or crochet, we all twist the yarn as we wrap the yarn around the hook/needle — what’s happening is that you’re twisting against the twist of the yarn instead of with the twist of the yarn. Hope that helps!
Angela Moore
I am in the process of crocheting an afghan with dusty blue and chocolate. I made one with dusty blue, silver blue and linen. I just finished one in pink and pearl mist. I use it for afghans I donate to Project Linus.
Rebecca Wall
I love Vanna’s Choice for lots of reasons! It’s very affordable, feels wonderful to knit and wear, and you can machine wash and dry it. But most of all, I LOVE the colors. Gorgeous!!
Kelsey
Vanna’s Choice colors really are the best. I love that section of the store…so many possibilities! Thanks for the combo ideas!
Judanne
Hi,
I’m in Australia and knitting patterns here list yarns / wools as being of a certain ply. I would think this looks like a 4-ply. Would that be correct?
Also, is there a spot on your website that has a conversion page e.g. Vanna’s Choice = 4-ply, etc?
Thanks,
Judanne
Tasmania (where we’ve just entered winter and it’s time to knit!)
Jess Says: Hi, Judanne. If you check out our Substituting Yarn page, you’ll see the Australian equivalent to each yarn. Vanna’s Choice is a 10-ply/Aran weight yarn.
Lise
I am planning to make an afghan for each season and I liked you season combo. But when looking at Vanna choice color chart, some color are not there! Did you choose other yarn to complete the combo?
thanks
Lise
Lindsey says: We used both Vanna’s Choice and Vanna’s Choice Baby yarns. As always, the highlighted text (like the links on the top of the post or in this comment) will take you to those yarn pages.
paua
I am a RAINBOW fanatic. My favorite color combo is:
Scarlet
Terracotta
Duckie
Kelly Green
Sapphire
Eggplant
and
Wildberry
paua
By the way . .I forgot to add that I belong to the Vanna’s Choice Fan Club on Ravelry and, as the kids have been known to say, “IT ROCKS!”
No matter what yarns we put togeter they ALWAYS, and mean ALWAYS look good together.
But, there are just so many yarns and so little time . . I wish I could do all of the projects the geroup does.
Oksana
the colors combinations very helpful. i’m definitely bookmark them for future ideas.
Cathey U
I am a newbie crocheter but just finished my second afghan. It was a 2 color combo with Vanna’s Choice Dusty Blue and another (well known) brand of worsted weight yarn. I didn’t enjoy working with the other brand, it was scratchy and just hard to work with. But the Vanna’s Choice was like working with satin comparing the two.
Plus the colors are beautiful. It is so easy to pick colors that will work together, they all do!
Will the Jiffy colors work the same way?
Zontee says: Hi Cathey, Jiffy’s a really soft fuzzy yarn, so when working it, it will have a a soft mohair appearance as opposed to the smooth look of Vanna’s Choice. As for the colors, the Jiffy line has been around much longer, so instead of one mix-and-match palette, it consists of classic colors from throughout the years. Hope that answers your question!
Lisa
I love the variety of colors, but would love to see this many options in cotton or a cotton blend. I’m not too fond of acrylic.
lsbalcerzak
I love Vanna’s Choice yarn. I have trouble matching colors, and this takes all the guess work out. I always get compliments on projects made with Vanna’s Choice.
Claire
Hi there – just wanted to let you know about a little typo in this article. Under the green colour palette, it appears to say “Sweat Pea” instead of “Sweet Pea”! Maybe not quite the image you were trying to invoke… 🙂
I LOVE Vanna’s Choice – great for all kinds of projects. Thanks for the article; I love to see how the colours can work together. Keep up the fantastic work!
Anonymous
Thanks for letting us know, Claire.
phillygirl64
VC Baby needs purple … I’d rather not use regular VC because there is a difference in the feel of the two yarns
Anonymous
Hi phillygirl64, Vanna’s Choice and Vanna’s Choice are the exact same fiber and made in the same facilities and on the same equipment, so there shouldn’t be a difference in the feel. Sometimes particular colors (such as prints) will feel different in the ball because of the different dyeing process they go through, but they should feel the same once washed.
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Ramosn43
Love, love, love this yarn!!!
Ctboma
My favorites – all the. Blues!!!
Pat
I have aqua, lime & fern colors and need 2 more colors to make an afghan. Any suggestions?
Zontee
Hi Pat, you can always go with neutrals (like Linen, Beige, or even Brown) to fill in when you already have bright colors, and/or you can add some subtler blues to the mix, since you already have the Aqua. If you want to see all the colors in person before making a decision, don’t forget you can order a Vanna’s Choice color card with strands of each color (no shipping charges on color cards). Hope that helps!
Pat
I have aqua, fern and lime and need suggestions for 2 more compatible colors to complete an afghan.
Beachbum
Doesn’t mix or match with a crafter on a budget.
Mjean
I’ve been combining colors for decades, but why wld you give us an article about mixing colors and not show any swatches of hs specific colors look? You missed a good marketing opportunity!
Zontee
Hi there Mjean, there are 11 photos of different Vanna’s Choice colors put together in the above blog post. If you’re having trouble seeing them, please make sure to check your web settings to make sure that you’re not blocking the photo content from our site. If you’re looking for something else, please let us know, and we’d be happy to point you in the right direction.
Anna
Does anyone know what the darker green in the second picture. On the far right corner (bottom of the triangle is) Been looking for it for a month now. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Selina Gutierrez
Hi, I am halfway through making a college themed blanket – orange, brown, and white. I am now a bit concerned that the orange and brown will bleed and stain the white. I have never used pure white, nor have I used this brand before. Do the colors bleed??