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Colorways Explained: Understanding Hand-Dyed Yarn Color Terminology

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Editor’s Note: Understanding what to expect from a colorful skein of yarn can be challenging. If you’ve ever bought a gorgeous skein of yarn only to have it look a bit like a clown barf of color in your project, this article is for you. We asked Ladianne Henderson, co-owner and dyer of Hand Dyed Diva, to share hand-dyed yarn terminology and what to expect when knitting or crocheting with these colorways. If you like a color shared in this article, visit www.handdyeddiva.com.  


The world of hand-dyed yarns can seem daunting. All those delicious hues vying for your knitting needles and crochet hooks. But knowing a bit of hand-dyed yarn terminology and understanding how various styles of hand-dyed skeins can be used in projects will give you the confidence you need to use hand-dyed yarns most effectively.

Hand-Dyed Yarn Terminology

There are many words that dyers use to describe their yarns. What’s the difference between tonal and solid? Read on to expand your yarn color vocabulary.

Colorways: It is common for hand dyers to refer to their various color offerings as “colorways.” A colorway is simply the result of using a particular combination of recipes and techniques to apply color to the yarn.

Dyeing Styles: When a dyer talks about a “dyeing style” they are referring to the techniques they use to apply color to yarn and/or the particular color attributes of the resulting product. Dyers are artisans, and like artists who paint, they may have one or more dyeing styles.

Solids: Colorways appearing as a single color with consistent depth and shade throughout the skein are referred to as “solids.”

Pink Petunia tonal yarn by Hand Dyed Diva
Pink Petunia, a tonal colorway by Hand Dyed Diva on the Homegrown Sock base

Tonal: “Tonal” colorways use a single color. Unlike solid colorways, tonal colors show variation in the depth of shade of color. You might head them referred to as “semi-solid” as well.

Pretty Is speckled yarn by Hand Dyed Diva
Pretty Is, a speckled colorway by Hand Dyed Diva on the Homegrown Fingering base

Speckled: “Speckled” colorways are most often created by the process of applying one or more colors of dry dye powder to the yarn during the dyeing process. Speckling can range from extremely light, serving to accent the main color(s) already applied to the yarn, to extraordinarily dense, almost completely concealing any color underneath.

Speed Racer variegated yarn by Hand Dyed Diva
Speed Racer, a variegated colorway by Hand Dyed Diva on the Homegrown Sock base

Variegated: Yarns with a variety of colors appearing seemingly randomly are referred to as “variegated.”

Pooling: Handpainting yarn with dye is one way dyers achieve colorways that exhibit “pooling” when knit or crocheted.

Gradient: Have you ever seen those balls of hand-dyed yarn that go from one color in the center to another and yet another as you move toward the outside of the yarn ball? Those are “gradients.”

Ombre: Cousin to gradients, “ombre” colorways are those in which a single color goes from the lightest shade to darkest, or darkest to lightest, along the entire length of the skein. Like gradients, ombre colorways are often found on skeins offered in ball form.

Self-striping: “Self-striping” yarns are just that—yarns that, when knit, create stripes of different colors.

Pairing Hand-Dyed Yarns and Projects

You may have heard someone in your knitting group or at your favorite local yarn shop talking about using hand-dyed yarn that “didn’t look good” when the project was finished. Scenarios like this can be avoided through thoughtful selection and combination of colorways.

Find the Right Project

First, consider texture. Is the fabric you’re going to knit or crochet fairly plain, or does it have lots of texture created through stitch patterns like cables, lace, or other elements? More heavily variegated or speckled yarn can tend to obscure stitch patterns. Save that wild, colorful skein you bought at that fiber event for a project with a lot of stockinette.

Related: Planning for Handpainted & Kettle-Dyed Yarns

Second, consider the width and/or circumference of the thing you’re making. Self-striping sock yarn may be just beautiful for that simple pair of socks but using it for a sweater might result in oddly stacked lines of color in your fabric. But if you use that same self-striping sock yarn for a scarf knit flat, where the scarf width is equal to the circumference of the socks you were knitting, you might find it works beautifully!

Infinite Swatch Scarf using Hand Dyed Diva yarns
Infinite Swatch Scarf, featuring yarns from Hand Dyed Diva

Combining Multiple Skeins

Third, less might be more. Are you using just one colorway, or are you using more than one in your project? Consider how the interplay of colorways either enhance or detract from the beauty that drew you to the skeins to begin with. Perhaps that wild speckle would benefit from hanging out next to a luscious tonal in your project. Maybe that loud variegated yarn you’ve kept in your stash would benefit from pairing up with a contrasting solid in a slip-stitch pattern.

Related: 12 Knitting Patterns for Speckled Yarn

It’s also important to consider how various hand-dyed yarns might play with one another. Want an easy, fun way to find out? Make a swatch scarf. A swatch scarf doesn’t require a pattern. You simply cast on enough stitches for the width of a scarf—about 8-10”—and knit or crochet in the yarn you want to use in a project. Continuing adding to it with each new project. When planning a colorful project with multiple hand-dyed skeins, stitch blocks of each color you’re thinking about using in a project.


I believe every dyeing style and colorway has its particular brand of magic—and shines when used appropriately. Now that you know how to identify the gorgeous colorways of hand-dyed yarn you see in yarn shops, at events, and even in your stash, you can start dreaming up all the ways you can pay with hand-dyed yarn in your next project. I hope you feel ready to take on the world of hand-dyed yarns!

Do you love working with hand-dyed yarns? Share your thoughts in the comments below!


Ladianne Henderson is an artist, writer, and avid yarn and fiber whis­perer. She co-owns Hand Dyed Diva, an independent dyer of yarn and fiber, with her wife Sheri. Ladianne has a Master of Fine Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Arts, a Master Hand Knitter certification, and was honored to be inducted as a Tory Burch Fellow in 2022. Find her hand-dyed yarns at www.handdyeddiva.com.

More from Ladianne: 
Appreciation of Craft as Fine Art
Crafting a Community of Intersecting Identities


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