9 Color Combos for Guys

The search for non-fussy designs and interesting color combos for guys can be frustrating.

Because we all share a passion for fiber, it's easy to forget many highly skilled knitters and crocheters don't trust their color choices or claim they have no color sense. Others make the mistake of using trendy shades for men who are super traditional or vice versa.

There's no one-combo-fits-all solution, but through the years, I've found a handful of colors consistently appeal to most guys young and old. Whether you're gearing up for fall or knitting for upcoming birthdays and holidays, the following options aren't groundbreaking, but they'll work for virtually any item you might choose to make ranging from afghans and gloves to hats, scarves, socks, sweaters and vests.

Earth Tones
Browns, rust, orange (often with olive green)

Warm Neutrals
Brown, tan, sand

Cool Neutrals
Charcoal, grey, gravel

Blues
Navy, cobalt, true blue

Greens
Olive, sage, moss

Black
With red or gold (and/or blue, white, cream)

Patriotic
In the US: red, white and blue (substitute your national colors)

If the guys you're knitting for are young (toddler to preteen), super-hero colors hold timeless appeal. Classic combos include:

Superman
Red, yellow, blue

Spiderman
Red, blue, white

If you're still struggling, try using crossover colors to enhance your main selection: Add a dash of yellow or gold to liven up red, white and blue. Mix muted greens with earth tones, rusty red with warm neutrals or burgundy red with cool grays. Or combine two palettes (earth tones and warm neutrals or cool neutrals and blues for example) to use in projects that require many colors.

If you're truly stumped, adopt this almost foolproof fallback strategy: team colors. Whatever sport and team your fella chooses to follow, set aside your own preferences and let his favorite team's colors be your guide.

The options above won't solve every guy-based knitting dilemma, but they'll serve as a starting point. If you're tackling a non-stealth project, sit down with the guy in question and scroll together through this post to narrow the list.

Eager to cast on but still undecided? Try my personal tried-and-true guy-knitting rule: When in doubt, make it blue.

For non-fussy, guy-worthy afghans, check out Color Check, Drumlin and Flashpoint.

For more tips, tricks and tools, click here.