Sherwin Williams Knitting Needles is a chameleon gray with the slightest warm undertone. It’s light enough to use for your whole home, but you should pick coordinating colors thoughtfully!
Here we will look at color palettes that keep the complexity in Knitting Needles, so that it’s less “millennial gray” and more “timeless slay.” (I’ll show myself out.)
What Are the Undertones of Sherwin Williams Knitting Needles?
Knitting Needles is one of those colors that is highly influenced by whatever you are using it with. It can look either cool gray or slightly greige with a subtley warm undertone.
Knitting Needles is from a warm beige color family, but as you can see from the chart, it is super duper gray. The warm undertone can lean either the slightest bit beige, or potentially have a hint of purple.
Here it is compared to the cooler gray of SW Reflection, and the much warmer greige of Agreeable Gray:
It’s definitely very gray, but not as cool as it could be.
Sherwin Williams Knitting Needles in a Color Palette
For this color palette I wanted to emphasize the slightly warm undertone of Knitting Needles. I feel like that is a bit fresher and more current than it’s coolest gray look:
We can make Knitting Needles favor its warm undertone by pairing it with cooler colors. If you are more interested in a true gray, you can replace these shade with warmer ones.
Coordinating White Paint Color forĀ Knitting Needles – Ice Cube
I have cheated a little bit, and went with an off-white for this color palette with Sherwin Williams Ice Cube:
Ice Cube will look white as long as it is the only white in your space! The subtle gray of ice cube is on the cooler side, so that will emphasize the warmth in Knitting Needles.
Because it’s an off white, there will be less contrast between your trim (or cabinets) and your walls. This will result in Knitting Needles looking lighter. If that’s not something you want, try Sherwin Williams Extra White instead:
Extra White isn’t as cool as Ice Cube, but it’s still cool compared to most white options.
You may also like SW Snowbound for a softer undertone that shouldn’t make Knitting Needles look purple. (Stay away from yellow/cream!)
Try Knitting Needles with Sherwin Williams Misty
Misty is a watery blue gray that can occasionally have a hint of green.
Blue is actually complementary to the undertone of Knitting Needles, so any blue should put extra emphasis on the warmth.
Pair Knitting Needles with Benjamin Moore Tranquility
If Misty isn’t for you, try the gray green of Benjamin Moore Tranquility. This subtle cool color will help Knitting Needles keep its depth.
Tranquility can also have a blue undertone. If you don’t like that, you might prefer something like Sherwin Williams Acacia Haze or Retreat.
Neutral Paint Color to Use with Knitting Needles – Behr Cracked Pepper
Normally I try to include one true neutral paint color in these palettes – Something that is neither all the way warm or all the way cool.
This time I went with the charcoal of Behr Cracked Pepper. This color is definitely more often cool, but I still wanted to keep Knitting Needles soft, so any beiges or greiges were out! (You might also like Sherwin Williams Iron Ore.)
Sherwin Williams Recommends These Coordinating Colors
Moving on to the colors that the experts over at Sherwin Williams suggest, here is a very different color palette:
I certainly can’t imagine using all of these together, but let’s take a closer look!
Extra White we already talked about, and I agree that it’s a good choice to use with Knitting Needles.
Pairing Knitting Needles and Sherwin Williams Shell White
I’ll let you take a look at this SW suggestion before I chime in:
Shell White is a question mark for me. My worry would be that the warm undertone could make Knitting Needles pull a little purple.
I would not personally use Knitting Needles with anything especially creamy or yellow for that reason. (Yellow and purple are complementary.) Shell White isn’t technically yellow, but it can look very creamy.
Use Knitting Needles with SW Attitude Gray
Sherwin Williams Attitude Gray with Knitting Needles is a suggestion that I can totally get behind!
This mid-toned gray is actually pretty green, and should help Knitting Needles stay flexible (and not warm or cool 100% of the time).
What is the Difference Between Knitting Needles and Repose Gray?
Sherwin Williams Repose Gray could easily be mistaken for Knitting Needles if they weren’t in the same room together. Repose Gray is a mostly-gray greige that can have a taupey mushroom undertone.
As you can see, Repose Gray is a good bit warmer than Knitting Needles. It’s also a little bit lighter.
Repose Gray happens to be one of my picks for The Best Mushroom Paint Colors for Kitchen Cabinets.
What is the Difference Between Knitting Needles and Light French Gray?
Sometimes I wonder why we have sooo many options. Here is Sherwin Williams Light French Gray next to Knitting Needles:
As far as I can tell from the color codes, the actual color of these two is nearly identical. Light French Gray is the hintiest of hints darker than Knitting Needles.
Based on this, you probably can guess the difference between Repose Gray and Light French Gray, but I do have a post for that!
Thanks so much for reading until the end! That really helps my blog. I hope this post helped you decide on a color scheme, but if not, try these other grays and greiges: