I don't normally use multi-colored yarns but lately I've been thinking of lace socks so I purchased these yarns from Smileys.
I also want to do fair isle socks with one strand solid color and strand multi-colored yarn - one of the old Socka books has some nice patterns. I purchased three skeins of each color because this particular yarn,Calzetteria Cervinia, has lower yardage than most sock yarns.
I was watching a design show on BBCAmerica last night that focused on color. They had some psychologists who said that we all determine our color preferences by the time we are in our teens. They also said that most children under five prefer reds, yellows, and oranges. After five they start to like blues and greens.
They discussed a study where they put participants in either a blue room with blue lights or a red room with red lights. Not only did the subjects in the blue room start having more relaxing brain waves but they also were colder even though the rooms were the same temperature.
Then they showed a bright red on the screen and asked everyone to really stare at it. Then they asked you to close your eyes. You should see then see green, red's contrast color on the color wheel.
The show provided some additional help to those of us looking to add more color to our homes. First of all, if you want to paint a swatch of a color on a wall to test it out, do it on both sides of a corner so you can see the color in shadow as well. Secondly, consider the color of the light that comes in from outside. For instance, if you have yellow walls but big windows looking out on a lot of green lawn, the light coming in from outside will have a green tinge and turn your yellow more greenish.
Sheila from Fiber Raven Soiree has an excellent color sense that I envy greatly (she can design fair isle color schemes with ease!) and she once said in a post on ASOFlives that to remember that even shadows have colors. I never thought about it but she's right.