Often I cannot find the exact color I want in the yarn weight I want. A color will alter by what color is placed next to it; or, the interweave between warp and weft. But I think there is more than using black and white to create shades and tints.
For instance, in the Color Challenge, we are using a paint chip card- a color, a slight shade of that color, a slight tint of that color. Mine are grayed greens; the darkest is labeled Dried Sage.
First, I looked up what colors combine to make sage. I dug down until I found colors from a basic color wheel.
Citron + Slate
(yellow green + yellow orange) + (blue + blue violet)
Adding one of these base colors to the Color Combination for a project would make the sage look more blue or more yellow. Perhaps a dusky blue cross thread would create a shade of the sage.
Adding a gray cross thread for creating a shade is a possibility, since the color is grayed.
For the tint, a muted white, since the sage is a muted hue.
Or. I could get crazy and learn about dying yarn. One more set of experiments would get me crazy.
I welcome comments on this, since all I have are theories at this point.
I was going to beg a ride to town this week. The knitting yarns at the general stores are less costly than the fibers from the quality weaving shops. I want beaucoups colors. Would they be sufficient for testing color theory on a rigid heddle?