CHAPTER 1
GETTING STARTED WITH GRADIENTS
by Emma Welford
THE DESIGNERS WHO created the gorgeous garments and accessories showcased in this collection have taken a wide variety of gradient, variegated, solid, and semisolid yarns and combined them in myriad ways to create innovative knitted designs. They have done the work for you in figuring out how to feature gradient color schemes in the most effective (and fun to knit!) ways. But not everyone has the same taste in yarn and colors. You might love a project knit in colors on the warm end of the spectrum, but you prefer to wear cool colors.
How can you substitute yarns or colors in a pattern or create your own gradient designs? This section takes the mystery out of creating gradient color schemes. It first delves into the color wheel and ways to use it to create harmonious color schemes, including taking advantage of values, tints, and undertones.
You'll then learn a variety of techniques for knitting gradient patterns, including even striping, uneven striping, and double stranding. Finally, the exciting possibilities and challenges of combining gradient color schemes with stranded colorwork are explored. Let's get started!
Making Your Own Gradient Palette
COMMERCIALLY DYED yarns that knit up into colorful gradients are undeniably attractive and a wonderful option for creating a fade effect. But it can be even more satisfying to create your own by blending colors and yarns of your choosing.
If you've never played with color, the idea of creating your own gradient may feel daunting. But gradients are, in fact, a great starting point for experimenting with color — especially colors you are attracted to but don't necessarily wear very often. You can choose one such color as a focal point of your gradient or use it as an accent, working it into your palette with speckles and flashes of color.
HELPFUL TOOLS & APPROACHES
A color wheel is a great tool to have on hand as you get comfortable experimenting with color. It shows you how colors fall along the spectrum and their technical categories to help identify how colors will work together. There are also many websites and apps that will automatically create color palettes based on various selections you make.
Nothing compares to physically playing with yarn to develop your gradient, and I suggest making a trip to your local yarn store whenever possible to do just that. When using hand-dyed yarns in particular, it's helpful to observe the nuances from skein to skein in person, rather than through a computer screen. Unless the dyer's website showcases a full knitted swatch of the skein, you might be surprised at some of the colors that pop up when working with hand-dyed yarns.
CHOOSING COLORS
Your ultimate goal when choosing a color palette for a gradient is different from choosing a palette for a standard striped or stranded colorwork project. While most types of colorwork knitting rely on contrast to make the motifs pop, a gradient or faded look requires seamless color blending. There are several techniques for manipulating the transition between colors (see Gradient Techniques), but you'll have better success choosing a color palette with a general gradient in mind, rather than trying to shoehorn random colors into a gradient.
First, let's cover some basic color theory. Refer to the color wheel as you read through these definitions. We'll refer to these terms throughout this chapter.
• Primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. All other colors are created by combining two or more of these colors.
• Secondary colors (orange, green, and purple) are created by combining two primary colors.
• Tertiary colors are created by mixing a primary and secondary color, such as combining yellow and green to create a yellow-green.
• Tints are created by adding white to a base color.
• Shades are created by adding black to a base color.
• Tones are created by adding gray to a base color.
• Complementary colors are colors opposite each other on the color wheel, such as green and red.
• Analogous colors are colors next to each other on the color wheel, such as green and yellow.
• Triadic colors are colors spaced equally apart on the color wheel, such as green, orange, and purple.
• Value refers to a color's lightness or darkness.
To begin, pick one or two colors to "ground" your gradient — i.e., the color or colors you want at either end of your gradient. If you want to base your gradient around a single color, you only need to pick the color you want at one end of your gradient.
MONOCHROMATIC GRADIENTS
By using tints and shades, you can create a monochromatic gradient (above), which blends from light to dark within one color. This style of gradient is the easiest option to make and wear, since all the colors will have the same undertones and look harmonious together.
A gradient running from light gray to black is a classic monochromatic gradient. You can add both tints and shades to your base color to create a dramatic monochromatic palette that spans from very light to very dark, or you can focus on either tints or shades to create a narrower color range. For example, a monochromatic palette based on a sky blue color with only white tints added would create a very light and airy pastel palette.
ANALOGOUS COLOR GRADIENTS
If you want to base your gradient around two or more colors, you will focus on creating a smooth hue shift rather than a light-to-dark fade of just one color. An easy place to start for this hue-shift style is by choosing two analogous colors, such as red and orange (shown on the opposite page), and blending them with as many intermediary shades as you like to complete the gradient.
Analogous colors create an appealing gradient, and in my opinion look very natural compared to more complicated gradients. The more colors you add between your end colors, the more gradual the gradient will appear. You can use speckles, flashes, and other brief spots of color to aid and soften the color shifts.
TIPTry combining the light-to-dark nature of a monochromatic palette with the hue shift of an analogous palette by choosing colors with different values in your color shift. A yellow-to-green analogous palette can have more depth if the gradient starts with a pale pastel yellow and ends in a deep forest green.
COMPLEMENTARY COLOR GRADIENTS
Complementary colors (those on opposite sides of the color wheel) are a great starting point for dynamic color-shifting gradients. The best way to blend complementary colors is to choose analogous colors that fall between them on the color wheel to smooth the transition between these two very different shades; speckled or variegated colors are very useful here.
For example, when fading from purple to yellow, look for speckles or flashes of yellow and other warm colors in the colors closer to the purple end of the spectrum. This helps tie the full gradient together by adding a small yet consistent thread throughout your palette. Think of it as a sub-gradient within your larger overall palette.
RANDOM COLORS
If you've fallen in love with two colors that are not analogous or complementary, don't worry! You can use the technique of looking for speckles or flashes of similar colors to bridge the transition. For example, take a look at the palette used for the swatches in Gradient Techniques.
This palette goes from light gray to teal in an unexpected and fun way by mixing in speckles of brown, orange, and pink to create a unique gradient that looks cohesive.
With practice and swatching, you'll be better able to tell which gradients will and won't work when you shop for yarn.
Gradient Techniques
Once you've chosen your color palette, you are ready to begin knitting your gradient. There are several methods for blending colors, depending on the project and the look you're trying to achieve.
If you're following a pattern that incorporates a gradient, the designer will usually provide detailed instructions for how to get the look displayed in their project. However, if you're modifying a one-color garment into a gradient, or if you'd like to try a different gradient than suggested, you can experiment with the methods outlined here. Note that if you're modifying an existing pattern, you'll need to calculate how many rows will be in the total piece based on your row gauge and use that to determine when to switch colors in your gradient for a balanced look. (Or, use that information to create a purposely unbalanced look, such as a gradient yoke on a solid-body sweater.)
Many factors contribute to how seamless your gradient will look — your colors chosen, your personal gauge, and the pattern itself. Swatch several gradient methods to see which works best with your color palette; you may find that one method hides color changes well while another makes the color shifts more obvious. Of course, if you prefer the random look of occasional striping or pooling, you can purposely choose a method that delivers these results.
GRADIENT METHOD 1 EVEN STRIPING (WORKED FLAT)
Work even in color A (Great Grey Owl shown here) until ready to change colors.
*Work 2 rows with color B (Conference Call shown here).
Work 2 rows with color A.
Repeat from * once more.
Work even in color B until ready to change colors.
Repeat color change sequence with color C (Video Baby, shown here), and so on throughout your gradient.
You'll see that the gradient is practically invisible between the first three colors. Once D (Cousteau) is introduced into the mix, its first two rows blend with Video Baby but its successive rows are more visible. This is simply due to the unexpected nature of hand-dyed yarn, as the first two rows of Cousteau happen to coincide with a particularly blue-heavy section of Video Baby, which camouflages the stripe. It's still an excellent way to combine semisolid and speckled colors if you are comfortable with the possibility of occasional visible transitions.
Somehow this doesn't work as well with only semisolid colors (see swatch at right). While these three colors are attractive together and could be included in the same gradient with additional transition colors, they create obvious stripes on their own. Great Grey Owl and Undergrowth are simply too far apart from each other, and Undergrowth and Cousteau, though more similar, lack enough common tones to create a blended effect.
GRADIENT METHOD 2 UNEVEN STRIPING (WORKED FLAT)
Work even in color A (Great Grey Owl shown here) until ready to change colors.
Work 2 rows with color B (Conference Call shown here).
Work 4 rows with color A.
Work 4 rows with color B.
Work 2 rows with color A.
Work even in color B until ready to change colors.
Repeat the color change sequence with color C (Video Baby shown here), and so on throughout your gradient.
This method works best with highly variegated or speckled palettes. Notice that Conference Call and Video Baby transition well, even with the four-row stretches of transition, but the two semi solid colors (Great Grey Owl and Cousteau) don't fare as well. With a fully speckled palette, this method is ideal for creating extra-long blends of color for a more gradual gradient.
GRADIENT METHOD 3 DOUBLE STRANDING (WORKED FLAT)
Work even with 2 strands of color A (Undergrowth shown here) until ready to change colors.
Work even with 1 strand of color A and 1 strand of color B (Cousteau shown here) until ready to change colors.
Work even with 2 strands of color B until ready to change colors.
Shown here with only two colors, you can still use this technique to cover a whole palette's worth of fading. Double stranding is ideal for lighter-weight yarns, especially when substituting a lighter-weight yarn than is called for in a pattern. It works well to blend semi-solids, as shown here, and is most successful with monochromatic or analogous palettes.
GRADIENT METHOD 4 TINY STRIPES (WORKED IN THE ROUND)
Work even in color A (Great Grey Owl shown here) until ready to change colors.
*Work 1 row with color B (Conference Call shown here).
Work 1 row with color A.
Repeat from * twice more.
Work even in color B until ready to change colors.
Repeat color change sequence with color C (Video Baby shown here), and so on throughout your gradient.
Working in the round allows for narrow one-round stripes, which can help blend stubborn colors and cover a shorter distance with your gradient, since it takes a small number of rounds overall. However, as in the examples for Methods 1 and 2, Cousteau still stands out and creates visible stripes.
Colorwork & Color Placement
STRANDED COLORWORK projects are a great place to showcase a gradient. You can pair a gradient with a solid color or work with two gradients simultaneously to play with as much color as possible. However, you'll need to keep value in mind for stranded colorwork projects. In other words, if you viewed your colors in gray scale, would they look closer to white or closer to black?
Thanks to the digital age, it's quick and easy to figure out your color's value. Simply take a photo of a color combination you are considering and convert the image to grayscale to view the value of the colors. Is there noticeable contrast between your colors, or do they all appear a similar shade of gray?
Contrasting values (light next to dark) will show off your stranded motif most clearly, while values that are too similar to each other will obscure the motif. If you want the motif to be visible above all else, you can choose a gradient with light- to-medium values and a solid contrasting color with a dark value. If you want to play with the appearance of the colorwork motif fading in and out of the gradient, you could choose a contrasting color with a value that matches the value of one of your gradient colors. I like to pick a contrasting color that coordinates with one of the colors in the gradient, whether an exact match for a muddled gradient or a noticeably darker/lighter version for a clear gradient. You can also add more visual interest by choosing a solid color that is complementary to one or more colors in your gradient.
Single-skein gradients are very convenient and can really shine in stranded colorwork projects. They not only eliminate the need to calculate when to change colors, but also don't produce multiple ends to weave in at each color change. You can simply focus on your stranded or intarsia pattern, which makes your knitting experience less stressful.
Of course, if you want to use two gradients at the same time (as in the Spectrum Hat shown at right), you're adding a whole new level of complication to this process! As in the previous example, decide if you want the motifs to be clear or occasionally obstructed and use that information to guide your palette choices.
• For clear motifs, choose palettes with no color overlap and no value overlap. Gradient 1 could blend from white to gold, while gradient 2 could blend from cobalt blue to black.
• For muddled motifs, choose palettes with at least one color overlap and/or one value overlap. You could even use the same palette, just starting at different ends of the gradient! This will ensure a harmonious look, as all the colors work well together, and will create an opportunity for one or more sections where the motif fades into the background.
While using two gradients at once requires some thoughtful planning, the end result pays off immensely by creating an undulating and mesmerizing effect. Especially if you use two single-skein gradient yarns, you'll have a showpiece that really didn't take much extra effort on your part — but you can still take all the credit.
CHAPTER 2
the PROJECTS
ONE OF THE wonderful things about knitting with gradients is that there is no limit to the patterns and stitch techniques you can use. Combining a gradient pattern can take a common knitting pattern or technique and elevate it to new levels of sophistication and fun! The original designs in this collection highlight many of these possibilities.
You'll find patterns for a wide variety of scarves, shawls, cardigans, hats, cowls worked in lace, cables, intarsia, slip-stitch, stranded knitting, and more. Double stranding with several colors creates a gradient pattern that softens bold color-blocked mittens. Stranded knitting achieves a beautiful subtlety when worked with gradients in a pair of gorgeous rose-patterned socks. A bold gradient that travels from deep blue to bright yellow transforms a simple stockinette pullover into a showstopper. These are just a few of the many exciting patterns created by our team of talented designers.
