Making the Gradient: A Selection of Gradient Knitting Designs

Today at The Knitting Needle and Damage Done we're taking a look at a selection of faded knitwear. When writing my reviews of the knitting design, I have always found that the successful multi-layer effect has always particularly attracted me. The beautifully blended gradient effect is just plain fun. This look is very palette dependent, as any striped or colored design can be used to create a layered effect as long as the strands work well together on that layer. If you still want to experiment with gradient knitting, prepare for the difficulties, because achieving chromatic flow in yarn can be more difficult than you think. It's a perspective that reminds me of an exercise I had to do during a color theory course as part of an art major in the early 1980s. Toronto. We had to draw patterns in equal gradual gradations from white to black, or from a light shade to a dark shade, and any excessively large "jump" between the two shades felt like a sore thumb and was harsh. by educators. But then mix and match yarn at your local yarn store, rather than sweating over the fact that a tiny drop of white or black dye is too much and goes unnoticed in your efforts, so go and enjoy picking one gradient color. There are also knitting design techniques that can help you incorporate your chosen yarn board, which I'll be highlighting in this article, Featured Gradient Patterns.

The design above is by Humphrey Shell of Maylin Tri'Coterie Designs. I like the psychedelic rainbow effect the designer achieved by choosing a variety of uniform light shades and using black to balance.





Jennifer Wiseman's Light Shifting . In this gradient knit, the designer used alternating lines to blend adjacent shades. Monochrome blocks with no smoothing transitions can look a bit rough, even when choosing a good color scheme.





Graduate Retreat , Sophie Simola. Again we find an alternation of colored stripes and the designer limited the gradient effect on the sleeves to make them appear clear.





Denim jacket Jennifer Beaumont. Another technique for switching between the two hues is the "pixel" effect of artificially placed random dots of the second color.





Metamorphic , Lisa K.; Horse. This design uses alternating stitches to "go" from one shade to the next. I've had this sweater for a while and plan to make it for Jedi Bagh's 6th birthday in 2019.





Color Shift , Karina Spencer. In this headdress, the designer has bridged the gap between the two threads by tying the two threads together. This is a great technique for turning two thread colors into a gradient color while creating continuous colors.





All About Green , Natalie W. Thin, repeating stripes of color are used in this design to combine a palette of four shades of green.





Diverder , Josh Rex Rabinsky. In this pattern, the designer used a classic wavy Afghani pattern (traditionally used to combine many different colors) and added alternating stripes to make changing shades easier.





Reflective stripes , Sophie Simola. I wouldn't think of combining these three colors but they look great.





Umbra & Penumbra Sweater by Jennifer Thompson published by Knit Picks in Polished: 2014 Fall Collection . There is a wide range of shades to choose from, but knitting would be an expensive style because it would require many spools of thread and a lot of embellishment.





Polar Prism cardigan by Jennifer Beaumont. In this jacket, the designer has combined colors with a neutral background color.





Colorful slide Nicole Nerij . This pattern uses alternating colored dots to pass. These individual colors are beautiful, but I'll be working on this palette a bit more. The first three colors are warm colors and the bottom two are cool colors, creating a small space in the middle.





Turtleneck Sweater Three Grays Aurora , Bertha Karapetyan. I'm sure my color theory teacher would agree with this gray scale.





Debbie Bliss ombre jacket . This amber effect was created by combining strands of different shades and using strands of mohair silk with a halo to help the blended effect. The resulting effect is soft, calm and charming. (I've reviewed this pattern before since it appeared in the Fall/Winter 2014 issue of Debbie Bliss Knitting Magazine and seemed like I really liked it at the time.)





Gorgeous Petals , Rose Peak. Three gradient stripes moving in dark stripes give this traditional throw a bright and modern look.





Compulsion , Don Briquette. Here we have a modern shawl in terms of color and style. The designer managed to add a lot of interest and movement to the pattern using just three shades of color and the position of the lines.





Koryo Cowell , Kelly McClure. Linen stitch blends colors particularly well, and I love the colors used here.