Have you worked with one of our Gradiance sets before? If not, please read the information below!
How to Transition between Gradiance Skeins
When working with Gradiance sets the first step is to determine where to make your transition. If you are using a pattern written for Gradiance sets this will have been done for you and noted in the pattern. For patterns not written for Gradiance sets please check out our information on using Gradiance Sets for Shawls or Socks.
Once you’ve determined when to begin your transitions, the next question is how to actually work the transition. If you were to simply stop working with Skein #1 and begin with Skein #2 you would end up with an unattractive line. So instead, we are going to alternate the two skeins to gradually blend them together. We usually recommend doing 1 or 2 rounds of the new color, followed by 3 or 4 of the old color, then 3 or 4 of the new and finally 1 or 2 of the old. We find it’s helpful to take a sheet of paper and make check boxes for each row…
_ _ 2 rows New
_ _ _ _4 rows Old
_ _ _ _ 4 rows New
_ _ 2 rows Old
…so that we can check them off as we go along. Otherwise it’s too hard to keep track of both the stitch pattern and the color changes!
Once the color transition is complete you’ll continue in the new color only (in this case, Color #2). In between color changes, knit all rows with one color. If you run out of one of the yarns while changing colors it’s ok, as long as you’ve had a chance to complete some of the alternating rows.
We recommend switching skeins within the body of your knitting rather than right on the edge. This way, the yarn that is carried up a few rows gets hidden within your knitting rather than standing out on the edge of where it creates an unattractive lump.
If you are the type of knitter who likes to plan ahead, make intelligent decisions and not have to tink back you are probably already thinking that this would be a good place to put in a lifeline. And you would be correct. Just in case you aren’t happy with how your transition turns out.
Just a note about all the numbers and rules– it’s not terribly important that you do exactly 2-4-4-2 rows for the transition or that you start at this exact point. I always lose count and forget to check my boxes and end up with something more like 2-5-3-2-1-2-1-1 or something and it turns out fine. The point is just to get the two yarns nice and mixed together.
Gradiance Shawls
Almost all shawls patterns can be adapted for the Gradiance color technique created by The Unique Sheep! Our standard shawl sets are 300g of fingering or sport weight yarn, but of course we can fill custom orders for different amounts on any of our yarn bases. Rectangular shawls are the easiest to do the math for, so that’s what I’ll use for my first example.
The color transitions are not an exact science. Basically you want to go from Skein #1 to Skein #2 (or #6 to #5 if you are going in reverse) without leaving an ugly line. There are two components to talk about:
First: when to start the transition. If your goal is to make your shawl as large as possible then you can knit with each skein until it’s almost all used up. You just need to leave enough yarn to do about 6 rows in the transition section.
Rectangular Shawls
Usually, you have a size in mind when you start your project. For our example, let’s say that you are knitting a rectangular shawl and want it to be 60″ long when finished.
Step 1: Determine your row gauge, i.e. how many rows per inch. You don’t need to do a swatch for this, you can simply start your shawl and, after you have knit a few rows stop and check your gauge. Each transition area will require 12 rows (explained below). Calculate how long each 12 row section will be. For this example, let’s go with 1”. In the diagram below this measurement is represented by T.
Step 2: There are 5 transition sections so multiply your T measurement by 5. (Tx5)
Step 3: Subtract (Tx5) from your total length. In this case 60 – (1 x 5) = 55”.
Step 4: Divide this measurement by 6” to determine your “C” measurement.
Step 5: As shown in the diagram below, these two measurements, C & T, represent the different sections of your shawl. As you knit, use the diagram and measurements to evenly space your transitions. In other words, begin you first transition after knitting C” from cast on. Begin second transition after knitting C+T+C “ from cast on.
This math will give you ASYMMETRICAL color changes. For SYMMETRICAL color changes you will divide your rectangle into double as many “sections”.
Once you’ve determined when to begin your transitions, the next question is how to work the transition.
Circular Shawls
Circular shawls are a bit trickier to figure out than rectangular shawls. For this example I’m going to assume that you are starting in the middle and knitting outwards in concentric rings, which is the normal way to knit a circular shawl.To begin with you will need to know the finished dimensions of your shawl. Usually your pattern will indicate the diameter of the circle, i.e. how far it is from one edge across to the other. Its also possible that it will give the radius, from the center to the edge, instead. If your pattern does not give either of these measurements you will have to calculate the radius by multiplying the row gauge by the number of rounds in the pattern. For example, if your gauge is 6 rows per inch and your pattern requires 126 rounds, your radius will measure 126 rnds / 6 rnds per inch or 21″.We are most concerned with the radius measurement, i.e. from the cast on at the center to the edge, since this is how you will measure your knitting. If you have been given the diameter as a measurement in the pattern, simply divide by two to find the radius.
A standard Gradiance shawl set includes 6 equal sized skeins. This means that you will want to be able to use the same amount of each yarn, which translates to area of the circle. You cannot simply knit for the same number of inches for each color, as with the rectangle, because a 6 inch band near the center of the circle will have a smaller area and therefore use less yarn than a 6 inch band near the outer edge.
With your radius measurement you can calculate the total area of the shawl by using the formula
πr^2
in other words, multiply π (3.14) by the radius squared (r x r)
For our example of a shawl with a radius of 21″, the area = 3.14 x 21″ x 21″ = 1385 square inchesNow that we know the total area of the shawl, we can divide it by 6 to determine how much area each individual skein should fill. In our example, 1385 sq inches / 6 = 230.8 sq inches per color
Now we need to determine “r” for each of our 6 colors. This will let us know how many inches to knit, always measuring from the cast on at the center, before changing to the next color. For this we will use the following formula
r = square root of [ (area * n) / π ]
area = the area each individual skein fills
n = the color number, i.e. 1-6*
So to continue with our example
Color #1: r = sqrt of [(230.8 * 1)/3.14] = 8.58″
Color #2: r = sqrt [(230.8 *2)/3.14] = 12.12″
Color #3: r = sqrt [(230.8 * 3)/ 3.14]= 14.84″
Color #4: r = sqrt [(230.8 * 4)/ 3.14] = 17.15″
Color #5: r = sqrt [(230.8 * 5)/ 3.14] = 19.17″
Color #6: r = sqrt [(230.8 * 6)/ 3.14] = 21″
If you have done your math correctly, the “r” measurement for #6 should be the total radius of your shawl which we started out by calculating. It may be slightly different due to the rounding of numbers, but as long as its close you will be fine.
We are almost done with the math, just one more step. As you’ll recall from the rectangular shawl exercise above (you did read the whole thing, right?) we have to take into account the transition sections. For circular shawls the outer rows become so long that it becomes difficult to do an entire 2-4-4-2 transition, but we can start with the full transition for the first few and then do our best as the rows get longer and more unwieldy. We know that the transition will require 12 rows and using our row gauge we can determine what length of knitting this is equivalent to. In our example, 6 rows = 1″ so 12 rows = 2″. Since each transition occurs in between two colors, we’ll let those two colors share the responsibility for it. So divide your transition area by 2; lets call this number “t”. This is the length you need to reserve for each transition before you begin. If this is confusing, keep reading and hopefully it will begin to make sense.
Now you are ready to begin knitting. Cast on with Color #1 and work in pattern until you have almost reached the measurement of your first “r”. Remember to always measure from your cast on which will now be the center of your circle. You want to stop knitting when you are “t” inches away from your “r” measurement. Now begin your first transition. You should find that halfway through the transition you have reached the first “r” measurement. Once the transition is complete, continue to knit with Color #2 until you are “t” inches away from the next “r” measurement. Again, remember to measure from the cast on, not from your last transition. Continue in this manner until you are finished! You may find that there isn’t room to do a 12 row transition for the last couple of colors since each row is so long and requires so much yarn. It might be time to start the next transition before the last one is completed! If this is the case its fine to do an abbreviated transition, perhaps 1,2,2,1 or even just 1,1,1,1. You can still calculate “t” in the same way as you did above but using the new number of transition rows instead of 12.
I know this sounds like a lot of math but if highschoolers in introduction to geometry classes can handle it, I’m confident you can too! And remember, your transitions don’t have to be exact. Knitting is quit forgiving and mistakes are rarely unfixable. So get out your calculators and notebook paper and give it a try!
*you can start on either end of your color gradiance, i.e. #1 or #6, but in for the math we will always call the color you start with Color #1
Triangular Shawls
Triangular shawls are even trickier than circular shawls because you are dealing with two different measurements- width and height- and these will vary from one shawl to another.The “width” is measured along the long edge of the shawl perpendicular to the center spine and the height is the length of the spine. We are going to use as an example a shawl that measures 38″ high by 82″ wide.
First, determine the overall area of your shawl by multiplying (width x height x 1/2 )
Example: 38 x 82 x 1/2 = 1558sq inches
Now divide the total area by the number of skeins you are using to determine how much area each skein needs to cover. We will refer to this number as A
In our example we are using a 4 skein lace weight set. Example: 1558sq in/4 skeins = 389.5 sq in per skein
Now lets go back to our width and height. When we are calculating the area of each band we can only have one variable, i.e. we cannot calculate the height and the width separately. To do this we have to find the relationship between height and width so that we only have one variable. It is easiest to measure height in a shawl so we need to determine what width equals in terms of height. If Width = Y x Height, then Y = Width/ Height. Using the shawl’s finished measurements work the following:
Y = width/height
Example: Y = 82/38 = 2.16; or Width = 2.16 x Height
Now that you know the ratio between width and height for your shawl, you can calculate area using the following formula:
A = 1/2 x Height x (Y x Height)
You can shorten this by dividing your Y by 2 and rewriting it as A = Y/2 x H^2
Go ahead and check your math by calculating the total area of the shawl again using this new formula. You should come up with about the same number you did back at the beginning
Example: total area = 38^2 x 1.08 = 1559
Since we will be using this formula to determine height, we need to move things around a bit.
H = sq root of [A/(Y/2)]
Example: H = sq root of [A/1.08]
Now using this formula and A (found above) calculate the height that the shawl should be at the end of each skein. The last measurement should be the finished height of your shawl.
Skein 1: H = sq root of [1A/1.08]
Skein 2: H = sq root of [2A/1.08]
Skein 3: H = sq root of [3A/1.08]
Skein 4: H = sq root of [4A/1.08]
and so forth until you’ve used up all your skeins
Example:
Skein 1: H=sq root of [389.5/1.08] = 19″
Skein 2: H = sq root of [779/1.08] = 27″
Skein 3: H = sq root of [1168.5/1.08] = 33″
Skein 4: H = sq root of [1558/1.08] = 38″
We are almost done with the math, just one more step. As you’ll recall from the exercises above we have to take into account the transition sections. For triangular shawls the rows become so long that it becomes difficult to do an entire 2-4-4-2 transition, but we can start with the full transition for the first few and then do our best as the rows get longer and more unwieldy. We know that the transition will require 12 rows and using our row gauge we can determine what length of knitting this is equivalent to. In our example, 6 rows = 1″ so 12 rows = 2″. Since each transition occurs in between two colors, we’ll let those two colors share the responsability for it. So divide your transition area by 2; lets call this number “t”. This is the length you need to reserve for each transition before you begin. If this is confusing, keep reading and hopefully it will begin to make sense.
Now you are ready to begin knitting. Cast on with Color #1 and work in pattern until you have almost reached the measurement of your first “h”. Remember to always measure from your cast on. You want to stop knitting when you are “t” inches away from your “h” measurement. Now begin your first transition. You should find that halfway through the transition you have reached the first “h” measurement. Once the transition is complete, continue to knit with Color #2 until you are “t” inches away from the next “h” measurement. Again, remember to measure from the cast on, not from your last transition. Continue in this manner until you are finished! You may find that there isn’t room to do a 12 row transition for the last couple of colors since each row is so long and requires so much yarn. It might be time to start the next transition before the last one is completed! If this is the case its fine to do an abbreviated transition, perhaps 1,2,2,1 or even just 1,1,1,1. You can still calculate “t” in the same way as you did above but using the new number of transition rows instead of 12.
If you decide to knit a shawl, or any other project, using the Gradiance technique, we’d love to hear from you and see photos. We’d be happy to help you apply the Gradiance colorways and technique to any of our patterns. Please contact us at kelly@theuniquesheep
Gradiance Socks
Almost all sock patterns can be adapted for the Gradiance color technique created by The Unique Sheep! Once you understand the technique it can be used with any sock pattern!
For top down socks, begin knitting with first color. Change colors about halfway down the leg, again right before heel flap and again at about halfway through the foot. For toe up socks, simply reverse the process.
When changing colors, its best to change from one ball to the next gradually. Otherwise you will create stripes. For a gradual color change, alternate yarns as follows:
2 rounds new color
4 rounds old color
4 rounds new color
2 rounds old color
In between color changes, knit all rows with one color. If you run out of one of the yarns while changing colors its ok, as long as you’ve had a chance to complete some of the alternating rows.
If you decide to knit a pair of socks, or any other project, using the Gradiance technique, we’d love to hear from you and see photos. We’d be happy to help you apply the Gradiance colorways and technique to any of our patterns. Please contact us at orders@theuniquesheep.com
Shopping for Gradiance Yarns
REMEMBER: colorways turn out differently depending on the base yarn. As a general rule, 100% Superwash Merino takes color the brightest and boldest. Any time another fiber (tencel, bamboo or silk) is mixed with SW Merino it will decrease the boldness of the colorway. Non-superwash wools (such as our Green Sheep Collection) take colorways in a much softer, more blended manner. We try to post as many pictures on our website as possible so that you can see each colorway on several different base yarns to get an idea for how it varies. It might also be helpful to search our photo collection on Flickr. Use the search box in the top right to find photos of the color(s) you are interested in on many different base yarns. If you can’t find a photo of the base yarn you are interested in in the correct colorway, feel free to email us with questions about how it will look.
Though we strive for consistency, handpainted yarns are works of art that vary from batch to batch. Therefore, its crucial that you order enough for your project. If you run out part of the way through a project it will be very difficult to dye up yarn that will match enough to complete your project.
When shopping from the website, keep in mind that colors show up differently on different monitors and some colors are difficult to photograph accurately. This is one of the reasons that we recommend buying Unique Sheep yarn from your LYS whenever possible. And if your LYS doesn’t carry The Unique Sheep please encourage them to contact us- we are always looking for new wholesale partners!
Even in the same batch skeins can vary slightly, so if you are knitting an item that takes multiple skeins you may want to gradually move from one skein to the next by knitting a few rows of skein 1, then a few rows of skein 2, then a few more of skein 1, and so forth
When working with Gradiance colorways for the first time, its best to review our Gradiance Tips
Color Accuracy
What you see is…mostly what you get when you order yarn online. We do our best to take good pictures of our colorways under bright, neutral lighting, edit it for color accuracy and clarity and post these pictures online. However, the picture you see on your screen is not necessarily going to be an exact match to what you receive in the mail. There are a few factors to explain why…
- Screen Differences
- Base Yarns
- Dye Lot
Different computer/tablet/phone screens show colors differently– sometimes very differently. If you have multiple types of devices do me a favor and pull up the same colorful webpage or photo on each of them. Does it look the same? More often than not, one screen will be a bit more yellow, one a bit more blue, etc. Usually we don’t notice these subtle differences but when we are picking out colorways those nuances make a big difference.
We find that computer screen differences make the biggest difference with pale colorways, grays, and browns, but all colorways can be affected.
In this picture of “Silverlode”, do you see shades of gray and blue? On some screens, it looks like its all blue or all silver, or even tan on the left end. In person, the yarn is silver (gray) going to medium blue and then to dark blue.
How about “Barrow Downs”? Does it look gray to you or brown? In person, the yarn is shades of gray, but many computer screens make it look tan.
“Ivy” gave us so many problems with people thinking that it ended in purple (it doesn’t, its all shades of green) that we ended up creating a brand new colorway with the greens from the first half of Ivy but then purple on the dark end. We named this colorway “African Violet”.
Custom Colorways
Can’t find anything you like? Have something different in mind? Try designing your own yarn! Choose the base yarn and the colors, decide how much yardage you want, and let us take care of the rest. Consider sending us a photo of something that inspires you and let us create a custom yarn based on your image. Or pick out paint chips from the hardware store in your favorite colors and mail them to us!
We always try our best to create the colorway that you are dreaming of, but with custom colorways there is a chance that the new colorway we create will not be exactly what you have in mind. We will email you a photo of your new colorway before we ship it so that you can approve of it or request changes. Once you have received the yarn you will have to pay shipping charges and possibly an additional fee if you want to send it back for re-dyeing.
Custom Colorways may take longer than our usual 3-4 weeks to prepare. There is an additional fee of $10 to develop each new custom colorway. Once your colorway has been created, however, you can order any of our yarns and fibers in the new colorway for our regular price.
Send me an email with your ideas at laura@theuniquesheep.com