Oh my gosh I just had to include this picture! My heart! Look at that little photo bomber in the background! This vest – btw revisiting this project has made me bump this pattern up on my to-publish list! – is knit with 3 colourways of worsted weight yarn. To fade from one colour to the next I simply worked single row stripes. Start knitting a section in colour A, knit the next section alternating single rounds of colour A with colour B, then work the third section in just colour B etc. If the colourways are closely matched the transitions can be really subtle and beautiful.
If I’m really looking for the most subtle fade however, I’ll do a slightly more complicated stripe sequence where the stripes aren’t just single rounds but gradually transition.
ex: You’re working with Colour A and are ready to transition through colour B:
1 round colour B, 3 rounds colour A
1 round colour B, 2 rounds colour A
1 round colour B, 1 round colour A (3 times)
2 rounds colour B, 1 round colour A
3 rounds colour B, 1 round colour A
Continue with colour B until you’re ready to transition to colour C and repeat. This is the style of stripe transition I worked in the socks and Ripple Bralette featured above. It’s a very smooth transition indeed.
To figure out how long to knit each section you’ll have to do some math. You need to determine how many colours you want to use and how long your finished knit will be. You’ll also need to know gauge in order to determine how many inches/rounds of each colour to work. Since fades are more painterly and artistic I happen to think that it’s fine to go by feel. Change colours when it feels right. 😉
I’ve talked more about fades and shown a bunch of examples in this week’s youtube episode with Chris if you’d like to check it out.
