Gray-dient Sweater by Frank H. Jernigan

Gray-dient Sweater

Knitting
August 2019
DK (11 wpi) ?
22 stitches and 29 rows = 4 inches
in stockinette stitch with larger needles
US 3 - 3.25 mm
US 4 - 3.5 mm
3.5 mm (E)
1533 yards (1402 m)
Man’s M (L, 1X, 2X)

The pattern is available here after you join TKGA.org for $35 per year, possibly the best deal in the knitting world.

I’ve been thinking about doing a gradient-colored sweater for some time. The problem of course is that if you simply use a gradient colored yarn, not only do you not have control over where the colors change on the sweater, you also do not have any way to make the gradient of the sleeves match the gradient of the body. A simple solution is to use several different colors of yarns that can be blended together into a gradient. The transitions can then be placed exactly where you want on both the body and the sleeves.

The easiest colors to blend are speckled colors combining different percentages of some of the same colors. If two speckled yarns are very similar in color, the blend is as simple as alternating a number of rounds (or rows) before dropping the first color and continuing with the second. If the colors do not blend so well, then the blend can be approximated by gradually introducing the second color until you have a couple of alternating rounds/rows and then gradually decreasing the first color over the next few rows. I use both techniques in this sweater since the chosen Hedgehog Fibers colors Typewriter and Magpie blend readily while the colors Magpie and Graphite do not blend so readily, although they all contain various percentages of white and dark gray speckles… hence the name, Gray-dient.