Gradiance Instructions for 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.
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.
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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.
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Step 2: There are 5 transition sections so multiply your T measurement by 5. (Tx5)
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Step 3: Subtract (Tx5) from your total length. In this case 60 – (1 x 5) = 55”.
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Step 4: Divide this measurement by 6” to determine your “C” measurement.
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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.
Once you’ve determined when to begin your transitions, the next question is how to work the transition.
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 inches
Now 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 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 "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 highschool freshman 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 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.