I love the way entrelac knits up with variegated yarns. Short colour repeats create stripes in the squares, whereas long colour repeats will give you squares of different colours. The effect can be varied by changing the size of your squares.
Changing the direction of your knitting can be really effective when using a variegated yarn. Whether you use the variegated yarn alone, or work alternating stripes with a solid colour yarn.
This is the swirl knit afghan square from Debbie “New’s Unexpected Knitting”
Variegated yarns can work well as an accent stripe.
Slip stitch, or mosaic knit stitches often look a lot more up-to-date when knit with a variegated yarn as one of the colours.
In a garter and stocking stitch slip stitch pattern, using a variegated yarn for the stocking stitch area and a plain yarn for the garter creates a grid over the multi colour background.
Linen stitch breaks up stripes of colour beautifully and can create quite a painterly effect.
Another plain and variegated slip stitch pattern, this time all garter stitch.
A single colour slip stitch pattern such as linen stitch can be used to stop accidental colour pooling.
A single colour slip stitch pattern such as linen stitch can be used to stop accidental colour pooling.
This swatch was knit with one strand of 8 ply wool (DK weight to the non-Aussies) and one strand of mohair held together. Both yarns happened to be exactly the same colourway, but with different lengths of colour repeat.
Two strands of the same yarn knit together.
Another swatch showing two strands of the same yarn knit together.
Variegated yarns add a bit of textural interest to log cabin blocks.
A little pop of variegated yarn in the corner of a mitred square.
Variegated stripes in this mitred block echo colours from the plain stripes.
A small mitred square worked entirely in variegated navy/blue/green
A variegated handspun yarn with long repeats of colour was used to knit this mitred square.
This swatch is an example in all that can go wrong with using variegated yarns for knitting lace. The colour is very loud and intense. It also has a great deal of contrast.
This swatch is slightly more successful. It still has quite a range of colours but they are all muted, soft, pastel shades.
The lace edging stitch in this swatch shows up well with the soft, blue and green coloured yarn.
A simple stitch is a good choice.
Feather and Fan, or Old Shale stitch always seems to work well, no matter what yarn you choose!
Lace works best with a monochromatic, or extremely subtle variegated yarn and a simple stitch.
This swatch was knit to the gauge suggested on the ball band, then shrunk in the washing machine. The stitches have blurred together very slightly.
This swatch was also knit to a regular gauge, then felted.
This swatch (which is actually the top of a hat), was knit on much larger needles than normal, then shrunk a great deal in the washing machine. The stitch definition has almost totally disappeared and the result is an almost watercolour effect.
Textured stitches don’t always work well with variegated yarns but it’s worth a test swatch to see how they look. If you pick the right stitch and the right yarn they can be very effective.
Using a textured stitch to create a water colour effect with this rainbow dyed wool. The stitch texture is barely visible, it’s all about the colour.
Freeform knit-crochet is a great way to use variegated yarns. Pick plain coloured yarns that appear in the variegated one and you can’t go wrong.
I started this swatch with the variegated yarn, then added little bits of knitting and crochet in variations of the colours in the original yarn. The variegated yarns give this freeform piece a bit of extra visual interest and texture.
I used steeks to make colours pool on purpose for a woven ikat effect.
Intarsia or patchwork blocks are great ways to use variegated yarns without having the variegated yarn take over a project.
