This technique builds on the magic stripe method to create an optical illusion effect that cannot be acheived by any other dyeing method. It's very simple to do and the results are simply stunning.
The effect is acheieved by painting a double width blank in graduated shades of 2 contrasting colours. in this example I have used blue and green.
I dyed one half in shades of blue going from dark to light and the opposite half in shades of green going from light to dark.
When I knitted the yarn into a tube sock it created 2 row stripes but the colours changed the further I knitted so the blue got lighter and the green got darker as you can see from the photograph below (click on the image to make it bigger).
With this technique you need to take care with the colours and shades you choose. As you can see in the middle of the sock the blue and green are very similar shades and the stripes are almost lost. Choosing strongly contrasting colours that are opposite each other in the colour wheel will minimise this problem.
