A couple years ago we had a monthly KAL that was based on entrelac. You can find that
here.
There is a lot of good information in that thread if you don't know where to start with it.
With some self-striping yarns, yes, they can do it themselves. Some people change yarns every row of blocks. You could possibly knit a swatch to see how your yarn's colors change from block to block to get a visual on it.