Subtle Ombré Yarn.

So!  When getting back into this yarnie game I spent some time poking around Ravelry getting ideas and inspiration.  And one trend - that I've seen many times outside the world of knitting - really stuck out for me.  Ombré:

Left:  Ombre Cowl by Purl Soho, image by Purl Soho.  Right: Ombré by Tanis Lavallee, image by tanisfiberarts 

So pretty!  So trendy!  So much fun to knit!  Usually this effect is achieved through mixing different colors of yarn by holding two or more yarns together.  Several yarnies even offer kits of mini-skeins for this purpose.  Very cool.  And something I might consider doing in the future.  I also found yarn that was dyed to be self-striping with the stripes changing color along the skein.  But I wondered:

Could I dye a skein of yarn that transitioned colors from one end to the other in a more subtle way?

Self-striping yarn is great but that's not what look I wanted.  I wanted to basically recreate the subtle gradient created with several yarns held together.... only with one skein.  No ends to weave in.  Easy.

So I took to the dye pots and did some experimenting:

And some more experimenting:

The result was this:

Once I was pretty sure I had an actual Ombre happening I test knit a bit of a shawl starting at one end of the skein and then the other to see if there was any difference:

 Did it work?

YAY!  Those samples are knit from the same skein of yarn.  The only difference is that for the orange I started at one end and for the purple I started at the other.  It absolutely worked.  SO MUCH YES!

As of now I have only produced repeatable results on Souvenir - my DK weight, 100% superwash merino yarn.  Which lends itself perfectly to the one-skein projects that showcase this unique yarn perfectly.  Ombré  Hats!  Scarves!  Cowls!  Shawls!  Ombré All the Things!

I LOVE the way the transition turned out:

And watching the colors change was so interesting that I designed and knit this shawl in less than a week.  That's crazy for me.

Selfie in the driveway crazy.

I'll have more information on the pattern soon - here's the Ravelry link.

The Subtle Ombre yarn will be available - in several colorways - at the Destination Yarn Trunk Show at River Colors in Lakewood TOMORROW.  After that I will list some of it on my etsy site (if any of it is left that is!).

Yay Ombre!