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Making Ombre Yarn Cakes (Character Bounding Shawls)

 This may be a bit tangential from my usual topics but it was inspired by some character bounding shawl ideas I had so we can tie it into that. But Ombre or Gradient yarn cakes are really pretty. I have been crocheting with one. However, the challenge comes with finding the right colors in the right sequence. So that go me curious as to how to make my own Ombre yarn. So here's what I've researched as possible ways to get that color change effect along with some of the pros and cons of each. 

1. Purchase Skeins of Colors

Sticking with the idea of using solid color yarns, you purchase yarns in the colors you want and create the cake. However, color choice is important here. To make the change of color more gradual, you will need yarn colors in the transitional color. So if I'm going for yellow to red, I may get an orange that is a good blend of those colors. The more "steps" of colors you get the more gentle the transition is between colors. Below is a video example of how to make a multicolored yarn cake out of the yarns of your choice. 

Winding A Multi-color Yarn Cake

Now the plus side is you can use any yarn weight and fiber you want to get the colors you need. You can control how much of each color is in the cake and which order they appear. Alternatively, you can wind cakes for each color and just pick it up as you work on your project to give yourself ultimate control about when the color change happens. 

On the other hand, this is going to grow your yarn stash if you don't use up all the yarn in a project. It can be expensive to purchase many yarn colors. 

HOWEVER, you can reduce the number of yarn skeins you purchase if you use the color change methods listed below. So instead of buying orange to transition between yellow and red, I can use my yellow and red yarn only and use one of the techniques below.  Each technique has it's challenges and may not work for your pattern.

These will also work better if you don't wind all your colors into a single cake but into cakes of separate colors. 

Color Blending Techniques

Your technique for crochet or knitting can help reduce the colors you purchase by making transition sections between the color changes. 

 Knitting Marling/Blending Stripes


Fair Isle Blending

- Crochet Techniques: Crochet 2 yarns 

Alternate Colors: Create a "mosiac"

Carrying the Yarn in Crochet/Creative color Changes

Stripes Using the Moss Stitch

2. Dye Yarn 

Instead of buying yarn, we're dyeing it! In this case you would not be spending a lot on YARN, but you may spend time and resources on dyes. Now the positives of this is you can learn a new skill with yarn dyeing, get the colors you want in the sequence you want and you can blend colors via mixing. 
Now dyeing is messy, time-consuming, and may take some trial-and-error while you learn. But you can save your stash! 

Yarn Fiber Dye Guide

Gradient/Ombre Yarn Dye Tutorial


When making a final cake or several cakes the method is the same as purchasing already dyed yarn. You may still employ some of the knitting or crochet techniques above to further blend the color change.

3. Yarn Thread Cakes

The ombre yarn cake I currently have uses threads to create a very light-weight ply of yarn. It is fingering weight yarn (Weight 1) and it is made up of 8 individual threads. They're not twisted together like other yarns. The color change happens as you wind the cake, you change 1 or 2 threads at a time after a certain amount of winding. Demonstrated in the video below: 

Now the principle is rather simple. The struggle I have is sourcing the threads! I have not found out where these yarn sellers source their threads and with what material with certainty. However, there are a few things I've found people do: 

Serger Thread/Overlock Thread
Maeli - Yarn Ball Winding with Thread

Pros: Looks like the yarn ball I'm using. Lots of colors available and various fiber types including synthetics. Serger thread cones come in packs of 3 or 4 often. 
Cons: Can be expensive to source the material! Ideally you use 3-4 cones PER color. The thread is usually synthetic but it is soft to knit/crochet with. It's tricky to wind into a cake. 

Yarn Cake with Crochet Thread

I've also seen cakes made with Lace weight (weight 0) crochet thread often made with cotton. This is a  thicker thread than the serger thread so it will build up weight faster when you combine the threads.
Pros: Many colors available, thin, and winds well. 
Cons: Mostly available in cotton only, can be stiff to knit/crochet with, must have nice crochet yarn. Expensive to get the threads. 

Yarn Cake with Lace Weight Yarn

I have found cones of yarn for hand knitting or knitting machines in a lace weight that would also work for yarn cakes. These come in many colors and material so you can blend them. These are thicker than the serger threads again so it will build weight faster. The video with the crochet yarn thread would still apply for this technique. 

4. Purchase Custom Cakes

There are sellers that let you pick colors and make the yarn cake for you! This makes the fingering weight yarn for your project. The negative is that you can't control when the color change happens it's usually equal of each color. It can be pricey. Limited to fingering weight or sport weight yarn. However, if you don't have a cake winder or a swift and you don't want to overwhelm yourself with a huge yarn stash, it's definitely an option. 

Character Bounding Project Ideas 

This whole research bit was inspired by seeing some crochet poncho patterns I thought would work well for character bounding some Demon Slayer characters. 

Mitsuri Poncho: I wanted to crochet this Poncho Pattern by BautaWitch in White then flow into pink and end in green. Now I did find a yarn cake that went from pink to white to green which is the traditional hanami dango sequence but I wanted the pink and green together. 

Shinobu Shawl: The Flutterby Shawl by Meladora's Creations would be such a nice look for a Shinobu inspired shawl. For this sequence I wanted white to flow into the light blue then blend into pink, then have a harsh stripe of dark purple. 

Rengoku Inspired Shawl/Poncho: I'm debating between using the Crovontuli (Ravelry) shawl pattern or Ripple Poncho pattern in white blend into yellow/gold, then potentially a harsh red stripe or a blend into red, not sure with this one.

Those were the things I was thinking about as far as what I'll actually do I'm thinking Mitsuri is pretty certain and Rengoku a close second. These would be shawls I feel more comfortable wearing out in public. My Rengoku cosplay shawl is very much costume and not so much a blend into the crowd shawl. 😂 

So that ends this long post. I hope to share results some day. I'm going to dig through my serger threads and see if I have anything I can use. 
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