Multi-Coloured Yarn

The different kinds of multi-coloured yarn

They are not interchangeable, and the difference decides how your project looks. Self-striping yarn is dyed in long lengths of each shade so it produces clean bands of colour without you joining a single new ball; it is the reason so many sock knitters never knit a plain sock. Variegated yarn changes colour over short runs and gives a speckled, mottled fabric. Gradient and ombre yarns shift slowly from one shade to the next across a whole skein, which suits shawls knitted from one end to the other. Tweed and marl yarns mix fibres of different colours in the spin, giving a subtle heathered effect rather than distinct changes.

Choosing a project to suit the yarn

• Self-striping 4 ply: socks, above all, plus simple hats where the stripes wrap neatly around.
• Variegated DK: scarves, cowls and blankets in garter or moss stitch, which break up colour pooling.
• Gradient skeins: triangular and crescent shawls, where the colour change tracks the growing rows.
• Variegated chunky: fast blankets and throws where the colour supplies all the interest.
• Leftovers: stripes for children's jumpers, granny squares, and colour-blocked mitts.

How to stop pooling

Pooling happens when a variegated colour repeat lines up with your stitch count and the shades stack into blotches. It is not a fault in the yarn, just arithmetic. The fixes are straightforward: change the stitch count slightly, work alternate rounds from two balls, choose a textured stitch such as moss or linen stitch that scatters the colours, or switch to garter stitch where the ridges break the repeat. Slipped stitch patterns are especially good at taming a loud variegated yarn.

Combining with plain colours

A busy variegated skein is often best partnered with a solid. Use the solid for ribbing, cuffs, heels, edgings and buttonbands, and let the multi-coloured yarn take the main body. This also stretches an expensive hand-dyed skein further. Pick the solid from one of the quieter shades within the variegated yarn rather than a contrast, and the whole thing reads as deliberate.

Buying and matching skeins

Hand-dyed and variegated yarns vary more between dye lots than solids do. Buy all the yarn for a project at once, and if you are working a large piece from more than one skein, alternate two rows or rounds from each skein throughout to blend any difference invisibly. For socks, check whether the pattern needs the skein wound in a particular direction to keep both socks striping identically.

Care

Follow the ball band, and note that a superwash sock yarn and a rustic hand-dyed DK from the same shelf may want completely different treatment. Hand-dyed yarns can bleed on the first wash, so wash separately in cool water with a little wool wash, and rinse until the water runs clear. Dry flat out of direct sunlight, which fades brightly dyed shades faster than anything else.

Multi-coloured yarn questions

What is variegated yarn? Yarn dyed in several colours within one skein, changing over short lengths to give a mottled fabric.

How is self-striping different? Self-striping yarn has much longer runs of each colour, so it produces defined stripes automatically.

What is multi coloured wool best for? Socks, hats, scarves, shawls and blankets, where a simple stitch lets the colour do the work.

Why does my knitting look blotchy? Colour pooling. Change your stitch count, use a textured stitch or alternate two balls.

Can I use it for colourwork? It is better kept as the single interesting yarn in a project; two variegated yarns stranded together tend to lose all definition, and even a variegated paired with a busy tweed will blur. If you want stranded colourwork, put the multi-coloured yarn in the background and a solid in the foreground, or the motif simply disappears into the fabric.