Yes, It's ombre hombre

If you have ever looked, especially at the early Garnstudio Drops patterns you will notice their designers were the masters of yarn mixing. That is combining fine yarns not only to make the work faster, but also to increase the sophistication of the colour combinations.

These days we have a wonderful assortment of ready - ombre - yarns from Garnstudio.

This is Big Delight, a mix of fibres as well as colours.

and a pleasure to knit on a 5 or 6 mm needle. 

There is also an aran weight airy mohair type with a variation on the colour mix theme.

The Christmas elf in me especially appreciates this material, so convenient, interesting and fun.

Ombre is different than this kind of coloured yarn from Regia, which is what my mum calls instant fairisle. When made into a sock, you achieve a definite pattern. My understanding is that the yarn is printed more like a newspaper. Definite sequence - scientifically engineered to give a crisp graphic effect, and because of the quality of the printing, it is entirely possible to knit a matched pair.

Now if Regia could print a yarn to make traditional kilt hose that would be amazing!

Our Kim has freshly knit this lovely winter set with Garnstudio alpaca.

She used the lovely soft Drops alpaca double and pattern number 171-46 and of course by changing one strand of the fine yarn at a time through the stripe achieved this cool ombre effect. She also added augmenting yarn with the sequins every couple of rows for that special twinkle.

This is a great method for combining fine yarns with style, especially those lace weights lurking in the vault and the lovely economical coned yarns I love so much.