![](http://lh5.ggpht.com/-KrJHhMCeLoc/T5sbwVS8peI/AAAAAAAACmM/naZY3roFPN4/1335565193382.png)
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Rather than being a slow transition of color, there is a high amount of variegation along the skein, but with gradual shifts of the colors that are within the smaller sections. The yarn above, which I named Rocky Shores, is a brownish grey that transitions to a series of blues. I plan on using this yarn for a shawl, which I think would highlight the color changes well.
I use to have a big issue with asymmetric yarns. If I wasn't going to make a hat or scarf, what could I make out of them that would please my eye? If the colorway is super asymmetric, then socks or mittens won't match at all. I took the cake dyeing technique a step further and wound two strands into a cake of yarn. This technique is similar to how a sock blank (knit tube) would typically have two strands knit into it. Now I can end up with symmetric (or identical if you cut the yarn) skeins! The pictures below show the color progression as the cake gets wound into two skeins.
![](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-qq39cz-Hqtg/T6RE99tbzcI/AAAAAAAACoE/DKONEAecmGk/1336165600349.png)
![](http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Mva-rKsf8HU/T6lATLCA1QI/AAAAAAAACok/S9pUFnaitbg/1336487959913.png)
![](http://lh4.ggpht.com/-lJIj3Ih2g7s/T6lAWMNuNMI/AAAAAAAACos/BsuV-AYIjqY/1336488010464.png)
![](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-NIzQju-AAXo/T6lAniDnLpI/AAAAAAAACo0/DeXeEunQMlQ/IMAG1630.png)
![](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-eSlitUUMWKo/T6mhK6BilUI/AAAAAAAACpQ/4NN2xFesY-U/1336516776984.png)
The deep vibrant purple on these skeins is only concentrated for a fraction of the yardage. I imagine starting with the darkest color and doing some kind of toe up socks. There still might be pooling differences, but these socks will look like a matched pair.
A full written tutorial of this technique will be up on AllFreeKnitting in the coming weeks.