Caron's Fall Gifts

What are Caron Cakes?

In case you've not been following "craft yarn" trends, last year, the Caron brand of yarns celebrated its 100th birthday by introducing a line of multicolored worsted-weight yarns called Caron Cakes. These started out as exclusive to Michaels Arts and Crafts stores. Most colorways of Caron Cakes are limited edition, available for a single season.

About Caron Cakes:

Unlike traditional ombres and self-striping yarns, Caron Cakes skeins are colored in blocks. The best way to describe this is somewhat Whovian: in one skein, you can create an effect like the Fourth Doctor's scarf — except that you only get one block of each of five colors per skein, and you'd need several skeins to create its notorious 18-foot (5.5 meter) original length.
The way the yarns are skeined, no two skeins of a colorway will start with the same initial length of a color, even if they both start with that color. Additionally, skeins of a given colorway may start with any of the five colors in that colorway. The result has been a lot of surprise and delight among yarn crafters, each comparing identical crafts made from identical colorways to see how they differ. This has led Caron to introduce new versions of Cakes yarns, such as summer lines of Cotton Cakes and Baby Cakes (in baby colors). For the fall, they've introduced Big Cakes (300g instead of 200), Tea Cakes (super bulky - CYC size 6) in muted tones, and Sprinkle Cakes (super-bulky yarn with occasional "eyelashes" of color) — as well as new fall colorways for their original Caron Cakes and Cupcakes.

Similar yarns:

Other yarn manufacturers have picked up on the trend, so you may find Bernat Pop! and Blanket Stripes, Premier Yarns Sweet Roll, and/or Lion Brand Mandala yarns at your local craft shop or big-box department store. Bernat has even taken inspiration from Red Heart's yarns Boutique Changes and Boutique Magical, creating Mix Home, a blocked multi-texture super-bulky yarn.

Color-blocked yarns are also moving up into the higher-end yarns. Love Knitting (a site I love) just posted its new winter yarns. Lana Grossa has several lines of color-blocked yarns, as have Rico Creative, Bergere de France, and Paintbox yarns.

How to Get a Free Caron Cupcake:

Caron and Michaels are gifting the craft community with a class on Monday, September 25, during which we will be using fall colorways of Caron Cakes to create yarn pumpkins for your fall home decor. The class is free; you just need to purchase your own ball of Caron Cakes yarn. (You do need to register at least 24 hours in advance.) In addition, the first 10 students to arrive at each store will receive a complimentary Caron Cupcake. (Cupcakes are similar to Caron Cakes except that they're smaller, lighter, and have a pompom at the inside end of the skein.)

You can use these yarn pumpkins in small displays or on a fall wreath, as shown in the Fall Door Decor project here.

More Caron Gifts:

Caron and Michaels have gifted the entire crafting community with a Caron Cakes Look Book with links to all the information you need to knit and crochet your own fall looks using Caron Cakes, Big Cakes, Tea Cakes, and Sprinkle Cakes yarns.