Yarn Review: Caron Baby Cakes by Yarninspirations

Hey guys! I hope you had a fantastic New Year and am enjoying 2022 so far! 

I haven't written down any resolutions as of yet.. and we're already more than halfway through January (oops). (I tend to write them down but forget about them after a few weeks, so I guess that's not very helpful either). What goals have you made for this year?

I've actually got some cool crafting goals in mind for this year, but bearing in mind the increased school load in year 10, I might not get to do them all :(. We'll see how we go, and anything that I finish will be up here on the blog for you guys to read about it! 

Anyway, now that my unofficial New Year's break from posting has finished, I've decided to kick off 2022 with ANOTHER yarn review!!!!!!!

I ended last year with a post about Moda Vera's Mega Tweed yarn on Christmas Day - you can read all about that super experience here!!!

After that instance, I realised that I had really enjoyed experimenting with a yarn I had previously no idea about, so I went on a trip to the craft store to see what goodies they had up for grabs. The good news is, they had a sale going on which chopped TOO MANY yarn prices in half...so you can imagine what I came home with!! 

Here's a small sample (round 1) of my new yarn babies that I gained from that day (so sorry the photo's sideways - my laptop refused to cooperate and rotate the image!):

These were some of my favourites particularly because all of them (except for the black and white Semco yarn) are novelty yarns that I've previously never worked with before! 

I got 2 skeins of Feels Like Butta yarn in Pink and Dusty Blue (the texture is sooo smooth and chenille-y, I can't decide what to devote it to!), 2 cakes of Vel-Luxe in charcoal and 1 cake in Dusty Rose, and a Caron Baby Cake in the colour Frosted Pansies. The reason I included the Semco B&W yarns in the photo is because of their incredible price...less than $2 for each skein! Even though they don't appear that fancy, I love the silky smooth texture of these DK yarns and they remain a constant member of my yarn collection. 

(Some of you have asked me what are my go-to basic yarn brands/styles - well, they are these ones (Semco 8ply in black and white) and Spotlight's Marvel 8ply range. They're fantastic for churning out amigurumi and are super cost friendly which means I don't spend a bomb on yarn for all the toys I make for each order/stall! But enough on that, let's get moving!) 

I'm still deciding on what the Feels Like Butta and the pink Vel-Luxe yarn (both by Lion Brand, BTW) should be turned into, but I've already started making something with the charcoal Vel-Luxe - to be revealed! Got any suggestions? Leave a comment below or email me! I'd love to hear your ideas :) 

As for the Baby Cake, I decided to use it immediately because I couldn't resist the yummy colours and super soft feel of the yarn! 

As you know, my amigurumi doesn't require yarns like Caron Cakes which are self-striping and have different colours in the one cake/skein. So, because it was my first time and I'd never worked with this yarn before, I decided to do a super simple project that wouldn't take up heaps of time or be extremely detailed complicated, but would still check my boxes of 1) giving me a good feel of the yarn, and 2) being functional and usable in the end! 

I took Mr Frosted Pansies on a little trip down to Safety Bay while I was on camp, and surprisingly I found heaps of spare time every afternoon and evening to chip away bit by bit at my project. I finished it the day after I came back, and even though it wasn't the most exciting project in the world I still had loads of fun working with this yarn for the first time! (And appreciating a nice change from single-colour DK yarns!) 

So, a little more into Caron Baby Cakes. They're a super popular brand of cake yarn that's self striping and are usually recommended for crochet garments rather than for amigurumi. Each cake contains 4-5 different colours, and the yarn itself (which is worsted weight) changes sharply from each colour to the next. They can be a bit on the mid-high price range at $13-$14 each, as compared to single colour yarns which normally cost about $5 and under per skein. 

I found this helpful chart from Cintia of My Poppet Makes, which tells you a little more about the specifics of this yarn line! You can read her review of Baby Cakes and some other brands like Bernat Pop on her blog here.

 

As for me, I bought a cake in the colour Frosted Pansies from my local craft shop at only $7 because of the 1/2 price sale that was on. I have to say it was really worth it compared to what the regular price would've been! Here's a clearer closeup:

Because I'd never worked with this yarn before, initially I was hesitant about the type of project I should make. I eventually settled on a simple scarf which could be turned into a cowl or snood if it ended up being too short. I knew from researching online that the normal Caron Cakes (which the Baby Cakes are a smaller version of) would be long enough to make a full-length scarf, like the one below by Jess Coppom of Make & Do Crew. 

(by the way, Jess' pattern for this pretty Desert Winds Scarf can be found here!)

Because the Baby Cakes are smaller and shorter in length, my scarf wasn't as long as those made from the original Caron Cakes. I also opted to work the whole piece in double crochet instead of fancy stitches (boo hoo 😭😭) because I wanted to use as little yarn as possible per stitch but still maintain a lovely drape (which single crochets and more layered stitches wouldn't allow). 

And since I basically freehanded and didn't follow a pattern for this scarf, I kept the design quite minimalistic and simple and focused on showing off the beautiful stitch definition and the soft pastel colours of the yarn! 

It was so lovely to work with this cake. I really enjoyed the feeling of the thicker worsted yarn as compared to the smaller weights I normally use for amigurumi. The only thing that irked me a little was that the changes from each colour to another were abrupt and they gave each section a very "blocky" sort of look. Oh well, it's a peculiar sort of charming. 

I used up all the yarn in the cake with a little to spare. As for how I made this scarf, I've included my starting points below so you can try out this project if you've got a Baby Cake lying around somewhere! The great thing about this is that it only uses 1 cake so you don't spend heaps on buying five cakes just for one project (like so many patterns I saw out there).

The number of rows in your scarf can change depending on your tension but I worked with the hook size recommended and didn't downsize it (and crocheted way looser than usual), so I still got an even stitching but a nice drape. It isn't as long as a full length scarf, but reaches to my hips when I put it around my shoulders (not double folded or anything). 

So, I started this scarf with 20 ch across and used a 5mm hook which worked quite well with the worsted yarn. To make it slightly longer, I added tassels using the Semco white yarn at the start and end of the scarf, which I thought was a simple but classic finishing touch! 

Here's a sneaky close up in the car, while the scarf was still a WIP! I love how even though the yarn is super soft, you can still see the definition of the stitches clearly (the quality of the photo isn't the best but I promise it's soo much better IRL!). This yarn is noted for piling, but I didn't notice much of it while I was crocheting the scarf. Hopefully it won't get very much worse with time.

Aaaand here's the final product! (Why the purple chunk is so much larger than the rest of the colours, I have no idea!!) The tassels were made with DK yarn for a different texture and feel from the rest of the scarf. Again, the only thing that irked me a teensy bit about this yarn is the abrupt colour changes. Apart from those very obvious discontinuities (which can be avoided if you follow a pattern specifically designed to make them invisible), I really loved this yarn. It was easy to work with and produced a beautiful product! 

On another note: I was listening to Taylor Swift just today which got me thinking about the dark burgundy reddish-colour scarf she sings about in All Too Well - maybe that will be my next attempt at one of these fantastically easy and versatile garments! (I know you can get the official one from her merch shop, but to me it sounds better to sport a handmade lookalike than a mass produced so-called "original".)

Well, that's all from me today. To wrap up, I would highly recommend Caron Baby Cakes to anyone who is looking for:

• soft yarn for a baby-related project 
• yarn that's easy to work with 
• yarn that produces a beautiful, clean final result
• a gorgeous colour palette that is already prepped for you
• a yarn to try out some stunning garment patterns! (just make sure you get enough!) 

Thank you for reading, and as always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments! Tell me about your experience with Caron! I'm thinking of trying another brand of cake yarn to compare the differences, so if you've got any suggestions I'd love to hear them :) 

Stay tuned for more yarn reviews (they seem to be quite on trend with me at the moment), delicious new amigurumi creations and loads more fun coming up! I'm so excited for 2022 and all the new ideas it's going to bring :) 

Stay safe and yarn on :) 

Ashlyne :)