So, there's Whirl, by Scheepjes, which is a fingering weight cotton/acrylic blend with super long colour changes, no sparkles (and slides more easily than cotton bc of the acrylic, so may be easier on your hands) It costs about 28-30 dollars, but comes in a 1000 m ball, which is enough to make a good sized shawl or even a top, depending on the size. They also have a wool version, but other than that i don't know of many yarns that are fingering+gradient. https://www.scheepjes.com/en/whirl-817/
In case you really don't want cotton, there's this one https://www.scheepjes.com/en/our-tribe-2545/ (some are semi-solid or tonal, some gradient, some solid, click on each colour to see how it works up). I would browse around the Scheepjes website bc their yarns are pretty good and most are cheap, and they also have lots of free crochet patterns etc
Fyberspates has a superwash line and their semi-solid colours are really nice. Slightly more expensive than Malabrigo, but it's actually a fingering weight rather than light fingering, and maybe sturdier (4 ply = fingering in the UK):
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So, there's Whirl, by Scheepjes, which is a fingering weight cotton/acrylic blend with super long colour changes, no sparkles (and slides more easily than cotton bc of the acrylic, so may be easier on your hands) It costs about 28-30 dollars, but comes in a 1000 m ball, which is enough to make a good sized shawl or even a top, depending on the size. They also have a wool version, but other than that i don't know of many yarns that are fingering+gradient.
https://www.scheepjes.com/en/whirl-817/
In case you really don't want cotton, there's this one https://www.scheepjes.com/en/our-tribe-2545/ (some are semi-solid or tonal, some gradient, some solid, click on each colour to see how it works up). I would browse around the Scheepjes website bc their yarns are pretty good and most are cheap, and they also have lots of free crochet patterns etc
As an alternative to acrylic you can use an acrylic/nylon blend. It's about the same price and much softer:
https://www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/yarn/sirdar-snuggly-4-ply-50g-all-colours
https://www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/yarn/sirdar-snuggly-baby-crofter-4-ply-all-colours
Fyberspates has a superwash line and their semi-solid colours are really nice. Slightly more expensive than Malabrigo, but it's actually a fingering weight rather than light fingering, and maybe sturdier (4 ply = fingering in the UK):
https://www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/yarn/fyberspates-vivacious-4-ply-sunshine-604-100
I don't use bamboo or alpaca, so I don't really know, sorry.
Other resources:
ravelry.com (lots of resources, free patterns etc)
https://yarnsub.com/
woolwarehouse.co.uk (prices are good even w/ shipping from the UK, great selection)
Good prices, lots of choices (but read the reviews for each yarn):
https://www.knitpicks.com/