years ago there was a brand of yarn marketed that was one long color change per skein. (For example, the skien would start dark navy and end the faintest babl blue, going from dark to light with no repeats and very gradual fade)
does anyone remember the brand name or if something similar is available?
Nope - I personally don’t remember it, but the concept sounds really cool! 
I just Googled “gradient dyed yarn” and bunch of stuff popped up. Click through the list; you might find the exact brand that you remember…
I do remember it, but can’t recall the name/manufacturer.
When I got the Caron Connections email this morning I remembered your search. It features Simply Soft Shadows and it looks like it has pretty long stretches of color before it changes
http://www.caron.com/projects/shadows/sss5_dolman_jacket.html
If you find it, let us know. I could think of a couple of projects that would be great for!
http://theuniquesheep.com/custom.htm
This site was “down, down, down” when I did my first search - but looks like they are back.
That site is really cool! Thank you for the link!
Was this yarn with really long color repeats? if yes, then it could be Evilla - here are some pictures and patterns:
http://myworld.ebay.com/albino_sparrow
I hope this was of help…