Day One: A Tale of Two Yarns

Last year I participated in Knitting And Crochet Blog Week. I'm doing the same this year too. It starts today. The topic is:

A Tale of Two Yarns- Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.

First of all, these are my opinions. I don't expect anyone else to feel the same as me.

I'm starting with the loathe. Cotton.

 I  can't stand knitting with cotton. I will knit with it if necessary, but I don't like it. There is no elasticity in cotton. No stretch and bounce. Worst of all, it hurts my hands because of that lack of give. I have to take frequent breaks when knitting with cotton to avoid damaging my hands. It's terrible at holding on to dye too. Who hasn't noticed if you wash your favorite cotton sweater it fades?

I've always felt this way about cotton yarn. Even when I was heavily into machine knitting. It was very difficult to get cotton yarn through the machine. If the tension dial wasn't set just right, and the stitch size too small I would bend or even break needles. If it was too loose, I was dropping stitches right and left.

I know it's nice and cool to wear in the summer, and earth friendly too. I don't care. I loathe knitting with it. For the most part, if I want a cotton sweater, I won't hesitate to go buy one ready made.


Now the love. Dinosaur Yarn.

Berroco Vintage

 Also known as Acrylic, say what you want to about it, I love it. I know, it's not natural or even earth friendly being that it's a form of plastic made from petroleum products (oil) that have to be processed quite a bit to be turned into yarn, but I love it.

Acrylics have been and continue to be improved. They are closer to the feel and quality of wool now than ever. Good quality acrylics are less expensive than natural fibers, soft, warm, stain proof, moth proof, shrink proof, machine wash and dryable, durable, colorfast, non-allergenic, don't pill much, easy to work with, come in all kinds of textures and weights from the finest of lace to the chunkiest of chunks. It comes in a host of vibrant colors, many not achievable in wool, and seem to last forever. It also has all the wonderful elasticity of wool.

I do agree that it won't keep you warm if it's wet like wool will but I rarely get wet when I'm wearing a sweater anyway. I'm not saying I don't like wool either. I love wool. Everyone sings the praises of wool though. Hardly anyone sings the praises of todays Dinosaur yarns. So many people remember the acrylics of the past that were scratchy, squeaky, and even somewhat stiff. They aren't like that any more. Some rival even the best cashmere in softness. It's time to dump that preconceived notion from our brains.


Live long and prosper. \\//