Deep down, I'd love to be a yarn snob. I'd love to have A is for Alpaca. But that's not the way life goes. When you look at my stash, the acrylics definitely win by quantity! I started knitting seriously when I started college, almost 10 years ago now (10 years this summer - gah! getting old!) and let's face it, college budgets aren't designed for knitters! You simply cannot afford Malabrigo when you're a full time student. But Red Heart or Caron, those are available! And even though it's been nearly 10 years now, in some ways I still haven't outgrown that mindset. Dollar for dollar, I can get a lot more knitting time out of some charity projects in an acrylic, compared to the amount of time I can get out of the same price of a nicer yarn. When you're learning to knit, you aren't ready for the nicer, but more expensive, sock yarns where you can still get a lot of stitch time for your money. So, it's either use some of the cheaper stuff or find another hobby!
That doesn't mean I'm not choosy though! There are a lot of acrylic yarns that are scratchy and I hate working with, and there are even a few that I physically can't work with - I have very dry skin, and when the yarn is so coarse, it's catching on all the dry skin on my hands and just making it worse... well, that kinda rules it out as a possible choice. Part of why knitting shops are such a tactile experience. If you hate working with the yarn, you'll never finish the project!
And acrylic's not a horrible yarn. It's long lasting, takes forever to fade, and pretty easy care. Zach has a blanket that his grandmother made for him as a baby nearly 30 years ago, and so do each of his siblings and cousins. All the blankets are still in use, and still holding up very well. I'll be making 2 of those blankets this spring for my nephews on their way (more on that later this spring - lots more!) so I'll be dealing with a LOT of Red Heart and/or Caron this spring. But it means that my nephews-to-be will also have blankets to last them for years to come.
And acrylic has the nicety of no-dye-lot options! I've been remaking a sweater for Mom the last few months, and as I was reworking it, I needed more yarn. I was reworking the sweater on a smaller needle, so I could use the same yarn for most of it, but needed a bit more to finish the project. So, into Town I went to hit up the craft stores. Lo and behold, the color hasn't been discontinued, and I was able to pick up more. Even though it's about 5 years later, it's still the same color, and I can finish the sweater just fine. Yay for Caron One Pounds! Try doing that with some of the hand-dyed wools out there!
Granted acrylic's not an all-purpose yarn (I'd NEVER use it for socks, for example, and I'd be pretty picky if I was choosing an acrylic for charity chemo caps, or something else that should be very very soft) but it's pretty good for a lot of sweaters and blankets and such that will be facing heavy use. And it's great for charity work, too, because you can work up projects without spending a bundle. As one of my grandmothers was cleaning out her stash, I inherited a lot of acrylics, and am considering different baby blanket patterns for the chapel here on post. They regularly run an add in the local newspaper looking for donations, so I figure maybe I can work on one or two when the twins' blankets are done (whenever that may be!). If I had inherited bunches of hand-dyed sock yarn, you can bet I'd be looking for other projects to use it for than baby blankets!
And acrylic's not a horrible yarn. It's long lasting, takes forever to fade, and pretty easy care. Zach has a blanket that his grandmother made for him as a baby nearly 30 years ago, and so do each of his siblings and cousins. All the blankets are still in use, and still holding up very well. I'll be making 2 of those blankets this spring for my nephews on their way (more on that later this spring - lots more!) so I'll be dealing with a LOT of Red Heart and/or Caron this spring. But it means that my nephews-to-be will also have blankets to last them for years to come.
And acrylic has the nicety of no-dye-lot options! I've been remaking a sweater for Mom the last few months, and as I was reworking it, I needed more yarn. I was reworking the sweater on a smaller needle, so I could use the same yarn for most of it, but needed a bit more to finish the project. So, into Town I went to hit up the craft stores. Lo and behold, the color hasn't been discontinued, and I was able to pick up more. Even though it's about 5 years later, it's still the same color, and I can finish the sweater just fine. Yay for Caron One Pounds! Try doing that with some of the hand-dyed wools out there!
Granted acrylic's not an all-purpose yarn (I'd NEVER use it for socks, for example, and I'd be pretty picky if I was choosing an acrylic for charity chemo caps, or something else that should be very very soft) but it's pretty good for a lot of sweaters and blankets and such that will be facing heavy use. And it's great for charity work, too, because you can work up projects without spending a bundle. As one of my grandmothers was cleaning out her stash, I inherited a lot of acrylics, and am considering different baby blanket patterns for the chapel here on post. They regularly run an add in the local newspaper looking for donations, so I figure maybe I can work on one or two when the twins' blankets are done (whenever that may be!). If I had inherited bunches of hand-dyed sock yarn, you can bet I'd be looking for other projects to use it for than baby blankets!
4 comments:
I agree with you that there are times when it's good to be frugal. I do squares for lapghans that my church assembles and you know there's no alpaca in there. There are so many good reasons to use inexpensive, washable yarn. But... may I suggest washable wool ;)
I wish I could be a yarn-snob at times, too, but I have so much lovely smooshy acrylic that I know I'd be missing out on stuff! ;-)
Thanks for the reviews of the acrylic yarns. I have items my Mom knit probably 50 years ago from acrylic and they look like they were knit yesterday.
I admit that I'm a yarn snob. But! I've been knitting Flicca in an acrylic yarn and I have to admit I'm not hating it. It's teaching me that acrylic does have its place, because a big sweater like this would be way too heavy in wool, let alone alpaca.
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