Saturday, March 25, 2017

Favorite Yarn for Knitting in 2017

Every knitter has a favorite yarn. Some prefer custom dyed natural fibers while others gravitate toward affordable, no dye lot synthetics.

Marion started knitting with wool and angora because it's what was available at the time. Eventually, she began using acrylic yarn because it's machine washable and more durable than wool - especially for socks.




These days the items in our shop are made from a variety of materials. Here's some information on what we love to knit with.

Acrylic Yarn



Acrylic yarn is the staple in our stash. All of our mittens, baby sweaters, and afghans are knitted from acrylic yarn.

This material is great because it's machine washable, doesn't shrink, and is very soft. It's ideal for people with allergies because unlike wool, it does not contain lanolin that can irritate the skin.

Acrylic yarn is available in a variety of colors. In fact, our mittens are available in more than 48 colors! We choose a manufacturer that does not use dye lots because then we can ensure that we are offering consistency with colors.

Our favorite brand is Caron Simply Soft. As its name suggests, this yarn is luxuriously soft. It also has a slight sheen that looks luxurious and sets it apart from other yarns.

The Caron and Red Heart one pound skeins are great for baby afghans because there's no need to knot pieces together.

For baby sweaters, we prefer Bernat baby yarn because it is fine and soft.

Wool Yarn



We introduced baby hats to our line a few months ago. Baby garments require a finer fiber so that they are not too chunky in a tiny size.

I love the Cleckheaton 100% merino wool that is superfine, yet eight ply, because it knits into a tight leave without being too chunky.

Alpaca Yarn


Alpaca fiber is luxuriously soft and a little fuzzy. And – who can resist those cute faces?

I knitted a pair of mittens from alpaca fiber that won a prize at the county fair. Due to the justifiably higher price of this material, it's not something that I use every day, and isn't often found in the shop.

Cotton Yarn



Most recently I began experimenting with cotton yarn to create washcloths and dishcloths.

Knitting with cotton is a little different than the other yarn I'm used to. It's a little bit rougher and doesn't slide over the needles as easily as acrylic.

Still, it makes great scrubby cloths that have many uses.

Watch the shop for these - they'll be coming soon! Check out our Instagram @MarionsMittens for sneak peeks. 


Shop link: www.marionsmittens.com 

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