Acrylic yarn questions

[catwoman]

Hi.I was wondering if a person could make washcloths out of acrylic yarn or blends yarn ?also,could a person use wool for washcloths?also,is it true that a person should not make a blanket baby out of acrylic yarn because it will catch fire?what do you guys think of this?does acrylic yarn stretch ?also does acrylic yarn dry when you wet it?

[Bailey4]

I found a free scrubbie pattern on Ravelry for scrubbies here and while I was skeptical when I made my first one several years ago from Red Heart Super Saver Yarn, I've made them for all kinds of people and had requests for more.  It will clean anything.

That being said when I was first learning to knit and crochet the only yarn I had on hand was acrylic so I decided to make a dishcloth from it just for the practice.  Since it's a holiday one, DH still puts it out, but it is useless as a dishcloth.  It just doesn't absorb the water the way kitchen cotton yarn does.  I never use wool so can't comment on that, but I suspect it might have similar issues as I remember wool socks from my youth being treasured because they kept feet dry.

I'm confused as to what situation you are concerned about the blanket catching fire?  Acrylic will melt if that is what you are concerned about which is why it isn't good for potholders.  All the baby blankets I've made over the years have been acrylic because it is durable and washable.  All fabrics will burn, the extent to which they will melt depends on the fiber. 

[ratdog]

The concern with baby blankets that are used overnight is that they, like childrens pajamas be flame retardant. 

That said, an acrylic yarn baby blanket is ok. An extra cautious parent may just use it in the stroller or during the day and not as a sleeping blanket.

[Bailey4]

There are all kinds of cautions about using blankets now in the crib anyways, so I haven't been too concerned.

[magiccrochetfan]

of course you CAN use all these materials to make these things.  I've made a back-scrubber out of RHSS and it works great, it is just a bit scratchy which is good for the purpose. I've made  a lot of dish scrubbers , this pattern  http://gosyo.co.jp/english/pattern/eHTML/ePDF/1409/23_44_Tawashi.pdf  ,  out of RHSS also and i like them a lot better than cotton ones.   they absorb plenty of water and dish detergent sudses up just fine using them.  I've made one bath scrubber out of wool and it didn't work very well because it started felting pretty quickly.  

some acrylic have a fair amount of stretch but some seem to have almost none; i recently used Knit Picks Brava bulky and it was like rope.

I think acrylic dries quite quickly.  

I think some of our different experiences with using different fibers for various kinds of cleaning are likely to be due to differences in water, and of course we all use different cleaning products.  

[Granny Square]

I wouldn't worry about acrylic baby blankets.  Most purchased baby blankets aren't natural fiber, either,  A generation ago there was a big push to put flame retardants in baby things, but it turns out it wasn't that effective and the chemicals are highly toxic so much has been banned and there's a big effort to ban the rest of it.  If you are really worried, you could use cotton.

Acrylic is plastic, so isn't at all absorbent, therefore is great for a scrubby but can't soak up spills.  I use cotton (worsted weight) washcloths for bathing, because they are thicker/nicer than store-bought.  I don't use them in the kitchen for wiping up because they take a while to dry (unless you used doily cotton maybe), I prefer the thinner purchased ones for their drying-quicker properties.  That's just me.

You could use wool for a washcloth, but it would probably felt right away, and you'd have that 'wet wool smell' as it dries.