The best materials...

[sadie]

I would like to crochet my first sweater and I would like to know what is the best kind of yarn to use for wearables. I'm used to making afghans and sometimes I get a cheap acrylic yarn that starts to fall apart after I wash it.

Is there a brand that's best? Naturals vs synthetics? What should I expect to spend on a good quality ball?

I really don't know that much about materials. I've only been crocheting for a couple of years and don't have a lot of experience with different materials and I tend to be a little cheap about it.

[mercy7]

i use acrylic for all my work and buy it where it sells cheaply. now i hope they don't fall apart when they are washed. i have only been crocheting for a year this month.

[crochetingfool]

Red Heart is arcylic and it has never fallen apart on me ever. I have friends that have afghans I made 30 years ago and they still look brand new.

 

Linda

[origami]

I would like to crochet my first sweater and I would like to know what is the best kind of yarn to use for wearables. I'm used to making afghans and sometimes I get a cheap acrylic yarn that starts to fall apart after I wash it.

Is there a brand that's best? Naturals vs synthetics? What should I expect to spend on a good quality ball?

I really don't know that much about materials. I've only been crocheting for a couple of years and don't have a lot of experience with different materials and I tend to be a little cheap about it.

 

Acrylic is just fine for afghans, especially given the wear and tear that these items often take. What cheap acrylic yarn are you using that falls apart after you wash it? From what I understand, many people choose to use inexpensive but quality acrylics to make afghans because of the fact that they can take being laundered. Are you following the laundry instructions on the label properly?

 

To answer your question about appropriate materials for a sweater, I would personally choose a natural fiber blend such as wool or cotton. Wool-Ease is a good, inexpensive wool and acrylic blend. (There used to be Cotton-Ease too, but that's been discontinued. However, you can find other cotton acrylic blends manufactured by TLC, Red Heart, etc. Or you can go a specialty yarn store to see what they have.) The reason for choosing wool or cotton is that these fibers "breathe" better -- that is to say, you will be more comfortable wearing a wool or cotton blend. You may sweat uncomfortably in an acrylic sweater.

 

You might even choose a 100 percent wool -- if you want it to be machine washable you'll want a "Superwash" variety of wool. (Cascade 220 comes in superwash or regular.)

 

I've seen Wool Ease advertised at about 2 dollars per skein in the circulars this weekend from JoAnne's and Michael's, so I'd assume, what, about 3 dollars for a skein. I'm guessing it would be 3 or 4 ounces of yarn.

 

Cascade runs about 6-9 dollars per 3.5 ounce skein. My LYS sells Cascade 220 for about 7 dollars per skein. Just make sure you get Superwash if you want machine washable, otherwise you will ended up with a fulled sweater if you don't hand wash.

 

Patons Merino is sold at JoAnne's and it is comparable in price to Cascade. Merino is a type of wool.

[sadie]

Thanks so much for your reply.

To answer your question, I made this afghan a couple of years ago with an acrylic yarn I bought at Wal-mart and it seems to get weaker every time I wash it and now it's breaking in parts.

I can't remember the brand of the yarn but maybe it was just a cheap one. I do remember buying like two huge balls of it.

I figured that acrylic would be really durable but I was more concerned maybe that I was using a cheap brand (or non-brand).

[rachelann]

i made my first sweater with red heart ss and so far its been thru a few washes n come out great (im terrible with laundry, so thats sayin sumpthin) i woould like to try woolease on the next one...

[Kiki]

I use acrylics all the time, like Caron, Red Heart and Lion. Read Heart TLC is wonderfully soft and the lustre version is nice in clothing!