acrlic yarn

On Sun, 13 Aug 2006 14:12:36 -0500, "Dixie Sugar" spewed forth :

You may not know that all wool yarn is not scratchy.

You may not know that in a housefire wool will self-extinguish if hot ashes or embers fall on it, while acrylic will melt into the skin and cause horrible disfiguring burns.

You may not know that superwash wool is just as easy to care for as acrylic and nicer both to wear and to work with.

You may not know that you're supposed to wear a shirt of some sort under your wool sweater to keep it cleaner between washings - you aren't expected to wash your wool sweaters after every wearing. The shirt helps keep body oils &c off the sweater AND keeps any itchiness to a minimum.

I'm a yarn snob. I won't touch acrylic, especially when I'm begged by friends to use it for baby togs.

Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET. This practice has cut my spam by more than 95%. Of course, I did have to abandon a perfectly good email account...

I use acrylic and wool. It depends on the project and the availability of colours. Other people will be better able to explain the benefits of wool, but for me, it really makes little difference.

Higs, Katherine

I use both. I've never liked wool, but then I discovered merino wool. It's very soft and non-scratchy. Paton's Classic Merino is fairly inexpensive, you might be able to find that. Try out a skein as a scarf and see what you think. Lion Wool-ease is a wool acrylic blend that's washable. I don't think it's terribly soft though.

sue

Hi Dixie Sugar,

I seem to recall you are also in MS. I know how hard it is to find anything other than acrylic and perhaps cotton down here. There is a good LYS in Jackson, and I don't think there is anywhere else to get fine yarns in the state. Another good reason to branch out from acrylic is the joy of working with fantastic fibers that feel great to touch and work up into beautiful fabric. There are very soft fibers out there that probably wouldn't make you itch if you're not allergic.

Hesira,

PS: I still have a lot of acrylic > Hi guys,

Sometimes acrylic is the right fiber. I have this old acrylic sweater that I wear for orchard work in the late fall and winter. It looks like something that an old French vintner would wear, but it is acrylic.

Body oil? I get tree sap, dormant oil spray, machine oil, mud, burrs, and blood on that sweater. Some nights I thought I would just wash it one more time, then use it as a painting rag. But, it always seems like the right thing to put on as I head out to the orchard on a cool morning. Some night this fall it will not make the cut, and it will land in the trash. I will not care because its just acrylic and it is more than 24 years old.

: > 'course, I do not expect to have any house fires in the orchard

I think it is important to pick just the right yarn for a hand knit item. The labor and effort of hand knitting is so great, that it is silly to lavish that value on a yarn that is selected because it is cheap or easy to get. Get good yarn and make something wonderful.

Aaron

The fiber for the job! My DD insists on acrylics for children's clothes, because of the totally easy care and the toughness. Some of the sweaters I knit for the first one are now being worn by the third, and despite being worn for playing out in the yard, or the woods or on the ball field, they still look like new, and go through the washer and dryer regularly. Mind you, I like nice soft things, so I searched and searched until I found good quality acrylics, not nasty harsh cheap ones.

OTOH, for me and DH, we like real (good quality) wool, again, nice soft stuff, but then we are grownups and know how to take care of our good clothes. Like Aaron, DH still has an old acrylic sweater he wears for yard work.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

I'm kind of mixed on the topic.

I always used to use acrylic, and I still have a large stash of it. Most of the things I've made for relatives were acrylic. My DH is allergic to lanolin, so knitting for him can't be wool. Most wool makes me itch, but I'm especially sensitive on my head - wool hats make my head sweat immediately, so I look as though I never wash my hair even if I just washed and dried it before putting the hat on. So I wear acrylic hats. If it's really cold, I can wear a wool hat over the acrylic one.

Yet I can wear wool socks, wool scarves, and probably wool mittens. I once had two very fine knitted 100% wool _blouses_ (not sweaters) that didn't bother me at all. On the other hand, I have a wool blanket that I can't use even with a sheet and two cotton blankets between it and me - it's amazingly itchy.

If you're allergic to the point where you can't wear it even with a layer of something else between it and you, then of course, use acrylic, cotton, linen, ramie, bamboo, quiviut, whatever works. But there is wool out there that has a bigger? smaller? size in microns, and the itch factor is related to how thin and fine the wool strands are; finer strands are less itchy. I once got to feel a very expensive Irish wool sweater, and it was totally non-itchy. (Another itch factor is the processing chemicals - some people are fine once the wool has been washed.)

I have been making wool and wool blend socks lately, mostly to experiment with the patterns. It's not as though I need more socks. Having knitted several socks with wool and wool blends, I no longer like the _feeling_ of acrylic as much as I used to. Wool does have the advantage in feeling while knitting it, and it stretches more, so things like k4tog are easier; also, it blocks nicely, and acrylic just doesn't block. You can get away with a lot more sloppiness, with wool.

I also find that the more knitting blogs I read, the more I feel a kind of psychological pressure to become a yarn snob. But I'm not getting rid of my stash of Orlon[TM].

=Tamar

I'm pretty picky about using soft yarn and avoided wool for a long time. I found that merino can be quite soft, and some wool/cotton blends feel nice too. They are also very nice to work with. But anything scratchy, I'm not interested so that rules out a lot of wool for me.

I'm now working on a baby blanket in acrylic and it took a little time getting used to working with it again, but now I don't mind using it for this.

Practically anything is available online to buy, but I know I hesitate to buy something I haven't touched. So far, I've bought a few versions of merino without touching it and haven't been disappointed.

BB

Hi Brenda

I use both kinds. I find myself gravitating towards acrylic when it's for a friend or for an item that needs to be extra sturdy, like an afghan. My afghans are pretty popular with my friends, so I want them to last, and acrylic is very durable, easily washable in a machine, and warm enough for inside in the winter. We have an acrylic afghan I made 20 years ago still draped on the back of the couch. It's looking a little ragged to me, but the DH and cats love it that way, because it's gotten softer over the years with use and washing.

However, for going outside in wetter snowy weather, I find myself more inclined to use wool. I really like Brown Sheep, both Naturespun (will felt in a hot wash) and Lamb's Pride superwash (preshrunk).

Another major difference between wool and acrylic is wool will help keep you warm even when it's wet. I've been out in some really wet snowy conditions, and I know it's true from my own experience. Wearing an acrylic face covering balaclava (only the eyes exposed) takes 2 layers, while you only need 1 in wool to be the same warmth. Also, cotton doesn't insulate very well, and while perfect around here for summer, it's awful in the winter to be out in a wet snow with cotton things on. Sure, there are more high tech fabrics around, but they cost a fortune compared to a few skeins of wool and a lot of pleasure in making and wearing my own creations.

Leah