The ideal yarn for baby blankets?

Pure baby wool was always my preference but it seems to be quite hard to find these days :-(

I know what you mean about the pregnancies though, whenever I was great with child every other woman on the street seemed to be too!

Mary

How about a nice DK superwash merino? Or a cotton/superwash wool blend (if there is such a thing).

My favourite on-line yarn store has superwash merino on sale right now:

(NAYY)Shelagh

I use and LOVE Plymouth Colorspun worsted weight and use it for sweaters.....just finished 2 Baby Sweater Surprise Jackets by E.Zimmerman and they are lovely...nice and soft and the colors do not pool like some variegated yarns. I have also made baby hats and they came out real nice too.

Donna

My own preference for baby things is pure acrylic! Hypoallergenic and easy to wash. Babies leak at both ends, and brand-new motherhood is no time to have to learn proper care of wool; acrylic yarns can be tossed in the washing machine and dryer -- no worries.

Brands? Red Heart is fine. Dawn was better, as is that other brand from the company that bought and retired Dawn, whatever its name is. The inexpensive stuff at Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's, WalMart.

Pilling? The higher the quality, the greater the pilling!

Size of yarn? Currently, you're stuck with worsted, maybe sport if you'll be happy with those pathetic colors reserved for babies, the colors that don't actually go with anyone.

Pattern? Any lapghan pattern will do fine, or even a smaller rendition of a large afghan.

Cece

I have always liked Bernat Softee Baby for baby stuff. But, alas, the color selection is pretty limited:

The stuff wears well, starts out soft and gets softer w/ washing (I put it in the washing machine & dryer with DD's other clothing - no special treatment whatsoever).I also really enjoyed Dale Baby Ull superwash wool: Downside is that it's 8 sts/" so if you need to knit something quickly, it's not the best choice. I think I also heard a rumor that it was going to be discontinued which is too bad. But maybe you can find some good sales.As far as allergies go, unless you know that one of the parents (or other family members) are allergic to wool or have a lot of other allergies, I wouldn't worry about it too much. It is a pretty rare allergy, though of course it does exist as we all know! LauraJ

Unless the baby is allergic , which doesn`t know before hand i stil preffer thta natural threads over the many made threads ,, mirjam

The Prophet Padishar Creel , known to the wise as snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net, opened the Book of Words, and read unto the people:

At the risk of seeming tacky, this is one of the few situations where I feel acrylic is really actually a good call. Between possibly unknown allergies and the fact that acrylic is the simplest fiber to wash, it seems like the way to go -- and some of the acrylics out there are soft enough that it's not much of a sacrifice to go synthetic.

What do you like to knit? That is very likely the right fiber. Close your eyes. What yarn feels good running through your fingers?Open your eyes. What produces a gorgeous fabric?

Do not worry about soiling. I wash my wool all the time, besides it does not seem to soil as fast as synthetics. Wool is much more fire retardant.

The synthetics are lighter.

Every fiber has its virtues. Use the virtues of what ever fiber you chose.

Aaron

For babies I like cotton, Encore ( which is a mix) or straight acrylic. These are mostly because the mom doesn't have to hand wash. For acrylic , I do tend to use Bernat or Caron, as it is not as scratchy as Red Heart IMO. Coggie

When my dd was expecting her first, she notified me that anything I knit for the baby would, repeat WOULD be in acrylic, so that it could be tossed in the washer, then the dryer, then put straight back on the baby. I acceded to her wishes, but was very fussy about selecting high quality, soft yarns. Those clothes went right through all three of her kids and are still good, as well as good looking and hard wearing.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

There's someone on one of my knitting mailing lists who is a nurse and has seen LOTS of babies with horrid burns from melted acrylic when there was a fire.

Personally, I am growing to like cotton yarn very much.

Technically 100% Baby Alpaca is supposed to be very very hypo-allergenic. We use an undyed 100% Baby Alpaca fiber that has been washed in our rooms at our hospital to help prevent allergies when we're unsure who will be in the bed.

I make all of my baby items with a natural fiber and supply the mother with very very simple cleaning directions. Fill the sink or a tub with luke warm water, a cap full of the supplied wool wash product, let sit for 15 mins, all done. Very few things don't come out when you do that.

The most recent baby I've been knitting for had a mother that cried for everything to be machine washable acrylic. I knit with wool anyways, sent her the directions with a bottle of a light wool wash, and she says it's so much easier than she expected.

In regards to babies not being able to wear wool due to possible allergies -- throughout history and even into the 50's, that's all they wore. It breaths much better than Acrylic, so it keeps them warmer but also whicks to help cool off. A fine wool is great to wear in the summer (obviously Lopi wouldn't be).

Of course, there are also plenty of machine washable wools (specifically merino) that are quite soft, can be thrown in the wash, and the treatment process to make them machine washable has removed all of the components that cause MOST allergies.

Joseph

I love baby alpaca for baby human gifts. I've never machine washed it, but I like the softness of it for babies.

I also like superwash merino. I've used Cherry Tree Hill Superwash Sock yarn, incredibly soft, but awfully thin and kind of expensive for a blanket. CTH makes a DK and/or a worsted superwash merino, too.

I would purchase a few individual skeins of different fibers you'd like to try, swatch them up and so to them what you will to see if they meet your standards.

As for affordability, I like Elann.com and Knitpicks.com. I can usually find good natural fibers at excellent prices. (NAYY). All the mom's for whom I've knitted or crocheted gifts using natural fibers have been delighted. I always include simple cleaning instructions.

Hesira