acrlic yarn

Hi guys,

Am I the only one who uses acrylic yarn? Seems wool yarn is always
mentioned in posts. I use acrylic because wool makes me itch, it's cheaper,
and it is more readily available in my area. What don't I know about which
yarn to use?

Brenda

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

Hi guys,

Am I the only one who uses acrylic yarn? Seems wool yarn is always
mentioned in posts. I use acrylic because wool makes me itch, it's cheaper,
and it is more readily available in my area. What don't I know about which
yarn to use?

Brenda


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Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET.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...

Dixie Sugar wrote:
Hi guys,

Am I the only one who uses acrylic yarn? Seems wool yarn is always
mentioned in posts. I use acrylic because wool makes me itch, it's
cheaper, and it is more readily available in my area. What don't I
know about which yarn to use?

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

Dixie Sugar wrote:
Hi guys,

Am I the only one who uses acrylic yarn? Seems wool yarn is always
mentioned in posts. I use acrylic because wool makes me itch, it's cheaper,
and it is more readily available in my area. What don't I know about which
yarn to use?

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 in my stash.

Dixie Sugar wrote:
Hi guys,

Am I the only one who uses acrylic yarn? Seems wool yarn is always
mentioned in posts. I use acrylic because wool makes me itch, it's cheaper,
and it is more readily available in my area. What don't I know about which
yarn to use?

Brenda

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

"Wooly" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 13 Aug 2006 14:12:36 -0500, "Dixie Sugar"
spewed forth :

Hi guys,

Am I the only one who uses acrylic yarn? Seems wool yarn is always
mentioned in posts. I use acrylic because wool makes me itch, it's
cheaper,
and it is more readily available in my area. What don't I know about
which
yarn to use?

Brenda


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...

Dixie Sugar wrote:
Hi guys,

Am I the only one who uses acrylic yarn? Seems wool yarn is always
mentioned in posts. I use acrylic because wool makes me itch, it's cheaper,
and it is more readily available in my area. What don't I know about which
yarn to use?

Brenda

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.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Wooly" wrote in message
...

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

I am also a yarn snob, but will ONLY use acrylics and other synthetics for
childrens and baby clothes . I have used cotton on baby things, but any kind
of wool, no - not even superwash. It's not appreciated and most of it is
too expensive for kid's clothes. We just handed down a really cute
variegated acrylic yarn hoodie from my granddaughter to my niece's daughter.
The little girl (3 y/o) just loved it and couldn't wait to put it on. Her
mom can throw it in the washer & dryer and not have to worry about how it's
going to turn out. But (grin), she also gets to shave it every so often to
get rid of the pills. ;)

Shelagh

In article ,
Dixie Sugar wrote:
Hi guys,

Am I the only one who uses acrylic yarn? Seems wool yarn is always
mentioned in posts. I use acrylic because wool makes me itch, it's cheaper,
and it is more readily available in my area. What don't I know about which
yarn to use?

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 guys,

Am I the only one who uses acrylic yarn? Seems wool yarn is always
mentioned in posts. I use acrylic because wool makes me itch, it's cheaper,
and it is more readily available in my area. What don't I know about which
yarn to use?

Brenda