yarns that last

[to_love_a_rose]

So, everyone loves yarn that's pretty and fun to knit with, but...

Last year I knit a hat using a very pretty thick and thin blue yarn. It was a single ply wool, and the finished project was lovely. (Pictures here on Ravelry.) However, before the winter was out, it had begun to pill pretty badly. I looked at it yesterday and while it's still wearable, it's pretty fuzzy. It also bled really badly when I washed it (cold water, hand wash, gentle detergent). I know that pilling and fuzz is a risk of using wool, and I'm willing to make the trade off to knit with natural fibers, but is there anyway to pick out natural fibers that wear well?

I've heard that multi-strand yarns wear better than single-ply? Anyone have any experience with that? Also, any suggestions for natural fiber yarns (specific brands or just general types of yarn) that seem to wear well?

(BTW, thanks to everyone for your help in planning my impromptu knitting class. I picked up a pair of size 8 bamboo needles and some Wool Ease in light pink for my friend. She'll either end up with a garter stitch scarf or a ribbed scarf for her first project depending on how quickly she picks it up. And, yes, I will be casting on for her. *g*)

Comments

[inchainz]

I made a scarf with Alpaca With a Twist's Highlander & wore it all last winter (when I wasn't wearing my Knit Picks City Tweed DK scarf) & it's barely worse for wear.

The Highlander's pilling a little, but mostly it's just gotten softer & softer (& the scarf's gotten a little longer).

I'd definitely recommend working with either yarn, but if you're looking for the combo of wearing well + not expensive I'd go with the City Tweed. KP has it in worsted now, but I haven't tried that yet.

Beautiful hat, BTW! :)

[to_love_a_rose]

Thanks for the suggestions. The City Tweed looks lovely.

[pinesandmaples]

Take it from a spinner: singles are pill central.

You want more plies and harder-wearing wool to last. Think 8-ply lopi or 6-ply Icelandic. More plies mean more stability in the strand. As for wool types, the softer the wool, the more likely it is to pill and fuzz. Merino pills more than pretty much every other wool breed out there. I've found things like Romney, BFL, and Corridale wear really well.

As a standard workhorse yarn, Cascade 220 has a nice lifespan.

[to_love_a_rose]

Ah, thanks! I suppose this means that the single-ply, 100% merino Malabrigo that I bought the other day will not wear very well. Ah well. It is lovely to knit with, and I'll know better next time.

[seryn]

I wondered why Malabrigo was so hugely popular. It's really mediocre yarn. But everyone was completely gaga over it. And it was expensive for what it was.

The colors are nice though, and a lot of people shop by color without thinking about durability.

[pinesandmaples]

I wondered why Malabrigo was so hugely popular. It's really mediocre yarn.

Have you used Manos? It's a cheaper, softer, nicer version of Manos. Much more affordable and pleasant.

[seryn]

Only once, when I was a younger and stupider knitter... that Manos stuff was ghastly. It did have a Free Trade logo on the band.... but I hated every stitch of the hat it became.

[pinesandmaples]

Your tone makes it very hard to take your opinions about yarn seriously.

[pinesandmaples]

I have a pair of fingerless gloves knit in Malabrigo, and I wore them daily for several winters so I can speak to that, actually. (See icon, actually.)

They do pill, and I use a sweater stone on them weekly. That handles the pills well. The palms have felted a bit, which is nice for my purposes. (They have molded to my hands, and they are really nice to wear.) But it won't look new or crisp. Animal fiber singles, typically, don't ever look crisp.

[seryn]

Absolutely multi-strand yarns are more durable. Generally the more strands, the better. If you're doing more cables (like that hat), you want it to be at least 3-ply because that will make it pop more.

One of my big peeves is the current tendency to interchange "sock yarn" with "fingering weight yarn" as if they were the same thing instead of just the same diameter. Sock yarn should be at least 3-ply, tightly spun and tightly plied, and preferably cable-plied (where plied yarns are plied together again). Socks take a lot of wear and there's really no reason we can't reserve the term "sock yarn" for yarns that are actually designed for making durable socks.

I do buy sock yarn: I bought myself a skein of Socks That Rock (by Blue Moon Fiber Arts) at Stitches West. And I bought some Barefoot by Mountain Colors. A friend gave me a skein of Madeleintosh sock (usually called 'tosh sock) and that's been a real pleasure to knit with. But I understand it's impossible to purchase.

I don't buy branded yarn very much because I spin and my own yarn suits my tastes a lot better. Spinning taught me a lot about knitting because I have a much better idea what yarn can be made to do. One of my preferences is for much tighter ply in my yarn and with that, I don't get pilling, but my finished projects aren't as plush as other people's.

Generally when I'm shopping for yarn, I buy things that say what kind of wool it is, because non-merino yarns generally wear better, but some other varietals are too harsh for next-to-skin applications. I like alpaca yarns and got an enormous skein of undyed (but already a nice grey-brown color) alpaca worsted from Village Spin Weave at a show. They have it on their website most of the year though.

I have had good experience with Lorna's Laces shepherd worsted yarn. It was really nice yarn, thick, plush, and solid. I find it hard to buy because I like the handdyed yarn and I want to choose in person but the local selection is limited.

I liked the Knitpicks Swish but I think their "worsted" is really a sport-weight--- it was cheap, so I could add a couple skeins to my cart whenever I needed something to add to get free shipping. It's a nice stash yarn for those emergency projects.

ps. for an all-garter project, I'd generally recommend something smaller than a scarf... I think it really helps if everyone makes an all-garter coaster size square before they're asked if they're ready for more. The other thing I made when I was teaching myself was a small mat to put my glasses on, on my nightstand. It was a great size for attempting moss stitch. And. um. it starts out the same width as a scarf....

[to_love_a_rose]

Oh, wow, thanks for the info. This is really helpful. :)

For my friends knitting lessons, I plan on starting out with a "how do you learn best?" discussion which will include "what sort of first project will work for you?" so it might very well end up being a coaster. *g*

[seryn]

I meant that I hated moss stitch so much that I stopped long before it became a scarf. And ridiculously it turned out to be something I use every day.

Glad the yarn advice helps. BrooklynTweed (some NY guy who's a knitting and photography blogger) has come out with a brand of yarn. Considering the parameters, I think I might be interested in trying a project with it... but of course it's new and they're trying to make it exclusive to just a few stores. I tried to recommend things you can actually get in real life without being totally famous and popular.

[anodyna]

A friend gave me a skein of Madeleintosh sock (usually called 'tosh sock) and that's been a real pleasure to knit with. But I understand it's impossible to purchase.

They have some at Webs, but it's true, a lot of colors are backordered. I suppose their production runs must be pretty small? It does look beautiful, though!

[seryn]

I went on Friday morning to Stitches West, the first hour it was open to the public. The one booth that had advertised Madeleintosh was completely mobbed. They sold out before lunch. It's nice and all, but hardly worth the insanity.

None of those insanely popular places have exclusive yarn bases (what the yarn is called before it's dyed (in case someone else reads this later and wonders)) so you can buy it and dye it yourself with no competition (not sure where, but I know it exists). The nicest part about the 'tosh sock I have is not the color but how sproingy the yarn is. The color is nice, but it's the yarn itself that makes it special. (Mine is black with just a hint of irridescent green showing through... like insect eyes, but less creepy.)

[pinesandmaples]

I've actually heard that Wollmeise has an exclusive base yarn, which explains her unique position in the market.