Let’s talk yarn. We read the label recently, so now we know where to look to find out the information about the yarn in our hot little hands.
There are so many types of yarn, how the heck do you pick the right one for your project?
The short answer is, it depends. Let’s look at an example.
What’s the project?
The first thing to consider is what you are wanting to make. I think this is the hardest part. There are so many fun and exciting projects, how can you make a choice? For a beginner, it is often very overwhelming. I always recommend something small for a beginner, but really you can pick anything you want.
For our purposes today, let’s suppose we are going to be making a blanket. That’s not really going to narrow down our yarn choices at all! You can make blankets with almost any size yarn. So that leads us to the next point…
What does the pattern call for?
Most of the time, the pattern will make a suggestion about what yarn weight to use. And for most blankets, it will be a medium weight yarn. This would likely be a 3 or 4 weight, or you might also see it as DK yarn. Yarn weight refers to the thickness of the yarn strand, so thinner stranded yarn will make a finer project (like lace, or socks), and a thicker stranded yarn will make a more bulky project.
What fiber content do you prefer?
These days, most readily available yarn is either 100% acrylic or an acrylic blend. Some brands are softer than others, so you’ll have to figure out your own preferences there. Some people prefer working with 100% cotton yarn. For blankets, I do generally recommend either acrylic/acrylic blend or cotton so that they are easily washable. But there are all kinds of other yarn fiber types too!
What colors are available?
These days, this isn’t as big a deal as it might once have been because we can order yarn online if needed. But if you pick a yarn and have a vision of a particular color, you do need to make sure that yarn is actually available in that color. Especially with more specialized types of yarn, this can be a problem.
What are you comfortable with?
Go touch the yarn. What feels good to you? Remember, you’re going to be using this yarn to create something, and you will be touching it for a long time. If you hate how it feels, you aren’t going to want to work with it. Sometimes you have to make compromises, but this can be a sticking point for many people.
These are the major things I keep in mind when choosing yarn for a project. What other things might you think about? Do you have a question about how to choose yarn? Drop it in the comments for help!