In praise of cheap wool

The furnace is fixed. Joe went downstairs while we were heatless and used a set of pliers to “short” the wires on the furnace together and it lit, which told him the problem didn’t lie with the furnace. (I had visions of a furnace that we ran with a pair of pliers for a while, but he took them off.) Instead it appears to have been a wire that connects the beast to the fancy new thermostat. I should have known that such a stanch and reliable piece of machinery wouldn’t fail me, and indeed, it did not. Yet another time when “they don’t make them like they used to” seems to hold true. That furnace has been running beautifully and reliably for at least 50 years, the thermostat is 2 years old and appears to be failing. We have bought a new wire, things seem fine. I am deeply respectful of Joe’s ability to do stuff like that. Imagine using pliers for anything other than straightening a knitting needle or tightening the connection on a set of interchangeable circulars. Genius. It was sort of nerve wracking while we were heatless though, and I got nervous when the heat was out and responded the way any chilly knitter would. I started a new sweater.

Musthavest0701

This is the Must Have Cardigan, from Patons Street Smart booklet, knit in the very nice and surprisingly affordable “Northampton” in light grey, from Webs. It’s soft, it’s beautiful and it costs $4.99 a ball/ 225m, 247 yards. That means that this whole sweater, knit out of soft warm wool is only costing me $25. Seriously, I don’t know how to beat that. There’s other yarns like this out there…Patons Classic Merino springs to mind (mostly because that’s what the pattern called for in the first place) or even one (new to me) that I just saw at Lettuce Knit, Nashua Shepherd, which is $6 for 200m. (I admit, I have not squeezed that one and can’t tell you if it’s soft.) In my experience, which is totally considerable, since I knit way back in the eighties when acrylics were queen and wool was expensive and rare, knitting something like this out of an acrylic just isn’t worth it, and I can’t sing the praises enough of an affordable wool like this.

I hear you. Some of you are freaking out because you think I’m trashing your good friend acrylic, and in this instance, I sort of am. Acrylic has it’s place, there are good acrylics. There are even people like my good buddy Amy who can’t play with wool and have to make other choices. I’m not talking about that. I’m not talking about knowing all of this about the differences between the kinds of yarn and choosing them anyway. That’s your business. You’re the knitter, you get to pick… I’m talking about how often I hear knitters say that they would like to knit with wool but it’s too expensive or too hard to care for.

I’m talking about what can be best accomplished with $25, in the context of this sweater, or ones like it, and in sweaters with cables, the characteristics of wool help you a lot. First, an elastic yarn helps. Cabling non-elastic yarns is a way more difficult thing, and because acrylics aren’t really blockable and don’t have any memory, you’re going to notice a difference in your end result when you knit something with a lot of stitch manipulation. Stitches you pull out of shape don’t want to rearrange as nicely in an acrylic, and it’s harder to move stitches that aren’t stretching. Wool is hugely forgiving and has all that lovely memory that will help your stitches settle in to their pretty new shapes after you stretch and manipulate them….and that’s something you’re not going to get with an acrylic.

I hear you in the back. You’re waving that beautiful cabled sweater you knit out of an acrylic. You’re telling me that you bought a FANTASTIC microfibre or a high end acrylic and then knit some exquisite cabled thing out of it, and I know that you are telling the truth, but I’m talking here about what you can get for $25 bucks….and the nice synthetics are priced much higher than that. (Case in point, this sweater would probably work really well in Rowan Calmer which has many of the elastic qualities of wool while not containing any…but it would cost about $96.00 to get done.)

Now I hear that other knitter. She’s telling me that she doesn’t mind all of the downsides of an acrylic, because she’s not stupid enough to spend the rest of her life handwashing, or she doesn’t think the person she gives it to will handwash. To you I say three things.

1. Humans aren’t machine washable, and most of you have given birth to something you’re going to hand wash way more than this sweater. I bet you even handwashed yourself today. it’s really not a big time suck.

2. Good things take a little special care. You wouldn’t not buy a dress for a party because you have to care for it specially, and you wouldn’t give up wearing suits to the office because they don’t get tossed in the washer. Something that takes this many hours of your life to produce are not ordinary clothes, and deserves special care. It’s a special item.

3. Here’s how I wash wool sweaters. I fill the washer with water and no- rinse wool wash. (My current favourite is Soak, but have loved Eucalan before.) I turn off the washer, and I add the sweater(s)-I try to do more than one at a time to save time. I go away for a while. I come back, I drain the washer, I put it through the spin cycle, then I take out my sweater and nicely hang it over the stair rail upstairs. If I’m feeling especially energetic I might get out a drying rack and lay it flat like I’m supposed to…but I don’t usually. That’s it, and because wool forces dust and dirt AWAY from itself (it is naturally anti-static) and acrylics draw dust and dirt into them (they generate static) you don’t have to wash them as often as you would their man-made alternatives. Since most synthetics can’t go in the dryer anyway, I’m not sure how the handling of them would be all that different…..except there’s less work with wool.

Another advantage, and this doesn’t matter much with a sweater for a grown up like me, and it’s actually not all that relevant, but I think we can’t talk about it often enough… is that wool is flame retardant. I hear a lot about people knitting acrylics for babies, especially baby blankets, because they want them to be washable, inexpensive and durable. Those are good reasons, but this is what a wool like this is made for. Wool is self-extinguishing. That means that it will burn rather reluctantly if exposed to flame and that as soon as the flame is removed, it goes out. That means that if thing knitting of wool were in a fire and on a person, when that person moved away from the fire (or in the case of a baby, was moved away, since they can’t move themselves) the knitted thing would stop burning. Fire blankets were originally made of wool for this reason. Acrylics, on the other hand, catch easily, burn quickly and at a high heat and continue to burn if you move them away from the flame Most catastrophically, if an acrylic on a person is on fire, it will melt into the burned skin, compounding the injury a very great deal. Infant sleepwear and blankets are made of only synthetics specially treated to be flame-retardant for this reason. Acrylic should never, ever be used on a baby or child when they are alone or sleeping. Save it for a sweater they will wear when grown-ups are around.

I know that there’s still some people typing furiously. They are writing about how wool is too scratchy, or wool is not vegan, or wool isn’t for them….and that’s really ok. Nobody (well, not me anyway) is trying to take away your choices. If you truly love, appreciate and are satisfied by an inexpensive acrylic….. knit it. Knit tons of it. Knit it by the acre and I wish you well and good happiness. There’s acrylic in my stash and I like it there. I think some of it is pretty nifty… but for a plain good cabled sweater like this one, that will wash and wear brilliantly, last a long time (but not stay in a landfill forever when I do toss it) make my knitting look even better than it is, be soft and stretchy and even block out slightly bigger or smaller if I screw up….

I don’t know how you could possibly do better than $5 wool.

(Except for moths. Little arses.)

306 thoughts on “In praise of cheap wool

  1. If you are already knitting socks, can you still start a sweater? Or is it like sock yarn that doesn’t count as stash? (Socks don’t count as a knitting project???)
    ‘Cause now I really want to begin a sweater.
    ~ Dar

  2. I’ve always knit with acrylic because it’s not scratchy, but you make some interesting points. I think I’ll try the wool you are knitting with for my next “keep forever” sweater.

  3. Great buy on the wool. Love the color and I agree that you can get alot more for your wool dollar these days. I don’t think I’d ever go back .
    The furnace just got fixed in time for our thaw here in Ontario. I’m in Sudbury and it’s +7 C. Freaky dude.

  4. You are so right on Stephanie. I just bought about about 30 skeins of Patons Classic Merino on sale at joann.com for $3.99 each. Also, I love Knitpicks for my superwash wools. I’ll always have room in my heart for that expensive wool, but for everyday wear I try to keep the cost down. Especially with sock wool. I AM a sock-knitting machine…..

  5. Hey, hey, Stephanie! Love the bargin wool. Love the rant. Can you do one, please, about pilling? Do I have to shave? Can I pull those little buggers off? Is there a choice – to pill or not to pill – depending on the yarn of choice?

  6. Pliers are the best tool ever!
    There are only a few styles, unlike screwdrivers which..well….nevermind we KNOW about screwdrivers. I am delighted that the furnace is operating, and that your lovely Joe was able to fix it. I am still fighting the furnace wars. We shall do battle once again today between 3:30 and 5 pm.
    So, a furnace victory, AND Cheap wool,I sense an upswing here.
    Hope your health is improving!
    Carolyn

  7. All hail wool. Cheap wool is awesome. And for Dar..socks really aren’t a project they’re a necessity so they don’t count at all…even multiple pairs on the needles since you never know where and when you’ll need to knit!

  8. I learned the acrylic lesson the painful way. I recently knit my first sweater in a 25% wool, 75% acrylic blend. It’s pilling and I want to cry a little. I chose the yarn because I’ve made hats out of it with no problems. (not figuring on the difference in where on our bodies we wear these garments) I will knit with the best I can afford from now on.

  9. I love wool – and with beautiful soft machine washable wools, it is my first choice for baby items. I figure most adults know how to hand wash and don’t spit up on themselves that often, so if I am making something for a big person, I usually don’t bother with superwash. But for tiny folks, superwash baby wool can’t be beat. Love your $25 sweater by the way!

  10. I’m with you on the decent quality, decent priced wool.
    Please explain further about wool being anti-static… I was nearly reduced to tears last week after zapping myself repeatedly while wearing a wool sweater and a wool shawl (it’s cold) in the office.

  11. Yea saving the furnace = ! We have an ancient one as well – not quite as old as yours – a few years ago (oh, could be ten years ago, now that I think about it) it died in the middle of the night, and the repair man was actually annoyed when we asked him to fix it (with a $10 part) – he couldn’t understand why we were being to backwards as to not want to replace it with some modern, new-fangled thing. That was ten years and ten dollars ago. On the other hand, we just got back from a week in London (not sure we want to see the bill for that) and our faithful twenty-year-old washie machine has bit the big one. Do you know how much it costs to buy a new washie machine?! Welcome home! Hopefully we can fix it, haven’t had a chance to check it yet. The sweater looks beautiful, just makes me want to dive in and start doing some cables. Thanks for the inspiration!

  12. Here in New Zealand we have 4 million people and 40 million sheep, though I don’t know any of them personally. I have also knit with all sorts of yarns, and while artificial fibres have their place, give me wool any day. I just adore the stuff! And it’s sooooooooooooo much better when you can hand paint your own!

  13. Dang- you’ve left us no arguments….;) You know us so well…
    PS- over Christmas nearly had a knit-fire from a dripping candle….that toasted my WIP basket… wool of any sort is better than flammable (made from oil by-products) acrylic…
    Blogged the knit carnage today….yuk- just glad it didn’t go up in flames!

  14. I totally agree with you about knitting cables with wool. Janet Szabo has an inexpensive wool yarn, Plymouth Galway, as one of her favorite yarns for Aran sweaters. I love knitting with it and at $5.99 a skein I love the price.

  15. Designed a vest of Northampton. Total cost to knitter: $15 for the two smallest sizes. $15.
    Every single Valley Yarns project makes me happy. Good yarn, affordable price. Ahhhh.

  16. There really is a fiber for everyone. I have heard wonderful things about all the Webs house yarns and I want to try them all.
    PS – I would totally not buy a dress for a party that required special care. I have a particular pet peeve that men’s clothing is made to look good AND be easy-care, and I refuse to buy women’s clothing that isn’t the same. (And apparently I rant about it at the slightest provocation.) BUT, something I spent days of my life on is definitely worth a little extra love.

  17. Here Here! I have a friend who just started knitting and she’s been using some really horrible crunchy acrylic. Rather than criticize I sent her a nice gift of some really really inexpensive beautiful wool and now she’s hooked.

  18. Let’s hear it for sheep and their bounty…WOOL! We’ll talk about alpaca and bunnies another time! Love the wool. Love the price. Love the sweater.

  19. After many years as a poor college student only able to buy acrylic, I realized that my knitting was wasted because I didn’t really LIKE the sweaters I was making out of acrylic.
    Then I discovered the joys of wool and other non petroleum-based knitting products.
    I haven’t turned back since.

  20. I started out as an acrylic crocheter. Then I started knitting. Knit 2 things in acrylic. Tried wool and never looked back. Am now replacing all store bought sweaters with my own creations. 🙂

  21. All Hail the Wool!!! It’s king in my house. I love wool and have thought that should something happen to my husband wool could fill his place in my life (LOL!!!). Cashmere is a close second, only second because it’s awfully expensive, but I have an unnatural love for it as well. Acrylic is icky!!! scratchy!!! and squeeky to knit with and horrible to wear for the most part. I preach heavily to my students to NEVER knit baby items out of acrylic yarns–NOT SAFE!

  22. Sigh…oh to live in a climate where I could actually wear wool on a regular basis… 😉
    I like to do baby stuff in cotton – all the natural fiber goodness of wool (though no stretchiness), but still able to be tossed in the washing machine. I do make blankets in synthetics occasionally, but I make sure to let the moms know not to leave the baby alone with them, particularly while they’re asleep. I’ve heard that the latest wisdom on SIDS is to not let baby sleep with any blankets at all, so hopefully that will prevent nasty fire/acrylic accidents.
    That sweater’s going to be gorgeous – I can’t wait to see it finished! =)

  23. Hmm, I must try this inexpensive wool. I do get tired of having my sweaters cost over a hundred dollars sometimes. Ooo and I hope the house I buy has a cool, working furnace like yours. My grandparents house had a gravity furnace and the heat somehow seems warmer from them, doesn’t it!

  24. I quickly switched to wool as my first choice not long after starting to knit. I hated how inelastic acrylic was and somethings I made started to look worn after being used for a really short time. Wool for the most part wears better in my opinion. There is something to be said about the feel of a woolen knit and I think you said it all.

  25. “Imagine using pliers for anything other than straightening a knitting needle or tightening the connection on a set of interchangeable circulars.” I’m still giggling over that one.
    And hear, hear, for cheap wool. I like Cascade 220. $6.50 U.S. (less if you get it on sale), comes in a million colors, is soft and lovely to knit. I don’t knowingly buy wool from Australia, though, due to animal welfare concerns.
    And I will add one to your list: 4. When you have to specially care for things, you respect them more. You are more likely to notice problems before they get out of control and mend or tighten that button before you lose it. You take better care of them in general. (I’ll walk outside in stocking feet in store bought socks if my shoes aren’t near the door, but never in handmade socks.) Things cared for this way last longer, so you consume less, which is good for the planet. (Well, OK, let’s not talk about stash . . .)

  26. OK, here’s a question about wool. Does it retain its fire retardant properties after it gets treated with chemicals and turned into superwash wool?
    And yes, they don’t make ’em like they used to.

  27. I saw textured stitches and grey wool and thought “Gansey!”
    Oh well, the Must Have is nice, too.
    And even when you’re ranting, you still sound nice and sweet. Good thing I know you in real life, or I’d almost believe that…

  28. Gee, if I had a Joe and he had just saved the world by fixing the furnace, I *might* have considered working on his gansey… 🙂
    That is a beautiful sweater and thanks for the wool rant. I too learned the hard way on using cheap yarns for sweaters because I was afraid wool was too scratchy and expensive. What wasted effort on sweaters that I now hardly ever wear.

  29. Huzzah for wool! I am in love (maybe a little) with this fiber, especially the elasticity – it makes the process of knitting much more enjoyable. And it breathes nicely as temperatures fluctuate. I’m also a big fan due to the sustainability of wool and other things like that, but I appreciate your paen to the joys of knitting with wool.

  30. I wash my sweaters the same way, only I use regular old laundry detergent, and 2 rinse soaks. Even for cashmere and alpaca. Haven’t had a problem yet (knock wood!)

  31. I LOVE to hear about cheap wool!!!
    There ARE times when I’ll do acrillic (like when it is discontinued, a nice one, and VERY cheap), or when I need to give up some yarn for a science project, but I LOVE wool, for myself.
    My DH thinks that he’s allergic to wool, so nobody tell him that he’s wearing wool on his feet!!! he he he!
    There are many uses for each type, and we all have our favorites. Please never stop telling us about new, or cheap, or cool yarn of any kind!

  32. I LOVE to hear about cheap wool!!!
    There ARE times when I’ll do acrillic (like when it is discontinued, a nice one, and VERY cheap), or when I need to give up some yarn for a science project, but I LOVE wool, for myself.
    My DH thinks that he’s allergic to wool, so nobody tell him that he’s wearing wool on his feet!!! he he he!
    There are many uses for each type, and we all have our favorites. Please never stop telling us about new, or cheap, or cool yarn of any kind!

  33. I LOVE to hear about cheap wool!!!
    There ARE times when I’ll do acrillic (like when it is discontinued, a nice one, and VERY cheap), or when I need to give up some yarn for a science project, but I LOVE wool, for myself.
    My DH thinks that he’s allergic to wool, so nobody tell him that he’s wearing wool on his feet!!! he he he!
    There are many uses for each type, and we all have our favorites. Please never stop telling us about new, or cheap, or cool yarn of any kind!

  34. I *heart* wool already. But I’m glad to have the stockpile of good arguments for the next time I encounter $5 wool and have to bring it home… 🙂

  35. Oh dear – acrylic really does divide a crowd, doesn’t it?
    Over the holidays, the Knitting Out Loud group got together with some out of town knitters… Alison from Montreal and Barbara (I do believe, “Barbara from Nova Scotia”).
    Barbara, whom we had never met before, very kindly brought along a bag of yarn that she wanted to destash. It was pure white, like new fallen snow, and the yarn had history – it had come from Eatons, back in the day. (There is no Eatons in Halifax now.) Then she announced the fibre content – acrylic.
    To a person we all turned our little 100% animal-fibre filled noses up at her kindness. (It was suggested that she donate the yarn to a charity organization.)
    I’m still feeling guilty about it. I do hope that Barbara does not think that the KOLers are all ungrateful wenches.

  36. Is this sweater pattern having a little renaissance? I just bought the booklet and enough Paton’s Classic Wool Merino to knit it – and it will be delivered today, started on almost immediately.

  37. Yep. Can’t beat Patons Classic Merino. Respectable colors, too. I know its waaay late to the cheap wool party, but I just discovered it. And I thought big box craft stores had nothing to offer me. Ha! 😉
    Cascade Eco comes to mind, too, its super affordable, comes in monster skeins, and I can support a LYS and buy it there.

  38. I love the way you sing the praises of wool! Especially debunking the handwashing myth…never thought about people being hand wash only! Won’t be long before I use that on someone…
    I never knew about acrylics and how they will melt. Makes me totally rethink what I buy to make for babies. I will now tell new mommies why their new bitty things for baby shouldn’t go into the washer and why that’s ok…even better than ok.
    As for awesome cheap wool…I’ve got a ravishingly cabled cardi planned…with Cascade 220. Very smooshy and soft. And easy on the budget. Thanks for reporting your favorite inexpensive beauties!

  39. You have to admit that one of the few places where one’s prejudices do no one any harm is in fiber preference, and knitting style. So long as you respect one another’s prejudices as you would your own, what is the harm. Knit what you like for what you wish. ( I remain unconvinced, however, that babies in properly baby proofed cribs away from all outlets, lamps, etc, are liable to spontaneously combust. But that is just me,although if mine didn’t, it just doesn’t seem too likely, because if anyone could, my younger one could have.)

  40. If you use good washing agents like Eucalan, wool softens over time. I’ve felt Briggs and Little Durasport socks that I could swear were as nice as any Fleece Artist sock yarn out there. Acrylic can’t do that. It gets more brittle and scratchy over time as the polymers begin to break down.

  41. Hey I made the Cobblestone sweater for about $20US (Knitpicks, Wool of the Andes, Amber Heather – a great deal. I *love* wool. I *adore* wool and I’ve been wanting to make the Urban Aran for some time now. The modified, cardigan version with front zipper. Might have to chuck it, though, in favor of the Must Have Cardigan. Thank you, dear Yarn Harlot, for being a source of never ending inspiration for me. 🙂

  42. I would love to knit with wool for my grandchildren, but I guarantee you my daughters will not buy your arguments, even if I do. And I do! It’s just that I want my items to be used, not disgustedly given away because “Gran” was dumb enough to make something not machine washable. Unfortunately, this is a no-win situation for some of us.

  43. Thank you for this post. I especially appreciate how you emphasize that good wool is not sky-high expensive. And how acrylic and other plastics can be very bad in a fire because of the melting.
    To answer LizD, yes, superwash wool is still naturally fire resistant. The basic chemical structure of wool is still the same even after a superwash treatment.
    I do work with acrylic at times, when the item will be only machine washed warm-hot and only machine dried (and most likely on high as well). But as you say, there’s a time and place for all yarn.

  44. Back in the 80s it was hard to find wool, so I made all sorts of acrylic sweaters. Some are lovely, but I can’t bear to touch them. Most are gone, too pilled to ever wear again. Wool is my friend. Other natural fibers are nice companions, when used appropriately.
    The man’s cardigan I am currently trudging through would have been pure torture if it weren’t made of lovely wool/alpaca.

  45. Every time you knit something I want to knit it too. You have such excellent taste and resources – and the photographs are great too.

  46. My 2 year old son just pointed at the picture and said “WOOL!” I suppose that speaks to my love of animal fibers well enough.

  47. You are going to ruin me! I am going to have to rip the acrylic cabled hat I started this weekend and go to the yarn shop. Now I’m never going to have this finished for my mother’s birthday!
    How strange that you would write this now. I despise acrylic, and never knit with it. But it just so happens that I am trying to recreate a hat that my deceased grandmother knit. She sent me the ancient pattern and the yarn (100% scratchy acrylic) before she died. I was trying to ignore the shiny acrylic horror and just do it like she did, but I think you’ve ruined it for me. I don’t think I can do it now.

  48. Your acrylic/fire point gives me the heebie jeebies. I KNOW this, but I cannot think of a way to detach my child’s affections from his “binkie”, lovingly crafted from acrylic. And suggestions? I could cut the favourite (read: disgusting) corner off and tack it on to a nice woolly replica – do ya think he’d buy it?
    I chuck my wool items in my front-load washer. I did this by mistake a few times and had no adverse effects, so now I do it all the time. Oh, except for the glove I pulled out in tatters – but that I think was moths :{)

  49. There are wools that I can use without my vegan conscience hurting too bad. Maybe this makes me a strict vegetarian instead of a vegan, but I am grateful to knit with one of the finest gifts of nature.
    Learning to spin was a joy because I bought a huge bag of fleece from people who I trust to be kind to their rescued sheep. I ended up with about 2,300 yards of something close to a DK for around $30 US. Time consuming, but pretty darn cheap!
    Recycling wool from thrift shop sweaters doesn’t freak me out either–and that is about as cheap as wool gets!

  50. I came to the knitting world from quilting and sewing and find that I use acrylic for the “muslin” of a project. I then go, thanks to the introduction of a dear friend, to the most wonderful little knitting store in our area to find just the right wool for the project.
    This step has in fact become one of my favorites. I am beginning a baby saque for my brand new nephew and have invited my sister out for the day to go with me to the aforementioned yarn store to pick the very colors and textures of yarn that she wants. It will give her a much needed day off and it will give me more confidence that my somewhat picky older sister will actually use the gift when it is finished. As you have so eloquently pointed out before, knitting is a gift of our time.

  51. Sigh. I love wool. I’m knitting a wool sweater right now. I’m sitting here, next to my open window, where it’s in the freaking high 70s (mild breeze, blue sky, exceptionally fuzzy white cloud like little cotton balls) and I’m knitting with wool. In my climate, springing for the Calmer ends up being a pretty good investment if you want to wear it very often.

  52. Anyone have a good solution to the moth problem? I’ve lost 2 beautiful (and expensive) handknit NZ sweaters, plus a (seriously expensive) Navajo rug to moths, although it wouldn’t stop me knitting with wool. Over the summer, I store woolens in plastic zippered bags, but the damage seems to happen when they’re in that limbo state on a shelf between wearings.

  53. It is all true, wonderfully explored and propounded. Wool doesn’t hurt so much to knit and with machine wash soft fine wools, all things are possible.

  54. Three cheers for cheap wool! I second the I hate acrylic mantra. I knit a felted hedgehog (from the same lovely designers who brought you the squirrel 😉 ) and it called for eyelash yarn. My hands literally had residue on them when I was finished. I don’t mind lanolin, but petroleum byproduct? UGH!
    I can’t wait to see the sweater when it’s done. 🙂

  55. I agree that acrylic has it’s place, but in my case it has been used in the past mostly as a cost-cutting measure. It’s only in the last two years that I’ve started using “expensive” yarns like 100% wool or, gasp, superwash! To everything there is a season…

  56. I am so glad you brought up the flame retardant issue! I am also thrilled that there are affordable wools available. I’m just not a good enough knitter to blow big bucks on my knitwear. Too much risk–the thing could end up a disaster!

  57. Oh, I have been eyeing that sweater in catalogs for what seems like 10 years! I really like it … except I want that diamond at the neckline to be complete. Are you going to fiddle with it? I think I might as well make up my own design while looking at the picture instead of re-writing someone else’s neckline.

  58. Yea for the wool! I love it and I especially feel that if I’m going to be handling yarn for the eons it takes me to get a FO it better feel good – acrylic is just sweaty. I too just bought a bunch of paton’s merino for 3.99 a ball from JoAnn’s – its fabulous.

  59. go team wool.
    I spent 20 minutes yesterday ranting about the greatness that is Patons Classic Merino. Best cheap wool EVER.
    EVER!

  60. Wow! I thought my Must Have Cardigan was going to be cheap but yours is a steal. Just before Christmas my yarn shop had a 50% off sale (!). I got a boat load of beautiful tweed Online Linie 157 Tessa to make that sweater. I just need to get some of the other projects off my plate before I start (unless you can convince me that it is the most fun you’ve ever had with knitting needles…then I start tonight).

  61. My MIL wanted an acrylic afghan. Only for love. I had kid mohair I’d gotten at a closeout at $2/ball, but no, so I knitted an afghan out of it, double-stranded, for someone else.
    Cost of kid mohair afghan? Twenty bucks. Cost of MIL’s microfiber one? Eighty-five.

  62. This will probably horrify people but I throw my wool sweaters in the washer on the delicate cycle with regular laundry detergent and dry them flat or on lingerie hangers. I haven’t felted anything yet. And no pilling.
    I have to do the same thing with my acrylic sweaters because they just get beat up if I try to do it any other way.

  63. I’m knitting something out of Pattons Classic Merino right now and must get that pattern because I’d like to knit with more of it. It’s soft and affordable and Len’s Mills have a good stock of it. Glad to hear others like it too.

  64. As another survivor of the Great Wool Yarn Drought (I bought plenty of acrylic at Canadian Tire or someplace like that back in the day) I say Hear! Hear!
    I loves wool. Loves it a lot. For myself, I rarely knit with anything else – unless there is a little wee bit of cashmere or alpaca or something mixed into the wool for warmth and that happy/guilty feeling that I’m spoiling myself. Or a tad of nylon in socks for strength.
    (though for babies, cotton is also a nice choice … just sayin’. I’ve knit quite a few little baby sweaters out of fingering-weight cotton yarn. 🙂

  65. I always make baby items out of wool for many reasons, but I always tell the Mom as she looks agast at the wool that I do it because it is flame retardent. It is also warmer, softer(usually) and more beautiful. I have found a few high end acrylics that don’t make me cringe and would use them for adult items.
    I usually give a small bottle of handwashing soap(yes, I too love the new Soak) and include directions. I even have labels that say”wool, please hand wash and dry flat”. I too, use the washing machine. Mine is a front loader so I set it on Lingere(since that cycle never gets used otherwise-I’m a white cotton girl) which doesn’t even agitate and then lay them flat or on a rack. It takes no time and I just think the finished product is nicer. For those allergic to wool I try to find “natural fibers” but if not-then back to high end acrylic. I do have to admit that the acrylic today seems much better than the crap in the 70’s but wool is still by baby. Lasts forever, reusable, no sheep are killed to produce the yarn, can be bought with no chemicals added. Seems Green to me.

  66. Well, I much prefer wool over acrylic. That being said, I am knitting my daughter a sweater of acrylic because that yarn came in a huge knitting bag with a lot of wool yarn from one of my LYS (I “won” it at a silent auction) and she fell in love with how soft it is, and the colors. I figured, What else am I going to do with it. However, the next sweater I make for her (along with all the others I’ve made her) will be either wool or cotton! There was some other acrylic yarn that felt horribly plastic-y, and I donated that for crafts.
    Thank you to whomever said that Joann’s sold yarn – I was given a Joann gift card and now I know what I’ll buy with it!

  67. Pliers are on the TV at our house, since the knob to turn it on and off broke.
    I am currently working on a sweater for my 10 year old son. It is in wool, non-superwash wool. He has tried it on next to his skin (it will probably be worn over a t-shirt) and does not consider it itchy. I am willing to knit it in wool because when he outgrows it, it will still fit his oldest sister (who has pretty much stopped growing, at age 16.)

  68. I love wool. Especially merino. One lovely thing you neglected to mention about wool is that you can felt it! I’ve made several pairs of fulled mittens for friends and myself out of patons merino (for all four of my bridesmaids in fact!) and nothing beats them when it’s -40 and the wind is blowing at 50km/hr. 😉 (which happens often during winnipeg winters)

  69. i just KNEW there was a reason i eschewed acrylics! i just didn’t know how to back it up! actually i thought i was maybe a bit of a yarn snob. now i can rest easy and know that my preference is justified! thanks again yarnh!

  70. As others have pointed out, for applications where the item really needs to be machine washable (such as items to be given to people whom you know won’t handwash no matter what) there’s always superwash.
    My cats like to sleep on top of drying sweaters. One of these days I need to get one of those little stacking mesh racks to see if that solves the problem. If it doesn’t, though, I figure all it means is that the sweaters get the hair a little bit early, since the cats will certainly shed all over the sweater the moment I put it on anyway…

  71. First: All hail the resourceful Joe who makes things go! (Especially the furnace. In winter. In Canada. Brrrrrrrrrrr…)
    Second: Wool is my favorite to work with hand down. I have knit a few things out of acrylic but I don’t like 1) the hand feel and 2) the way it squeaks on my metal needles. I do have 3 skeins of linen that I bought … wow… 10 years ago with the plan of knitting period stockings from them. I also have some soy “wool” which is just intriguing and cotton, which I just don’t like to work with, but do when I have to. Wool is the bulk of my stash, though, as little as it is. 🙂

  72. Let’s hear it for good $5 wool!
    As to the flammability issue–my husband is a fire spinner and teaches fire spinning. He’s very big on the safety issues, and spends a chunk of one class burning various fabrics, including several synthetics, silk, thin and heavy cotton, and wool. I can tell you, those synthetics are very scary when they burn! (And the wool did burn, but the tightly knit version burned slowly and went out. The loosely knit version didn’t go out quite so quickly).

  73. Oh my, everyone stop calling it “cheap” wool! Cheap wool is the stuff that itches and pills funny that you buy at the discount stores.
    This wool is “wonderfully affordable” or “surprisingly inexpensive”! (And lovely and soft— mmm!)
    I used to think I was allergic to wool – until I realized that the few wool blankets/sweaters I owned were “cheap” wool! Those have been tossed and replaced with lovely soft fibers that I adore.

  74. I haven’t tried wool yet but I have bought 2 Knitpicks Pallette sample kits, so I would love to know how the pallette knits up.

  75. Wool has a remarkably special ability to keep one warm even in cold and damp. An especially important feature when knitting for babies, or others who actually need their sweater or wrap to feel warm. My San Francisco Bay Area is legendary for drear and dank – Mark Twain: The coldest winter I ever experienced was June in San Francisco – or words to that effect. True, so true. jdu

  76. You wash your woolens like I do mine. Nothing could be simpler. I had a lady in the prayer shawl group gasp because unlike everyone else, I was knitting mine out of wool. (Handspun rambouillet/angora. Umhm. Yes it was.) She said, “But you can’t WASH wool!” I said, “Of course you can. Sheep get wet.” I maybe have a smart mouth when I feel insulted.

  77. Wool RULES!!! I wash it using pretty much the same method & it’s no trouble at all. Acrylic sweaters tend to build up a BO funk if not washed frequently. Another ack-rylic negative. Hooray for old & well-built appliances!

  78. I really want to try that wool now- you are a good salesperson!
    Regarding the self-extinguishing properties of wool, I recently told a friend of mine (with 4 grown children, and years more knitting experience than I)about your reasoning here. She was contemplating what yarn to use to knit a sweater for her 4 month old grandbaby. Once I pointed out to her acrylic’s tendency to melt, she proclaimed that she didn’t need any other reason not to knit in acrylic for children.
    I think it is a great piece of practical safety advice, and I’m glad to see it reiterated here.
    Thanks!

  79. I just finished a laprobe for a friend from my odds and ends of blue and green odds and ends of wool and it’s drying as we speak. I think you’ve covered all the fine points of knitting with wool, but would you please tell me if there is an easier way of picking out the yellow Lab hair out of the thing without taking hours to do so?!! And yes I vacuum every day and love my dog who loves to sit with me when I’m knitting.

  80. That said, I think afghans would be a place I’d be more inclined to use acrylics, on the grounds that they’re inexpensive and easy-care, though I might consider superwash wool as well if I could find some that wouldn’t cost a small fortune to make a whole blanket from. I’m perfectly willing to hand-wash sweaters and socks but I’m not willing to deal with wrestling a sopping-wet afghan out of the bathtub, even if I had floor space large enough to dry one flat in.

  81. You’re right, I absolutely must have that pattern. Maybe in 20 years, I’ll actually have the sweater, too, but that is exactly the sweater I’ve been wanting for some time now. Thank you.
    As for wool, I love it. I have vast quantities of it (I bet my stash is bigger than your stash, and you’re invited to come check for yourself). On the other hand, I have these two commercial acrylic sweaters I bought, um, 20 years ago, seriously, and I machine wash and machine dry them all winter long and they still look great (well, the purple one has this problem at the neck, but ignore that).
    On the third hand, I still have and wear the first thing I ever knit – a Bartlett wool top-down raglan pullover – and it still looks wonderful and it’s lucky if it gets (hand) washed once a winter.
    By the way, I have not forgotten about either the gansey or your favorite knit of 2007. Cough ’em up, or it up, if they happen to be one and the same.

  82. Delurking myself to say that the fire retardant properties of wool aren’t just for babies – I have a woodstove that goes all day, and I feed it several times, wearing my nice wool sweaters. A spark on acrylic? If nothing else, will leave a big hole! On wool? Out, no problem, safe as can be.
    Love the blog, BTW, makes my day reading the latest entry!

  83. I hear you with the wool and the acrylic. I just want to complain about Patons’ apparent inability to maintain sizes within its own booklets. An XL in that book ranges from a 38″ bust to a 42″ bust. A 32″ bust is either a S or an XS. wtf, Patons. Pick a number and stick with it.

  84. Hear hear, Steph!
    I worked in a major craft store for several years, where I managed to (nicely) muscle weaker beings out of my way and become the alpha in the yarn department. Even tho’ I had no say in the ordering of the inventory, and acrylics ruled supreme, I still reveld in their glorious colors and yarney-ness. Then one day, the knitting gods smiled my direction; I opened the boxes of new product to find that we were now stocking Patons Merino as part of our regular inventory. I was so excited, I ran about the store showing it to managers, associates, and even a few bemused customers, babbling hysterically about “Real wool! Real wool!!” Needless to say, I put my employee discount to very good use, and have bags full of the stuff ripening nicely in my stash, even as we speak. I have since moved on to other career paths, but I am sure, in that store, the legend of the Crazy Yarn Lady lives on.

  85. Hooray for wool! I’m using Patons Classic Merino for a cabled sweater right now, and loving it! It’s my first time doing a fancy multi-strand cable, and the wool makes it stick out perfectly- despite the grape jelly deep purple color.

  86. I have bought the cheap (or close to cheap) acrylic for a sweater with cabling, and had misgivings as soon as I was out of the ribbed section. Acrylics can look great in ribbing, but it just didn’t feel like the cables were going to stay smooshy enough in the acrylic, so I ripped it out. I’ve restarted in a wool blend. Not quite as good as 100% wool, but it was from the stash which makes it almost free.

  87. Yay heat (I totally feel your pain…didn’t have heat last weekend due to broken furnace thingy)!!!
    Yay wool!!! I just started knitting…I naturally gravitated toward wool because it seemed a little more environmentally friendly than acrylic. However, my son picked out an acrylic camoflage patterned yarn for the scarf he wanted. My skin crawled the whole time I knitted it, and the scarf is a lot shorter than I would have liked because I couldn’t stand the feel of that nastiness sliding through my fingers.
    That’s a good point about acrylics being a hazard for small children. Scary to think that I wrapped my boys up in acrylic blankets when they were babies.

  88. The comment about babies not being machine washable made my morning. Wool makes me incredibly happy, and I’m glad it’s so accessible and affordable these days. In fact, I’m tempted to go access some right now…

  89. I love wool, wool wool wool wool…Especially the $5 a ball kind. I only wish Patons would hurry up and put some more heathery shades in their Merino lineup, just like all those Northampton colours!

  90. Moths must die.
    Best said with Boris Karloff accent!
    Congrats on the furnace, we had to replace ours last year – and it’s just not as warm. Cursed ultra-high-efficiency!

  91. I’m glad you’re knitting the Must Have; I can knit vicariously through you until I start mine. I am shocked that you are not knitting it in the light green tweed WEBS has – that seems like your color!

  92. Also, and I know my anti-plastic stance strikes some as manic and strange. . . but acrylic is made of poison. Horrid, environment destroying poison. While wool just grows on happy, placid sheep who are decent members of a decent ecosystem.

  93. Totally with you on the wool love. How can you go wrong with a fibre designed by Nature to keep a living breathing mammal warm in inclement conditions?

  94. There was a fire at the Zellers here in Montreal a couple years back–in the yarn section. Since all the yarn there is acrylic, it caused horrible fumes and forced the entire mall to be evacuated and closed for a day. That’ll make you stick to wool!

  95. I love me the cheap wool! I just bought a ton of the KnitPicks yarn shade cards, their yarns are affordable and the colors are nice. I wish the Must-Have Cardigan came larger than a 38″ chest size… sigh.

  96. YAY wool! Go team!
    A friend of mine has a saying that she uses to convince herself and others to go the extra mile, make dinner from scratch, choose good yarn to knit with & so on – it’s pretty simple: Nice things are nice.
    That’s it. Nice things are nice. Isn’t it brilliantly simple?

  97. Too funny. Before I read this post, I was planning to do a similar blog today about a cable sweater I’m knitting out of acrylic and how I don’t mind the stuff.
    This is mainly because it seems like no matter how soft or of good quality the wool is it makes me itch. I’m probably allergic.
    And I’m over budget in the fun spending department. I found this stuff, it was soft and $2 for a 315 yd skein. So I bought it.
    I guess we’ll see how it comes out… probably not as good as the wool version, but at least I won’t be itchy!

  98. The other great thing about Patons Classic Wool is that the cream color will felt. Lots of wools that color won’t. I have a wonderful felted hat made from it.

  99. I find it endearing how you are the great champion of wool. I feel that if we’re ever declaring a patron saint of wool (and really, if we haven’t, shouldn’t we get on that?) you’d be high in the running for it.
    Viva wool, and viva choice.
    🙂

  100. You’re the Wool Whisperer!
    I only wish our winters were a bit more… brutal. It would justify the “need” to knit more wooly garments. I am, however, going to wrap myself in my Noro Lizard Ridge in the event of a fire. To save me….AND the Noro…..

  101. My front loader has a “wool” cycle. Yeah…it is mostly what the rest of the world calls “soak and spin” but I like it 🙂
    One of my top reasons to knit is as an excuse to touch the fiber. I have no desire to touch acrylic. But do you venture out of your “wool” zone to dabble with “bunnies” or alpaca? Silk? Bamboo? Curious.

  102. Just getting my first exposure to wool. Started and have restarted my first pair of socks. So far I love it. I just hope my 15 year old can wear it, excuse me “Correctall” the 15 year old, is reading over my shoulder and has informed me that she hopes to be able to wear “them” as they are a pair of socks. I have knit in cotton for my 3 year old and in eyelash for my 11 year old. The wool though, feels like butter.

  103. “I agree that acrylic has it’s place, but in my case it has been used in the past mostly as a cost-cutting measure. It’s only in the last two years that I’ve started using “expensive” yarns like 100% wool or, gasp, superwash! To everything there is a season…”
    When I was a new, broke knitter (as opposed to now where I’m a fairly experienced broke knitter), I started figuring out what it would cost me to do a sweater in various yarns. I spent hours in the local big box craft stores cogitating over prices and yardages and came to the conclusion that the best prices in the store were on plain worsted weight dishcloth cottons and… Lion Brand’s Fisherman Wool. 2-3 skeins of yarn with a somewhat fearsome price tag worked out to be a not so fearsome price tag for the whole sweater. So I bought a skein of each.
    Later, I discovered a local yarn shop that carries Henry’s Attic yarns. Again, the price tags on the skeins looked fearsome. Then I worked out the math, and found that often the Henry’s Attic yarn was much cheaper than other comparable yarns in the shop.
    I usually go for price per pound or price per 500g as my basis of comparison. It’s well worth doing, since a yarn may look affordable when you read the label and turn out to be a nasty cheat when you put together a whole project (Jamieson’s shetland, I’m looking at *you*).

  104. I have several Wool and Alpaca yarns available at my online store, mostly Misti Alpaca and Patons Classic. I prefer to knit with Wool or Wool Blend yarns, there are only a few Acrylics that dont irritate the Nerves in my hands Paton’s Astra to name one 🙂 I agree wholeheartedly with all the pro wool comments!

  105. The other thing to remember about many synthetics are that they are petroleum derivatives. At $100+ per barrel, they aren’t going to get cheaper.
    Wool is by its very nature a renewable resource.

  106. Is that furnace thing the Thermo-Couple, then? That’s what went on ours the Sunday before New Year.
    We’re flash though. cos we now have two: the new one, jigged in, and the old one, which refuses to come out.
    My Joe-equivalent seems undisturbed by this and who am I to argue?

  107. Some guys think pumping up their abs makes them sexy. The truth? Guys who can FIX things are sexy. 🙂
    Love the rant. The only argument you neglected was “my sister lives in Atlanta and it’s too hot for wool, WHATEVER will I knit for her?”
    I live in Louisiana and honey, acrylic is suffocatin’ HOT. And cotton is NOT WARM when it is sleeting. Wool breathes. We can swing from freezing rain to shirtsleeves and back again in the course of a week. Sometimes in the course of the same day! The secret to using wool in the South is to think of a sweater as a middle or exterior layer — not as a next-to-skin layer for all day wear. Sportweight for pullovers (worn over a cotton turtleneck and under a windbreaker on cold, rainy days), sport or worsted for vests, and worsted for cardigans (usually worn as a light coat on cold, dry days). And of course wool or cotton/wool blend socks, which I wear from October through April because wool breathes. acrylic does not … and acrylic = stinky feet. I even carry a laceweight wool shawl in my tote bag for over-airconditioned restaurants in the summer.
    All the yarn I spin nowadays come from sheep, goats and alpacas who are treated as well as any spoiled lap dog. I was a vegan for a long time but in recent years I feel that fiber from well-cared for animals does not exploit them in any way (unlike fur), and that wool is a renewable resource and a far more responsible choice for all living things than buying petroleum products.
    So … yay wool!

  108. My dear harlot, to you I say amen. I’ve been knitting a long time as well and I used tons of acrylic yarn way back in the 70s and 80s. I really did want to buy wool but it was expensive and not easy to find (especially after the big yarn store in my local mall closed 🙁 I was so sad).
    Here’s what made me decide to only use the best yarn I could afford. I made a beautiful gansey sweater (from the Knitting Ganseys book). I’d never had a sweater fit me that well and I loved it. Alas, it was made from rather cheap acrylic yarn and after repeated washings, it now looks like crap. I put so much work into it and I don’t want to wear it anymore. Also, with arthritis, wool is so much easier and pleasant to work with, especially with nice warm wood needles, which have made my life so much easier. Acrylic hurts my hands to knit.
    When I make something for my kids with wool, I tell them if they aren’t comfortable washing it, they can just give it to me and I’ll take care of it.
    Bottom line, wool is natural, warm, wonderful to knit with. Wool is our friend. 😉

  109. My usual advice to people who say that wool is too expensive is that they’re not looking at the right wool. You *can* buy $30/4 oz. cashmere blends, but you can also buy $3-$5/4 oz. wool.
    Two of my favorite favorite yarns are Canadian: I’m currently working on a Philosophers’ Wool sweater, and I love the sheepy lanolinity of the yarn – about $8 US per 4 oz. hank. And I’ve made sweaters from Briggs and Little before – $4-$5 US per 4 oz. hank.
    I also really like the Webs in-house line of yarns. Have you tried Berkshire yet? It’s an alpaca blend, but the way it knits up makes it a darned near perfect drop-in replacement for Lopi, slightly cheaper, and softer too….
    Also, one more drawback of acrylic: when people are brought up wearing acrylic sweaters, they may start to think that it’s *sweaters* they don’t like, and not *acrylic* — it wasn’t until I started knitting myself and discovered natural fibers that I was one of those people.

  110. Love wool – love it – love silk and linen and hemp and cotton and bamboo and alpaca and natural fibres – hate ackack and nlons Brrrrr!! Besides -Australia grows some of the nicest wool int he world – merino – and we should support local industries (except you guys get qiviut so it doesn’t really seem fair – and bison)

  111. I got a really pretty and very soft blend of wool and soy from Patons on sale at $1 a skein. I don’t usually buy varegiated yarn because there’s always one color I don’t like, but this one is perfect.
    I’m glad the furnace is working now and that you’ve recovered from your bout with the flu.

  112. For anyone who things the care is too much trouble, take advantage of technology. My (European) Bosch washing machine and AEG heat pump tumble dryer both have wool cycles which you can use for any wool, not just superwash – my most loved cashmere cardigans come out of a wash and dry looking brand new without a trace of felting. The machines are not cheap but if you tot up a few years of dry cleaning bills saved, and factor in something for the convenience it still seems like a good deal to me.

  113. You have converted me. I hereby pledge to never buy acrylic again. Like other readers have mentioned, I shudder to think I lovingly covered my babies with gift acrylic blankets.
    I don’t have a moth problem but I keep most woolens in a cedar chest. I also have a very alert indoor (coyotes and hawks about) cat who constantly patrols our home (when not warming a lap or napping in the dog’s bed), for any kind of insect. Also one of our dogs barks furiously at any moth she spots indoors, which sends us and the cat chasing it. We try to catch it and release it outdoors, while she wants to eat them.

  114. On the subject of patron saint of wool …. St. Blasius – saint’s day is Feb 3. Appropriate it should be in the winter time, no?

  115. Enough about the virtues of wool! Many years ago I knit my husband, at his request, a sweater from a lovely blue tweed wool we purchased in Ireland. My hands were red, blistered and sore for nearly a month after I finished. I cannot wear a wool coat that has a collar next to my neck; and I cannot wear woolen slacks without the waistband leaving itchy red skin around my middle. This Christmas I knit caps from 25% wool for my great-grandchildren–quick and easy knits which, once more, left my hands red and itchy.
    I even read the ingredients in all cosmetics, including shampoo and hand lotion, to be sure that the product does not contain lanolin.

  116. Our family uses pliers (specifically Vise-grips) for everything! They are handy to use to keep your rear hatch open on cars, useful under the hood, etc.
    We used to come home to a cold house until we started keeping an extra thermocoupler on hand to fix the furnace quickly!
    My New Year’s resolution was to finish up a lot of unfinished knitting projects. So far, I’ve finished 2 hats and 2 sets of mittens for 2 of my granddaughters.

  117. Ah, Wikipedia answers more questions regarding wool! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wool
    I used to love making fluorescent bulbs glow by rubbing them with a wool sock. I’m not sure how that works if wool is anti-static, since isn’t it static that would make the bulb light up?
    Damn! Now I am contemplating physics! I dropped that class as a freshman in college for a reason!!! Ugh. Must go home and knit soon…

  118. I knew a lot of things about the wool vs. acrylic debate, but I did not know about their differing susceptibility to fire.
    I have three forthcoming nieces and nephews to knit for, and I’m very glad I know this now. The blankets and booties I already made them are a cotton/acrylic blend, but after this, no more acrylics!

  119. It’s so dry in the winter in Colorado that my skin has been itching reading about all of you expounding the virtues of wool! I can’t knit with it, my hands end up like Abby’s.
    As for Bethany wanting to use the stackable drying racks to keep her cats off of sweaters as they dry, my cats treat those racks like hammocks…within 15 mins of putting sweaters on them, the cats are snoring away on top of them. I once stacked the racks thinking that would help, but one cat (the graceful one) got on the lowest rack anyways. It really is quite cute, but the racks certainly don’t help the “cat on wet sweater” problem.

  120. Can’t thank you enough for that link, I’ve already ordered some, now if I could only find a nice pattern for a hoddie for my DIL…ciao

  121. I didn’t read ALL the other comments so I don’t know if anyone else commented on this but that was a seriously grotesque image of unattended babies on fire! I don’t like to think about it but after new year’s eve, I think my son will only get wool clothing from now on. Fortunately, no one got hurt and the fire was a small one, but thanks for pointing out that fact to us mom’s of very busy “babies”.

  122. Oh, oh oh!! I have been wanting to knit that sweater for a while and I even have the pattern and Patons yarn in my stash for it.
    Now you’ve inspired me. Maybe I’ll just go ahead and CO for it tonight. What am I waiting for?

  123. I’m a recent convert to wool (although, shh, don’t tell anyone I work for a company that manufactures acrylic yarn …
    I could never wear wool next to my skin. Never, ever, so I never knit with it. We came out with a superwash merino a few years ago, that feels absolutely like buttah, and I love it muchly. I recently knit one of my little dogs a few sweaters from it after he lost most of his hair due to his advanced age. He loved them, too, and wouldn’t let me take them off. Perhaps he felt like he was covered in his soft, warm fur again, no?

  124. I do love wool, and I’m not fond of knitting with acrylic, but I also really like the acrylic sweater I’ve had for about twelve years. It does fine in the dryer. ‘Course, I also usually machine-wash and -dry my superwash wool socks, and they’ve come through fine, too. Maybe part of the difference is that I don’t have a banister on which to dry things. 🙂

  125. I grew up in regional Queensland Australia and there was no wool for love or money. And anyway it was too hot for wool. I learnt from my Nana to crochet with acrylic – which we called wool. So all my yarn is known as “wool”. There was only a difference between wool and thread (used for doilies).
    It’s such a difference now being able to actually buy “wool” wool. I am only now replacing my blankets from acrylic to wool. I believe acrylic has it’s place. Children’s (not babies) blankets are one of them. Especially when the weather doesn’t go below 15C. But I am loving making new blankets out of proper sheep wool.

  126. My love for WEBS and Cheap Wool knows no boundaries. I got some Cascade 220 on sale for my first sweater, which cost me a whopping $30. (Maybe being short isn’t such a curse after all…)
    Not to mention it’s made from a renewable resource.

  127. You know, I’m all about the wool.
    During my surgery last week, I wore a pair of merino/cashmere socks a close friend designed and knit specifically for me. I wore them before, possibly during (I can’t remember, I was out for the exciting bits), and they were on my feet in the recovery ward after the surgery.
    Then I came home and snuggled up under my Bartlett Blanket of Cozy Happiness I crocheted/knit for myself two years ago.
    I love wool, from the sale skeins of $3.99 to the more expensive kinds of hand-spun and hand-dyed wools.

  128. When I was a kid, I was taught to knit by a relative who told me to only use the best yarn—that acrylic stuff you can still find in every craft store. Now I’m horrified at that advice! I discovered merino wool about eight years ago—and got passionately into knitting. Besides it’s other fine qualities, wool feels so nice. That other stuff gives my hands a creepy feeling. My daughters and I have a game we play at yarn shops. If we feel something that gives us the creeps—we have to feel something wonderful to cancel it out!!

  129. i am another abby person
    i have to read labels etc
    the yarn you are knitting and
    color is just about sold out at webs
    you burn -but the wool garment
    does not- really
    use what you need what you like
    try not to have a panic attack
    and enjoy really
    shampoo cleans nicely gets stains out

  130. Wool… ahhh….. just thinking about a soft wool yarn waiting to be knit up makes me happy.

  131. My favorite wool of late has been the lovely, affordable Briggs & Little! Still available for roughly $5.00 for an entire 4 oz skein.
    It’s what I will likely make my weight loss reward sweater with.

  132. I love Patons classic merino! It is a good relatively cheap wool that knits up nicely-just finished a sweater that took only 6 balls at $4 a pop. Can’t beat that!
    I also just use the washer for all my wools (including all my cashmere sweaters). Just put them in those lingerie bags, use some woolite and the handwash or delicates cycle and a dryer rack. Haven’t lost one yet.

  133. Yeah for the fixed furnace! And yeah for wool. I believe in using it for babies, children, and adults. And nothing is better than getting a good deal. Gotta love Webs!

  134. I’ve had that pattern earmarked for a few years. It’s a gorgeous sweater! I’m planning to use Plymouth Galway when I get around to knitting it. Galway is soft and has beautiful colours. And felts well too! One of the things I didn’t see mentioned about wool, is the colours. There is very little acrylic that could measure up to the gorgeous colours that wool has. :O) And Galway doesn’t bother my allergic hands like Debbie Bliss tweed did recently. I think it has to do with the processing, perhaps. There are some wools that I can knit with and some that I find cause problems.

  135. Screw the moths! That’s what freezers and cedar chests were invented for. I totally agree with you — you can’t beat $5 wool — for the price or the fiber.

  136. Not that I’m saying you’re wrong here (because at that price, that wool yarn is VERY affordable), but it’s been my experiences that acrylic is still much much cheaper than wool, or sometimes even cotton. Of course, it could very well be because where I live, there’s only one small knitting store that isn’t in a department store and doesn’t seem to devote itself to novelty yarn, but for me to get a decent wool yarn, I’ll still have to pay more than for the same amount of average acrylic yarn.
    Though I’m tempted now to hunt down this Northhampton yarn. If it’s so affordable, then I definitely want to support the company for giving me something I can get easily that won’t destroy my budget.

  137. I am sensitive to wool, except Merino, but I knit with it when I can because it is soooo beautiful and warm. I am trying to figure out how to line a cardigan knit of Kauni because I think Kauni is a bit scratchy.
    But I gotta tell you. That line — Most catastrophically, if an acrylic on a person is on fire, it will melt into the burned skin, compounding the injury a very great — made me shudder big time.
    And, yes, there are nice acrylics; but wool is better. Which is why I was so glad I discovered Merino. It released me from total dependence on acrylic.

  138. I’m no fan of acrylic either, even some of the yarn available today (as opposed to the dreck that was around 20-30 years ago). While I’m not convinced that adults combust spontaneously, let alone babies, I still wouldn’t knit layette items from anything but wool, no matter how responsible the parents.
    Alice Starmore, no less, states in her book “Stillwater”, that she always uses her front-loading washer’s wool programme for all of her wool sweaters. I do too, and they come out beautifully (including mohair).
    As for cats with refined tastes in sleeping accomodations, my solution when I had a cat was to set up the drying rack in the bedroom then shut the door, after making certain the cat was elsewhere.

  139. WOOL & WEBS:
    One more point in favor of wool. From experience. Should you find yourself in a boat or canoe going down a river, and should you accidentally drop your sweater overboard, you don’t have to experience a total meltdown if your sweater is wool. It’ll float long enough for you or someone else to retrieve it from said river.
    RE: WEBS
    Those folks are undoubtedly wondering what’s going on today with their orders for Northampton wool. I couldn’t stand it and had to order some. I’m sure I’m not the only one. They should send you a prezzie or a commission.
    Thanks! (I got the amethyst for a sweater with dahlia for trim. Thankyouverymuch.)

  140. Such an educational post! I never knew that wool repels dust. Just one more reason to love it. I smiled when I saw Paton’s Classic Merino mentioned. I’ve made two sweaters out of the stuff and have two more lined up. Every time I see it I pick up at least a couple more skeins because it’s so affordable and lovely. It pills like mad but a sweater stone really does the trick. And it comes such a nice variety of colors…Yay wool!

  141. I love grey wool and cable knitting and I finally found the Street Smart pattern book after looking forever so I think I’ve found my next project…. Oh, and acrylic isn’t necessarily moth proof (or NY moths are stupid). I had a cute little navy blue acrylic cardi with embroidered flowers put away in storage (9yrs between the 2 youngest girls with a boy in between so the girly stuff had a little vacation). When I took it out it was full of moth holes. Had me a bit puzzled since it had been put away clean and it was stored with cotton items and a little linen dress which were untouched by the little beasties. Which reminds me of another project in the lineup- I have a bunch of Lion Fisherman wool (bought on clearance- very cheap!) and need to replicate a favorite old Irish fisherman sweater (that my Dad brought home from a long ago trip to the Ould Sod) that the moths did manage to find. Rat bastards.

  142. I hate to say it but I am a Yarn Snob. I only yarn at yarn shops. I feel that the yarn that I buy at the shops work better for me. I like the feel of the yarn and the smell of it. The most of the people that I give my knitting too hand wash it and have no problem with it. They are so happy to get something that I knitted with love.
    Yarn Snob,
    Amber

  143. I also knit the Must Have Cardigan last summer and wore it the first time on Christmas Day. I loved knitting this sweater!! Just be aware that it knits up smaller than the pattern specifications. At one time there was a MHC KAL which was helpful. I knit mine with Cascade 220 “Ruby” and I love it. I can’t wait to see yours.

  144. oooo, I love me some wool!! I mentioned great yummy wool to my sister who said “wool’s scratchy” Being a spinner I said, not all of it. at Christmas she received some very nice BFL I’d spun up. First comment “oooo, it’s so soft!”

  145. You know, I had never worried about acrylic, until you pointed it out around the time we were knitting the vegetable/fruit baby hats…I totally agree, have not bought an acrylic since (well, maybe some of the fancy furs fun stuff for scarfs, but those aren’t clothing, are they?). There is nothing like the feel of real wool, or other real fabrics. Although in defense, there are some wools that are down right itchy.

  146. I went home over the holiday season (home = San Diego), and I entered the yarn shop and then I realized that there was very little for me to buy. I moved up to northern California where the weather is 40 degrees F(5 degrees C) and realized that acrylic that they offer home isn’t going to keep me warm when I’m going to class.
    There is definitely wool out there that makes you think “what were the factory managers THINKING?!” But it’s the same with acrylic. I still can’t see the purpose of ribbon yarn.

  147. Leave it to Joe to get the heat on haha. Way to go Joe. Good buy on the yarn and it looks like it will be lovely.I too am in love with wool and have finished a cardigan of Manos, just love that yarn BUT detest sewing it together so it’s sitting in a basket crying.

  148. Wow, you’ve been scarred by all the comments you get. You should be able to say you like wool better than acrylic if you want to. Shout it out to the world. Hell, I will for you because I have a blog that nobody reads yet. 🙂
    Martha

  149. Dude, you are like a wool preacher. (Can I hear an A-MEN?) Seriously, is almost like listening to MLK, Jr. OMG, you are the MLK of knitters. I mean, if you think about it, acrylic yarn is almost a part of the CHOKE movement. We have to fight the CHOKE movement! March on Washington, anyone?
    Also, that sweater is beautiful. I can’t wait to see it finished. 🙂

  150. Oh man! Where were you this time yesterday when I was desparately searching for a nice wool inexpensive enough that I could buy the yardage to make a sweater for my fairly large self? Not two hours ago I wrestled my inner yarn snob into submission and bought acrylic at 50 cents more per ball than the Northampton.
    Granted, it’s very nice acrylic, but… I have to go bang my head against a wall now.

  151. good for Joe. folks like him have this wonderful talent I call FSO–Figuring S**t Out.

  152. O.K. Fine. I won’t do any more “Big Bad Baby Blankets” from Lion Brand Homespun. I’ll miss their colourway that matches baby puke, “sierra” if you’re curious. Although I do love using my cheapo acrylic for my market bags (Oat Couture self-storing market bag). Thanks for the rant Steph!

  153. *snort* Love the hand-washing comment. Though I must admit that I’ve been avoiding mine for the last week or so (the sweaters! I’m not talking about my personal hygiene)! It’s been overcast and cold here, and now it’s raining; I don’t think they’d ever dry.
    This must be what it’s like the rest if the time, in the rest of the world….

  154. I knit the “must have” a few years ago in Araucania, another affordable wool. Did an I-cord bind off along the front edges and had a zipper installed. It’s my most favorite, comfy sweater.
    Yours looks lovely.

  155. Love the rant, too. My little guy sleeps in wool pants nearly every night. Easy to wash and catches any leaks from my little side sleeper. I had forgotten about wool’s fire retarding properties, and feel even better, now.

  156. Stephanie – you will not get any arguments about wool – I consider it THE miracle fibre and here is why: When we used to raise sheep, here in Upstate New York, I once, in the dead of winter(probably February since then is when it is coldest), went out and could. not. find. the. sheep. At all. not in the barn, not right outside the barn where there was no wind. No place. I was nuts and ran down to the house to get all and sundry to range far and wide in the pasture to find the buggers. As we all approached the barn again, all of a sudden, these piles of snow out in the field started to move – it was windy you see, and probably 0 degrees F (so probably -20F on the wind chill side), and the sheep had been laying out in the field and the snow had just drifted over them and since their backs were to me, I could not see any black noses, etc. so it all looked like drifts of snow to me. And the girls just ran down the hill (because as usual, they thought it was dinner time, the greedy buggers), covered with this crust of snow and ice. But that is not the best part of the story – when we looked at where they had been laying down, there was no snow(and since this was February, there had been a heck of a lot of snow before out there) – it was wet and melted right down to the ground where the girls had been laying on it. And when the sheep came down and into the barn, we were breaking off the crusts off them and they were shaking themselves off and they were steaming – not only was their skin at the bottom of the fleeces hot, but the fleece close to their skin was hot too. That is what had melted the snow right at the tips of their fleeces and caused it to ice over. They’d made their own igloos.
    Wool is great stuff; I can’t praise it highly enough. It’s great for upholstery fabrics and rugs – wears like iron and as you said, is naturally fireproof. The things you can do with it in terms of processing it are just amazing. My biggest thing is that even when it is wet (as the sheep showed me), it is still really really warm.

  157. Convivialiddell, I always get suckered in by nice ribbon yarn, I swatch it, I stretch it out and measure it, and redo the pattern to match, and still everything I make from it turns into a tent. Sigh. That’s the only acrylic that ever snares me – though even then, it’s usually blended with cotton or linen. There must be some artistic use for it!
    My grandmother is allergic to wool, and knits only in garish acrylic colors – she makes tons of complicated and time-involved things for the family that really never get worn, though they continue to make great heirlooms showing her skill in the bottom drawer. Thank goodness there’s more fiber choice for non-wool knitters these days, though not many of them with the bounciness of wool.

  158. As a person who has been badly burnt in those acrylic pyjamas of the 50’s and suffered through many operations and skin grafts, I can only underline my love of the fire retardant quality of wool…and also the warmth when wet is also a distinct advantage…we love wool…

  159. I’ve been lurking on your blog for while and this post finally got me out of “lurk” mode. I hear you loud and clear about affordable wools. One of my next sweater projects would cost me upwards of $400 if I used the specified yarn. While I’m willing to sink some money into yarn–that’s just crazy!!!
    But wait…humans aren’t machine washable??? Didn’t they invent the sonic shower from Star Trek already?

  160. I wasn’t much of a wool-er when I first started knitting. I thought I was allergic because all the wool I’d tried in my younger (ha! I’m 28!) days was scratchy and made me break out.
    Enter Malabrigo and Purewool. *happy sigh*
    I knit with wool, silk and various blends of those (though I don’t love mohair – it’s a flaw, I’m working on it). I knit with anything BUT acrylic – because it feels like greasy plastic in my hands unless it has at least a little wool mixed in. But one of my friends <3’s acrylic with a scary degree of passion. Good for her, I say – she is a knitter I will not have to tackle at the next LYS sale! ^_^

  161. Patons Classic Merino is my fav yarn. I love it so much I’ve considered eating it with a spoon. Out of it I created my first self-knitted sweater that I wear regularly and love. And the whole darn thing cost me less than $30.

  162. Yup. The wonders of wool. I second all those AMENS. I first worked with it at the age of 12. It was the middle 60s. Acrylic was still available and affordable, but knitting with it was never the same again.
    Let us now praise simple splendid sheep. I think I’ll go have some Peccorino in homage.

  163. The sweater looks like it’s going to be gorgeous! I do love a good deal on wool yarn! I find sometimes buying off the internet across seas, gets me better deals!

  164. You could also mention that wool will actually keep you warm. I know whenever I wear an acrylic sweater I’m shivering if it’s cold and sweating if it starts to warm up (inside or outside). With wool, I’m warm when it’s cold and at least not sweating like I’m wearing a plastic bag if it warms up (inside or outside). We aren’t talking Texas temperatures here . . .

  165. I haven’t read all of the posts but, just in case no one’s mentioned it yet, Knitpicks has some wonderful worsted weight wool for only $1.99 a skein. Can’t beat that with a stick! I’ve made one sweater from it and it is very good quality. I’ve also used several of their sock weight yarns, also with very good results. I recommend them to everyone.

  166. I have to say that I loved natural fibers and hated acrylic sweaters long before I ever learned to knit… as a matter of fact, I was really only familiar with acrylic yarns and that was part of the reason I didn’t think I was really interested in knitting. Then I discovered yarn shops and, well, here I am.
    I am wondering about cotton and fire now. I just knit a lovely blanket out of 100% cotton – I know it won’t melt like acrylic, but I wonder how it rates…

  167. Whoops – let me add – I want to second those who mention that good wool isn’t scratchy. You’ve gotta try some better wool! I can’t stand the feeling of acrylic next to my skin and I hate the way it makes my hair stand on end, but I have a cabled wool turtleneck (I paid mucho $$ for it but that was over 10 years ago and it still looks great and I get compliments on it all the time), that doesn’t bother me one bit. No, it’s not handknit – I only learned how to knit in ’07 – but it’s good wool.

  168. This sweater looks strikingly similar to EZ’s V-Necked Aran Cardigan from “The Opinionated Knitter” (pp 66-71). I only noticed because I just read the book!

  169. I hear ya, Shirley (from NZ!). Once the saying was that Australia ‘rode the sheep’s back’, economically speaking. I’m doing my best to pull us back up on the sheep, as I’m sure a lot of other Aussie knitters are. You guys have some gorgeous stuff, too (I have to say my favourite is the possum fur blends!)
    Stellar performance as always, Stephanie!

  170. You’re wires remind me of the winter we spent nearly a month connecting the two wires that stuck out of the wall and should have been connected to a thermostat together to make the furnace run. Our thermostat went out and we seriously just did not even have the 30 dollars to replace it with. Sad.
    It makes for good stories though, talking about the time you got a nice shock because you failed to make sure you were holding the insulating parts. And let us not forget the time I forgot to “unhook” the wires before I went to work and DH came home that night at it was 88 degrees in the house. OOPS – I’m sure that was 30 bucks worth of heat.

  171. For the record, I’ll never knit that beautiful and fulfilling in its perfect wooliness as it is.
    I adore wool.
    My cats adore wool.
    I don’t even mind the hand-washing (no Mr. Washy in my life, unfortunately, except the rent-a-kind).
    I even adore cables. Like those cables. And I’d just *die* to have that cardigan.
    If it came in my size. What’s a girl to do when some #@!!! designer thinks that a 38 inch bust is an Extra Large? (Besides drown her sorrows with a new pair of socks and some 12 y.o. Jameson’s, of course….)

  172. OOOOOO! I have fallen in love with a new brand of yarn called Aslan Trends. Well, they are at least new to me, I don’t know how long they’ve been around. Their super soft merino is $5/ball. The cotton is $4 a ball. Even their angora blend is around $10. I don’t know how they do it.
    And go men who know how to use pliers. I just use them to open soda bottles.

  173. Hope the flu is all gone.
    Suggestion for research: How does the squirrel feel about natural fibres v. synthetics?

  174. I say this, you want to be able to machine wash your knits, buy superwash!
    I knit with wool a lot and I adore it. I knit soakers and longies and skirts for cloth diapers and there is nothing better than wool.

  175. Now I love wool, I am willing to handwash socks for it, but about that using wool for babies cause it is flame retardant….
    I just didn’t let the little guy smoke in his crib!

  176. How DO you knit so much, so quickly? I am in awe of the throughput of you and other knitters. Do you have to knit continental to make that kind of progress? That beautiful start on a sweater took you only hours, and would have taken me days…

  177. Hey KOLers. Just because you wouldn’t come within 10′ of that vintage acrylic, doesn’t mean I’ll never attend another knit-together. After all, I have declared myself a yarn snob for many of the reasons the Harlot gave in favour of wool. But not to worry. I have someone who will be happy to give the acrylic stuff a good home, if I can figure out a way to get it to her without it costing me an arm and a leg, that is.
    Long live sheep, long live wool!

  178. as a pianist/organist, I frequently perceive a personality-like quality in each instrument I play–you can tell by the touch how well-crafted they are, how much care has been put into their crafting and upkeep. I do not find this same quality in electronic keyboards (the one exception I’ve ever found is playing my brother’s Wurlitzer electronic organ–which happens to produce the sound mechanically, and amplify it electronically)…..in my short tenure as a knitter, I am finding that yarn is like that, too. natural fiber, especially wool, has a personality that acrylic yarn just does not. you can feel the life that was in the fibre, as well as the quality of craftsmanship in the dyeing and spinning. acrylic doesn’t have that life or personality for me. I tried knitting with acrylic for my daughter’s halloween costume (to save money) and it drove me nuts the entire time, I hated the feel of it in my hands and on the needles.

  179. I find the entire wool vs. acrylic debate fascinating. I am more middle of the road. I have noticed the stretchiness of wool and how nice and soft some of the wool is now. But I also remember vividly my grandmother’s wool carpet and how awful it was to play on. Some of the wool in the stores is so soft I didn’t realize it was wool. Wool has come a long way, baby. So has acrylic. I like acrylic, I grew up with it. Last night I slept under an afgan my mother crocheted for me 28 years ago! It takes turns with another afgan my grandmother knitted for me in 1989. They are both acrylic. As for fire retardancy, I certainly wouldn’t want any babies to get hurt. I personally would be more proacitive about fires. Suggest the new mother install and maintain smoke detectors, ban cigarettes and candles from the home, not leave food unattended on the stove, and not leave heat producing appliances unattended. Then they wouldn’t have to worry if the baby’s blanket is wool or acrylic. An ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure. Considering all the petroleum based products in the home is one little blanket going to make a difference? Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. I just hate to hear a perfectly nice fiber vilified and denigrated. Sounds a lot like campaign mudslinging. Acrylic and wool are good fibers with different properties. Neither one is inherently evil.

  180. A few people asked how to repel moths. Moths hate lavender, so keep sprigs of dried lavender with your woolens. Knit Cafe (a great store in LA) actually tucks lavender in with the stocked merchandise, and changes out every few months. If you have trouble finding large sprigs, most health food stores carry lavender in a bulk tea form that you could make sachets with. It smells much better than moth balls!

  181. Wool is the best.
    Besides, sheeps are so pretty in a field grazing 🙂
    Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, of course, but wool is my absolute preference for almost everything-yay for wool!

  182. Well, if I knit wool sweaters for my family — and I’m too novice a knitter to be in any danger of such an undertaking — we might be able to wear them a few times a year. Wool is just too warm for southern CA.

  183. Tangential comment: My favorite “they don’t make ’em like the used to” story is from my sister. When she and her husband were first married they lived in a house in Connecticut that was built before the Revolutionary War. That thing was solid, and warm! Then they moved to Maine, where they lived in a house that was built during the US Civil War. (The house came with their job.) It was falling to bits around them. In exasperation one day (after discovering that the chimney was pulling away from the wall in the living rom) she called me up and yelled, “They sure don’t build ’em like they used to!” May your furnace live a long life!

  184. It isn’t always moths. Sometimes it’s carpet beetles, and you never see them. Acrylics that were eaten by something might have had a tiny percentage of wool in the blend.
    A lanolin allergy is not fun. Most J&J products contain it, including the stuff they use for EKGs.

  185. Commenting first, reading the 206 comments ahead of mine later: I SEE THE LIGHT!! Lawsy, it is as if from the lips of angels — (well, kind of is, and there are some of US who kind of think of Canada as Heaven)…where was I? OH! ConVERted, that’s where. I admit to using and enjoying some acrylic yarns. I make granny shawls in abundance (the k2, yo, knit to the end shawl) and so far, always out of Lion Brand “Homespun”. Love ’em, throw ’em in the washer AND dryer, &c &c. But OH HOLY NIGHT! I never thought about the burningness of it all, and I HAVE made baby wraps, throws, cozies &c out of it. Nae maer, nae maer. That, and merci beaucoup, m’amie. Merci!

  186. Reading about acrylics burning reminded me of the helmet liner project – they don’t mention that acrylic melts into wounds, they just say don’t use it.
    wow – someone won’t buy Aussie wool for animal welfare reasons. Crutching isn’t nice (and they are trying to work out ways around the problem), but really would that person prefer the sheep died after being eaten from the inside out by maggots? Ergh!

  187. I’m slowly introducing myself to nonacrylics, because slowly I’m opening my eyes to all of the possibilies beyond garter stitch scarves. 🙂 Wool is nice. I’m making a lovely bamboo hat today.

  188. We definitely need to reassure Dar and any others laboring under an illusion of project monogamy as a positive character trait that many, many of us have not only a pair of socks going at the same time as a sweater, but a second pair of socks going with our first pair and two very different sweaters, a shawl, and a hat or scarf. You need the simple stockinette project for TV or movie knitting, the simple little project for bus or waiting room knitting, the second set of socks while you gear up to do the second sock of the first pair, the I’ll-learn-how-to-do-this-if-it-kills-me project, and the loved-the-yarn-or-pattern-and-had-to-knit-it-now project. Plus one pattern thrown in because it was something everyone was doing or because no one else was doing it. And that has not degraded our moral fiber but rather improves our skill at handling the multi-simultaneous-crisis lives we all seem to lead now days.
    I’m convinced that the fact I could only afford acrylic when I first started to knit in the early 70s was the reason for my 25 year knitting break. I knit tightly enough then to pill and fray the acrylic while I knit it, much less when I had to rip and reknit. Even acrylic has come a long way, Baby.
    But as a former nurse-administrator for Blood Services at a trauma center, I must whole-heartedly agree with your advice about acrylic and its burnability. Think carefully about where you use it.
    I also find that wool and acrylic really take color differently and display their color differently. The same shade of red will just look different on the two fibers. My eye tends to prefer the way wool displays color, but I’m sure some people prefer acrylic because of the way colors look in that fiber. Color preference is a very personal thing, too.

  189. I always read here but rarely comment. I’m so glad you have highlighted the issue of how acrylic and wool differ when on fire to you huge readership.
    My uncle was a paramedic and he once told me that when called to a house-fire one of their biggest concerns would be that inside was a baby dressed in manmade fibres.
    He went on to describe the details in graphic ways that I would prefer not to repeat here. Suffice to say, acrylic sticks to skin, wool doesn’t.
    Thank you.

  190. Yes! Cheap wool makes college knitters happy campers! Although occasionally springing for the acrylic or the acrylic blend arises out of a budget crisis or wash-related convenience (or some combination of the two). I love me some woolly goodness.

  191. Hurray for Joe, Master of Heaters! Or pliers. Something. Indeed, a man who can Fix Things is a jewel beyond price.
    And I’m *so* glad that my budget and the market is letting me slowly start building my stash of wool. It’s only in the last couple of years that I could afford it, but I’m finally getting some. Special hosannas to those who provide inexpensive merino. I’m not allergic, but I am sensitive; so far any wool yarn that isn’t merino (or mostly so) doesn’t quite pass the ‘against the skin’ test. Although I have hopes that will change with some yarns after washing. But with Knit Picks and others, I can buy pure merino, and at long last, knit some sweaters that aren’t purely for an outer layer. Bliss!

  192. I’m glad your furnace is fixed. Nice weather we are having now. I also had to have my wood/coal burning furnace fixed the Sunday before Christmas. It took my SO and my son 7 hours to fix it. But oh it is working very nicely now. The weather is too. It is hard to knit in 82 degree temps. That is where socks come in.
    About the yarn thing. My SIL passed away and my brother brought all her acrylic yarn to me. 50 boxes crammed full. I gave 1/2 to my step-mom. She doesn’t care what she knits or crochets with.
    I started knitting with wool over a year ago and haven’t gone back to acrylics. So call me a wool snob. I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  193. I have just finished cleaning up my craft room … should really be called my yarn room but my yarn has to share space with fabric and other assorted crafty type stuff … I have 30 grapefruit boxes of yarn … is that a lot of yarn? About 28 boxes is all acrylic! In addition to the two boxes of wool that I have I also have three containers of Briggs and Little and one container of roving. So there is a little wool in my life. And most of my yarn collection has come from yard sales, flea markets and craft stores going out of business. Now that is cheap … although I prefer the word ‘thrifty’!
    Yeah for acrylic!!!!

  194. It’s sad that when we publically declare our love for wool that we have to justify ourselves in fear of offending the “other half” of the knitting world. I’ve yet to see a post from someone going on about how wonderful acrylic is, mention any respect for wool.
    Telling the world that we love wool and why shouldn’t get people up in arms. It’s a personal opinion not some kind of hate crime message.

  195. Love that sweater! It was my first ever knitted adult sweater and I love it to pieces. Warm….warm….warm. Which will be good if the furnace breaks again. 🙂

  196. I knit my MHC in ancient (20 y.o) stash Briggs and Little heathered wool (Fundy Fog) which cost me next to nothing at the time. It continues to be one of my favorite sweaters – worn all winter – and looks as new as the day I finished it. Great sweater – Have Fun!

  197. I’d get excited about $5 yarn whether it was wool, cotton, acrylic, or martian made!
    However, I’m a little concerned since the hat I just made my boyfriend is acrylic. I’ll make sure he doesn’t stand next to any fires…

  198. I haven’t read all the comments, but I want to say that patons Classic Merino, the original called for in the pattern, is beautiful wool, widely available for $5 or less per skein. It has so much oomph and energy in it and knits up so soft and creamy.

  199. OK. I had to come back today to tell you that shortly after reading this post yesterday, I went downstairs – wearing my wool sweater – to cook dinner on my *gas* stove. The cooking was punctuated by much yelling over some continued bad smells. Boy blamed dog, dog just looked around, all innocent. Long story short (well, actually, that shipped sailed, didn’t it?) I look down to see sparks. Turns out it was my beautiful, but suicidal, Uruguayan merino, trying (unsuccessfully, as you pointed out!) to self-immolate, because despite my inability to knit a decent sweater, I keep trying and wear the results anyway. Its humiliation must be *that* unbearable.

  200. I use wool almost exclusively. I fear what my sheep would do if I went over to the Dark Side. They are large and fleecy, and there are several of them, and only one of me. I just know they would take a dim view of this betrayal. Better to be safe than sorry.

  201. I have a scar on my knee and memories that still make my stomach turn from having to have debriding done on a 3rd degree welding burn. I was wearing lovely white longjohns with a cute little ladybug pattern all over them and acrylic in every fiber. A dollop of molten metal fell onto my jeans and burned through to the longjohns and melted them to my skin.
    That was the end of acrylic fabrics for me. The doctor at the emergency room said I might as well have doused my leg with oil and lighted it. I buy my wool from local farms when possible, where the sheep are treated well. When I can’t afford that, I buy the major brands on sale and balance it by supporting organizations that are fighting for decent conditions for all domestic animals.
    I’d love to live in New Zealand.

  202. Here’s my wool story. I am extremely financially challenged at this point in my life. I thought I could only afford manmade fibers. Then, last summer, a friend to whom I owe much introduced me to felting with Patons Classic Merino. Immediately thereafter, another friend offered to buy the clutches and change purses I was felting to sell in her shop. A third friend heard about that and told me about Knit Picks Wool of the Andes. And NOW our friend the Harlot reminds me of fire retardancy. Tomorrow is a meeting of my needlecraft guild and I will have a lawn and leaf bag full of various acrylics for the “junque” table.
    One other thing to think about. As an American, I am horrified as to how much of our foreign policy is driven by our dependence on foreign oil. Maybe by using wool instead of acrylics, I can do a small part in reducing that. Wouldn’t it be great if we had to maintain good relations in the same way with the wool-producing nations?

  203. Lovely wool- frugal is good. Suspect you’ve started a run on it! VBG!
    You might be surprised how many lovely clothes I find at my thrift store that seem to have been donated because the giver was unwilling to dry clean/hand wash them. They’re in perfect condition. Go figure!

  204. I used to knit in pretty much all acrylic because I live in a small town. We had one yarn store, and that’s mostly what she carried. There was scratchy Briggs & Little, and she had the Lopi yarn, but mostly Patons and Bernat stuff. Once I started blogging three years ago I learned of all sorts of different things. Shortly after the start of my blogging the store where I work took over the yarn store. We carry pretty much the same thing that the other owner had but on a smaller scale. I have gotten in new lines of nice sock yarns, and we sells Patons Classic Wool. I still use acrylics occasionally, but I do tend to lean towards the “finer” yarns now. If I want something machine washable I’ll go for superwash wool or an acrylic/wool blend.

  205. I’m eyeing (and have squished) the Northampton Valley Yarn myself at WEBs and I’m anxious on your review of its performance. It is a heck of a deal and I’ve got a $50 gift card to spend. I usually scour the back room for deals and have been very successful. The bonus is that the Valley Yarn is discountable–most of the items out back are not. I will patiently await your critique.

  206. Stephanie
    You are my new hero. I have been lamenting for ages that I couldn’t find good cheap wool. I really like knitting with wool but my budget often forces me to buy acrylic. The observations about cables and acrylic are so true. I just knit half a dozen cabled scarves for gifts from acrylic. Cables behave much nicer in wool. Thanks so much for sharing sources for good cheap wool I am going shopping now.

  207. Agree with you on all sides- except one- Have you noticed that the new stock of Paton’s Classic has gone to a new mill, or a new process, because it is now closer to stringy crap than to that lovely, all purpose wool it once was??????? In fact, the LYS is considering dropping it from the store- and Paton’s Classic has been a staple there since the beginning!What’s up with that?

  208. I used to believe that I couldn’t afford those natural ‘luxury’ fibres, but it seems to me that the real luxury fibre these days is all of that manmade plastic-y stuff. It’s made out of a depleting, non-renewable resource. Now, that’s a luxury I can’t afford.
    I love wool.

  209. Great post, Stephanie! I always stand up for wool in my knitting class… I find acrylics to be way more scratchy than natural stuff. To each her own, though.
    There’s a colorway of sock yarn you might want to check out from Perchance to Knit. It’s called “November” and it looks like it might be up your alley. It’s available at the loopy ewe.
    Happy knitting!
    Alice

  210. Lovely cardigan and nice looking wool. And I almost entirely agree with you on the wool vs acrylic thing. Regarding item 3, I can argue as most of us living in the European Union (and beyond, and even much more frequently in North America now) our washing machines are front loaders so we can’t always wash our woolens the way you do (some machines do have a soak option, but generally you can’t select the water temperature). I do soak mine in the tub or sink and then put them in to spin out water.
    And regarding the landfill… well I hate to tell you, but because the way landfills are managed things that would normally breakdown naturally when exposed to the elements don’t because they are buried (and often covered in clay to keep smells down and pests sort of away). There have been numerous studies of landfills where they’ve been able to unearth organic matter (fruit, vegetables) and things like newspapers that has been buried for decades and you can still tell what it is. Sad, but true.

  211. I knit my niece a baby blanket that she still has, lo these 14 years later, out of cheap acrylic. May the knitting goddess forgive me, for I knew no better, and praise be that the child had the good fortune never to catch fire. For a certain local baby’s blanket squares I used wool and nothing but. (Superwash, I grant you, but wool all the same.) I am completely on board with the wool thing.
    So I have a question, two, actually: 1) am I right that both wool and cotton are self-extinguishing? 2) why, in that case, is it necessary that children’s sleepwear be made of horrible plastic polyester so that it can be treated with that flame-retardant stuff, and why can’t the flame-retardant stuff be used on natural fibers? In the US by law all children’s sleepwear must be flame retardant, so we’re treated to such spectacles as adorable footed baby suits labeled Not Intended As Sleepwear and wonderful cotton children’s pajamas labeled and sold as long underwear. (Proof that there are divers ways to flay a feline.) But why don’t they just use the naturally flame-retardant fibers to begin with? They are so much nicer.

  212. Cotton burns like billy-o. Think of Gone With the Wind, Atlanta in flames as the cotton warehouses go up.)

  213. I, too, knit in the 80’s/early 90’s when wool was expensive and rare. I knit with wool anyway. I was on a futile quest for laceweight wool for years. Ah, the days before the internet. Anyway, I agree with all that you said, but my main reason for refusing to work with acrylic is just that I can’t stand working with it. It’s squeaky and makes my hands sweat and has less than no elasticity. Yuk.

  214. Amen, Amen, Amen on reasons to use wool. After this, I will NEVER EVER make a baby garment using acrylic. There are so many wonderful soft wools that it just doesn’t make sense to put anything else on the baby.
    Mary E

  215. I’m so with you on the wool. Especially the flame retarding thing on babies – I always make baby stuff in superwash wool for that reason!

  216. omg that sweater is fantastic. how could i have gone along for *years* unaware of this pattern??? and huzzah for inexpensive, high quality *wool* yarn also.
    i suspect that reading this blog is really just enabling my own addictions. really.

  217. That’s a great sweater! I’ve just wasted several hours trying to find a yarn shop that will sell the pattern to me in the UK. It seems nobody sells Patons anymore…
    Glad the furnace is fixed.
    – Pam

  218. I’ve been told that EvilBigBoxStore has demanded that its suppliers give them a below-manufacturing-cost price on many products including yarn, and many suppliers, threatened with loss of, say, 80% of their sales, have produced a cheapened product specially for sale to EvilBigBoxStore. Once a cheaper product is made, it ends to affect the rest. Mind you, I have no idea whether Patons is among those affected.
    Cotton burns and smolders. I’ve read that a major cause of death by fire in the 19th century was those wide cotton dresses.

  219. My God! Do you actually read all those comments? I love your blog, thanks for sharing.

  220. I’m so happy for you re the furnace, and hopefully you, are in fine form 🙂 I must have the MUST HAVE cardi…$25 fits my knitting budget much better than most (or many) of your projects I like but can’t afford, so thanks for calling this to my attention. Knit in peace and good health.

  221. I don’t often post, but this brought up a couple of things for me. I made my son a hat for Christmas in VT (Virginia Tech) colors. I told him that I had to wait for them to get the right yarn in because they only had fuzzy fluffy yarn in the right colors at the store. He insisted he wanted fluffy but I refused to make it for him unless he came to the store and approved it. So we went on a jaunt Saturday with a bunch of other errands and he insisted that I was going the wrong way. it turns out he thought I was going to JoAnn fabrics – I had to explain to him the whole high end yarn thing. And to boot, he agreed that the fuzzy fluffy yarn was, in fact, too girly for him.
    Second funny thing, was that after this post I had a dream (nightmare) early this morning that I was making a sweater and it was not even finished and moths had already eaten 1/2 inch holes all over it. I was going to comment to the blog on what I should do and I was relieved when I realized it wasn’t real.
    Toodles.

  222. Stephanie, I could not agree more. I made the Must Have Cardy (which I love too much) out of some cheapo Australian 12 ply that I bought from Elann.com way back before she had an online shopping cart – she was giving it away at about 1.99 a skein. You had to send her an email letting her know what you want and she sent you back a total with shipping and then you cut her a check and sent it off and then when the check cleared she sent your wool. There weren’t a lot of options in Texas back then for aquiring cheap wool, my perferred fiber. That sweater is fabulous and that wool was great! Another good choice is Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool – it’s got like over 400 yards on it and it’s only about 7 bucks and it’s found in many Hobby Lobby’s stateside. It only comes in one color, but heck, you can dye it. I love wool. And living in Texas I am tired of the whines that it isn’t cold enough for it. I’ll tell you what – that acrylic crap is a lot hotter than wool. I have worn my wool sweaters and socks for years and years – can’t do that with even good acrylic. Shoot, even if after say, 20+ years and you’re sick of a handknit sweater in wool, you can felt the damn thing and make something else, bag, potholder, whatever. Try doing that with acrylic. Acrylic has it’s place. Just not anywhere near me.

  223. well stephanie– the have to have cardi well guess what I had to have it. in the middle of going through all my stash I headed straight for the yarn store. sometimes I think I should go to a knitaholics group and get some help for this yarn addiction. I already had the pattern so I only had to buy the wool.

  224. Don’t forget about environmental impact!! I would be willing to bet huge amounts of money, or yarn, or fiber that the manufacturing process for acrylic is much more harmful to the earth than that of wool!!!
    Wool is awsome!
    Beth

  225. I do like wool, but as a knitter on a budget, I have a giantic, almost entirely acrylic stash, and I find it very useful for afghans and scarves in cold Wisconsin. I agree its not always the best, but have you felt Caron Super Soft? NICE! And I find the Patons Merino affordable, but tricky to felt and sometimes scratchier on my fingers.
    Oh, and I crochet it, too! Wool and natural fibers are nice. Acrylic is good too. And I have enough sense to never use it for any wearables other than hats, scarves and mittens. An acrylic sweater, are you nuts?!?!?

  226. “While I’m not convinced that adults combust spontaneously, let alone babies…”
    *Acrylic* will melt and/or combust, though. In 1986 I took a jewelry-making class at the university. The instructor laid down the law the very first session, demanded that we all check our clothing labels, and banned all acrylic clothing from his classroom. Accidentally leaning against any of the machinery–ordinary drillpresses and flexible shaft tools, like one can buy at the hardware store–would have been enough to start acrylic clothing melting into someone’s skin.
    You don’t have to actually be on fire to be burned by acrylic fibers, and it doesn’t have to be clothing, either–acrylic beads (very common in jewelry these days) will also melt. AND the fumes are toxic–at least, that’s what my professor said all those years ago.
    I think about crawling babies and how quickly they and toddlers can “escape” and go exploring in kitchens, laundry rooms, near furnaces, dryers, ovens… it’s scary! And why take a chance with a helpless baby in a crib? So the smoke alarm goes off… what if the parent is sound asleep and takes a couple moments to wake up? The baby could have a lungful of fumes by then, or even be burned already.
    No smoke is good for people, but it just seems unreasonable to me to take a chance on toxic smoke damaging an infant’s lungs. There are alternative fibers, and even if they burn, they at least will not melt into the skin or produce toxic fumes in their smoke.

  227. My sister leaned over a lit candle in a fuzzy acrylic sweater. The front of the sweater was an instantaneous “whoosh” and a fantastic ball of light. Thankfully, Mel was not hurt. Hate the stuff.

  228. Oh, LOVED the comment re moths, little arses indeed. I too make the sign of the horns at acrylic and all it’s nasty brothers and sisters. Give me wool (or cashmere, or silk, or bamboo etc etc) any day of the week. Greetings from sunny Scotland!! With lots and lots of sheep!!

  229. I was wearing a cheapo red acrylic sweater one day when a spaghetti squash I had put in the microwave blew up. The door of the oven flew open, and poor me, I was standing right there at that moment. I got covered in molten spaghetti squash, and that poor sweater melted, fortunately not enough to burn me. the worst that happened was the mess I had to clean up, and the embarassement of pulling spaghetti squash seeds out of my hair during dinner (my husband had invited his boss…). I learned 2 valuable lessons that night… poke LOTS of holes in a spaghetti squash before putting it in the microwave, and never EVER wear cheapo acrylic sweaters while cooking.

  230. 1. Beautiful sweater. Wonderful wool.
    2. For those who are concerned about giving new mothers hand washable wool items, I use superwash sock wool for all my baby items. Superwash sock yarn comes in beautiful colors, is usually very soft, and can be machine washed and dried. A single skein of sock yarn makes a great EZ baby surprise jacket.

  231. I’ve read a fireman’s comments on the synthetics they use for children’s sleepwear–and they melt and bond to the skin much the same as acrylic does. (Have you ever burn tested polyester yarnn? It’s nasty!) Both polyester and acrylic are petroleum byproducts–plastics, essentially–and will melt as they burn.
    Please, please, please, those of you reading this, put your babies and children in natural fibers. If not wool, then at least cotton (or hemp, or bamboo) which turns into papery ash and doesn’t stick to skin as it burns. You can even get cotton pj’s that have been treated if that makes you feel better (although I don’t hold with swaddling my munchkins in chemically-soaked fabric).
    Most of us will never have to deal with our babies or children being severely burned . . . but it’s like wearing a seatbelt, or eating well, or having your teeth checked. So long as you take the precautions, you’ll never have to deal with the consequences of what can happen if you don’t.

  232. You are such an ENABLER!!! Thanks to this post, and yor ever tactfull way of taking away all my excuses, I have just placed my first order with WEBS, for some very bugetable WOOL yarn, and my first ever cabled vest. ~sigh~ I guess I was asking for it….reading your blog and all.

  233. Warning: I am going to be gross…
    I stink in acrylic. Really. I sweat easely under the arms, and it stink much more quickly when I wear high acrylic content garments for more than say one or two hours. So cotton, wool and linen are my friends. And silk too when it gets really cold.
    Now I cannot believe that I write that on a public site. But I am going to push the post button anyway.
    :s

  234. I’m definitely with you on the wool vs. acrylic argument. It just feels so much better to work with. My first sweater was one with beautiful cables, but I knitted it in an acrylic yarn I didn’t love. Oh well. At least I learn from my mistakes. 🙂

  235. Rams and Rachel, I notice that our dear Harlot has ceased posting regularly on Tuesday. Why is that, do you think?
    Hmmm. My puzzler is sore.

  236. So true!! I actually know someone who when he was a child got to close to a flame and his sweater caught on fire. It was acrylic and he suffered horrible burns from it even though his father put the fire out a split second later. The acrylic melted to his skin and continued to burn him.
    yeah wool!!!

  237. Yah – I hate yarn that squeaks while I knit with it. Wool never squeaks! I’m doing ONE project with 25wool/75acrylic and just hating it. And back in the 80’s, that’s all I knit with! My how times have changed. Thank God.

  238. As I was reading this the first thing that came to mind was… why on earth is wool naturally flame resistant? Is there some horrible secret in sheep’s lives that I don’t know about. Are they running through the fields dodging lightning bolts? The poor things.

  239. Wool is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. (With apologies to Ben Franklin).
    Petroleum is a FINITE resource. Our whole civilization is petroleum based. Once the oil runs out, assuming we don’t all starve to death, the plastic yarn afficionados will have to find something else to knit with. Ha, ha!
    I love wool. All hail the mighty sheep, provider of wool and sheep’s milk cheese. Manchego…yummy.

  240. Hurrah for wool!
    And someone to come to it’s defense.
    I too spent the 1970’s and 80’s frustrated at all the acrylic.
    Acrylic I can never wear – it makes me sweat and because it is acrylic and does not wick away sweat it becomes really uncomfortable and kinda fragrant very quickly.
    Wool however keeps one warm but not sweaty and never contributes to a any odor issues. And finally Merino worsted is NOT scratchy but silky smooth.

  241. I freely (and somewhat smugly) admit I am a yarn snob for the very reasons you tout the virtues of knitting with wool. Once upon a time I used that four letter word, acrylic (pardon me!), for making projects, and when my sister was in a yarn shop looking at yarn that was $9 a skein or more, I said that it was way more than I’d ever pay for yarn. Well, live, learn, and eat my words, now wool is king! (I’ve paid $15 per skein for 4 skeins to make a purse…twice! Manos del Uruguay is my absolute favorite!) Bargain wool is great, I have lots in my stash, and with the right project, that more expensive wool is worth splurging on! Don’t get me started on baby alpaca!

  242. Bravo the cheap fabulous wool! Bravo the Furnace!
    I too was once an acrylic knitter. Have seen the light & converted to Wool. It feels good in the hand besides knitting up well.
    Like my dear old Dad says “you get what you pay for”…..sometimes you get a true bargin too.

  243. Being comment #275, I don’t know if you’ll see this or not, but I’ll give it a try. I was just on Ravelry and found it amusing that there’s a new Group formed called “Ewe, that’s gross!” the subject – “wood sucks”. There’s only 1 member so far. Maybe you should cut & paste this blog entry as the first comment 🙂

  244. I mostly knit because I adore wool. Well, and alpaca and mohair and camel… but it’s about animal fiber for me. I wanted socks in my size, my colors, and they needed to be wool. I searched in so many cities for those elusive socks I was discouraged.
    And then I found out I could knit my own? And I could get washable wool (in the case of socks), in pink and turquoise and purple?
    I had not knit in 10 years. I came back to knitting. But it was all about wool. (Socks, in my case… because I could easily buy a wool sweater I liked.)
    That’s my own personal reason. I guess I’m not alone.
    (Right now I’m knitting my first sweater in years… cotton/wool blend I stashed in 2001, very nice. For me. And we won’t talk about the 3 mohair sweaters-worth, and the chunky tweed in fuschia… all in the stash of someone who knits one sweater every 3 or 4 years. I collect yarn, doesn’t everybody?)
    I’m allergic to dozens of common foods, but I’m not allergic to any animal fiber. Polyester, I can’t have. Wool, no problem. Thank goodness for small favors.
    (For the record, at least some of those non-wool baby items that are treated to be flame-retardant? The fine print says that the treatment does not last forever. Sigh.)

  245. For those of you who make purchasing decisions based on animal welfare concerns, you should be aware that mulesing/crutching are not Australian: they are common wherever the environment makes flystrike likely, and not exclusive to any country. I am bemused about why people think or say that all and only Australian wool is from farmers who practise these behaviours.

  246. Once again, you make me glad to be a knitter! Loved the post. So true about wool.
    I’m lucky and got six full sheep fleeces for $50. I’ll be rolling in wool (albeit with a bit of work) for the next decade!

  247. I agree with everything you say about wool! Some people just haven’t seen the light, and I’m sorry for them.
    However, let them do what they like. After all, we need people like that. We can point them out to small children, and use them as examples of what can happen when they make the wrong choices!

  248. I can’t believe I’ve sat up all night reading all the comments about the YH’s post espousing the pleasures of wool! I’ve knit for over 45 years off and on, but just in the last few years have come to know about natural fibers being the “creme de la creme” of the knitting world. And now I know why WOOL is “king” (or should I say, “queen?”)
    I always thought I couldn’t wear wool (the itching drove me crazy, as it did my dad, but my mom & brothers had no problem–I guess that’s the gene theory in operation), but my knitting friends have assured me that the new softer & less heavily-processed wools will not bother me, so I have started a stash of 2 different yarns to try. I purchased them both during a yarn retreat that the Atlanta Knitting Guild held several years ago. (Did I mention that my greatest flaw is Procrastination??) I have not yet found a sweater pattern in DK weight in a plus-size which can be completed with the amount of yarn I have (I did buy all they had of each one); now I’m going to earnestly peruse my fairly-large collection of knitting books and magazines to find a suitable pattern so I can get started soon!
    Happy knitting, everyone!

  249. I happen to have started “Must Have” a few weeks ago and am happily knitting away on it. I love to see other versions – yours and those on Ravelry. I find it a very satisfying knit. Not too complicated, but with a lot of nice stitch variety. I am using Patons Merino and it is soft and elastic. I do love that pattern book, too!

  250. Great deal on the wool. I should get some for my next project, but, still have some other stash for 2 sweaters that I should knit first. By the way, what is a good way to deal with the ends when finishing? Do you just weave them in, or tie a knot in the end? or weave and tie?

  251. Nothing like a good wool v. acrylic debate to liven up the morning. I love wool but living in Florida our “winter” only lasts 2 days so sweaters aren’t much of a priority for me. I can use them at work b/c they crank the a/c up to ridiculous proportions (i think to compensate for not having seasons floridians pump up the a/c to create “winter” inside.) I have to say though, for acrylics, SWTC’s bamboo and soysilk yarns are AWESOME. Especially when making lacy items that i can use in florida. SOFT SOFT SOFT. (Acrylic has that in common w/ wool I think, there is WOOL and then there is merino, there is acrylic and there is bamboo. It depends on WHAT you buy.)
    =^)

  252. I used to think that acrylic was just as good as anything else.
    Then I started knitting with wool. Cheap wool, but wool nonetheless. And after that, I tried alpaca. And now acrylic feels like knitting with carpet. I still use it to make things like toys that don’t have to be worn, but everything else is natural fibers for me, please. Especially wool.

  253. right on. haha i am a lover of all things but it does feel good to get a nice price yarn! i’m with you!! 🙂 that sweater looks lovely!

  254. I adore wool Love-Love-LOVE it. Even more than silk & cashmere, really.
    It’s the perfect workhorse. And it can be elegant. Springy. It smells good, it keeps my feet warm, and I adore it.
    Funny, the last time I was at WEBS I decided to use that very yarn to make myself a nice cabled sweater. Jungle Green!

  255. Like the others, I’ve converted to pretty much knitting with natural fibers. I used to keep acrylic around for afghans, but I don’t even do that anymore.
    Being a poor grad student, I get much of my wool from the thrift stores by recycling sweaters. That enables me to use luxury yarns for a fraction of the cost and a little of my time. I made a friends baby a gorgeous sweater in a cashmere/merino blend in a red/cream/brown marl. It should hide the vomit stains nicely. I used the same yarn to make my step father (who has major skin issues) a hat and scarf. He was thrilled. I also made my mom cashmere socks from a recycled sweater that had a few stains (the stained yarn was removed as I unraveled the sweater, of course).
    As the others have said, with ALL of my cashmere, wool, whatever, it goes into the washing machine. Delicate cycle, cold water. And, unless the object is large and heavy, it gets hung up on a hanger to dry. Larger objects get draped over the shower curtain or a clean table. I have no problems with felting. Period.
    As for cats, I close the door on the “drying room”.
    To keep little invaders out of my stash, I buy the Yardley Lavender soap–about $1 per bar–and put 2-3 bars in each box of yarn. It keeps things from smelling musty, too. I change the bars about once a year. You can also buy lavender flowers (if you look, you can get them fairly cheap) and a pound goes a looong way. You just have to find little cloth bags to put it in.
    I second several things about acrylic I’ve found from experience:
    – it’s a horrible insulator, whether the temperatures are warm or cold. If it’s warm, the sweater is too hot (and I start to stink) if it’s cold, I’m cold. I have an alpaca sweater that is light and thin, yet by itself is good for -15C or +20C. I can’t say I’ve ever found that for acrylic.
    – acrylic not only makes me stink, it builds up a serious funk from detergent and fabric softener
    – acrylic generally does not “wear” well and tends to look like crap after a while. And it really does attract dirt and hair. My acrylic sweater coats picked up everything if they happened to fall off the back of my chair and onto the floor. I gave up on sweater coats and jackets for a long time because of that.
    – acrylic is made from non-renewable petroleum
    – acrylic does melt and flame easily. If you do a burn test, you will find it leaves an oily black residue. Wool burns only reluctantly, then tends to self extinguish. Cotton burns well, but doesn’t tend to melt and isn’t oily and thus doesn’t stick to the skin. Oils boil and flame at hotter temperatures than things like water or cotton. That’s why a burn from boiling oil is so much worse than a burn from boiling water. The oil is hotter AND it sticks. Acrylic behaves like the petroleum product it is.

  256. Umm, while I understand that there may be some issues with the process by which bamboo is turned into yarn, neither bamboo nor soysilk contain acrylic (which is a petroleum product).
    Anyway, it was 30 degrees C today, and every other day where I live, and it will continue to do so until it heats up for the summer. So, no wool or acrylic for me. I’m knitting a cardigan in linen right now, but I find that most of the time thin cotton layers are all I can handle, and I’m not willing to knit anything that fine.
    I’m looking forward to wearing my handknits the next time I’m home.

  257. Nice wool at a nice price is a very happy thing indeed and especially useful for stuffing the stash. Now if I could get a Must Have Body to fit into the Must Have Cardigan I could work it up for that price. Alas.

  258. Your comment on wool and fire is exactly why I have banished any acrylic from baby items. I’m glad you wote about it. Thank you.

  259. The “Must Have Sweater” is beautiful and something I’d love to make this winter but I have not been able to unearth the Paton’s booklet “Street Smart” and believe me, I’ve looked! Anyone have any ideas where I might buy it?
    Many thanks.

  260. I fully agree with you there Steph. I thought that acrylic yarn was the greatest thing imaginable when I first started knitting. There really are quite a few nice blends out there that are super soft and just plain snuggable. But I’ve shyed away from the acrylics because of the exact reasons you stated. You can find inexpensive natrual yarn that ultimately won’t cost you much more then acrylic would. And what you said about the fire is too true. It’s scary to think about someone’s baby having acrylic melted into their bodies. I know some people are worried to use wool for their babies in case they’re allergic, but usually if you get wool that’s been cared for a certain way, it doesn’t effect them. And the sweater’s looking great so far. 😉

  261. All too often, patterns specify hugely expensive yarns, but substituting is reasonably easy.
    If you use the advanced search program at Yarndex.com and put in the yarn dimension you want, and the fiber content you want, it will bring up color cards of all available yarns in the category, including their manufacturer’s suggested retail prices. All you need to do is find something appealing that will work to the same gauge.
    Unfortunately, Yarndex depends on manufacturers to keep their listings updated, and a lot of them don’t do it, but this is a pretty good way to get something affordable.
    This whole problem would be easier to work with if yarn shops arranged by gauge instead of manufacturer, but I’ve known only one–late and lamented–that did that.

  262. I have looked online for the Paton’s Street Smart
    Booklet and have checked all local Michael’s and
    AC Moore stores and cannot locate the booklet.
    Where can I find the book or the pattern?
    Thank you.
    Jeannie

  263. Tara, acrylic is used as a synonym for synthetic. So polyamide is described as an acrylic fibre by knitters, though they really mean synthetic.
    Bamboo and corn fibres are like rayon, they are made from cellulose that is artificially modified. So the source materials are natural but the processing artificial. I would not call rayon a truly natural fibre despite it being made from wood pulp or chips.

  264. Going to undergrad in an Norwegian-ish town in Iowa, I was told the story by my Anatomy professor of the good friend of hers whose life was saved by a Norwegian sweater. Most people there owned one, and she happened to be wearing that and a pair of pants of questionable fiber content one day when she got in a major car crash. After they’d pulled her out of the flaming wreckage and taken her to the hospital, they had a terrible time trying to cut her pants off…they’d melted somewhat to her skin, and her legs were horribly charred with 3rd degree burns, and she had to fight infection from them. However, her Norwegian sweater was 100% wool, and self-extinguishing. The fire never reached even the skin of her abdomen, let alone the delicate vital organs contained inside. Wool saved her life.

  265. Coming in late on this discussion, but I might also add that buying wool yarn supports a farmer (like me), while buying acrylic yarn supports the petroleum industry.

  266. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love that the Harlot herself isn’t a yarn snob. It makes me go all warm and fuzzy… like my Shedir I knit from Patons Classic Merino!

  267. But moths (little arses) hate lavender, and I use those wonderful lavender dryer sheets that I can get at Trader Joe’s to lie around in my woollens and scare the moths away.

  268. Okay, I was all prepared to just scream a hearty AMEN for your rant, and then I read Beth in Indiana’s comment (I might also add that buying wool yarn supports a farmer (like me), while buying acrylic yarn supports the petroleum industry.), and now I think I might have actually scared the dog with my whooping H#LL YES.
    Rock on with the cheap and good wool. (p.s. Alcariel forced me at needle-point to buy one of the Vintage kits after reading this post. You, my dear, are an ENABLER.)

  269. I think that you have soundly trounced all my reasons for using cheap acrylic yarn. You especially got me with the handwashing bit. I’m almost speechless :-).

  270. Thank you for sharing how you wash your sweaters in the washer. I tried it today. Very easy!! In the past I’ve been afraid of the spin, but it worked great!

  271. yea for wool and wool blends. still trying to talk my hubby into a sheep though. oh keep wool away from cats. they are more attracted to it than acrylic lol

  272. During my recent trip to Canada I found the wonders of basic wools in Michael’s. I couldn’t believe how CHEAP it was and bought a fair bit – more than my husband will ever know!

  273. In the early 80’s when I learned to knit again, I was an acrylic snob. None of that silly wool for me no sir!
    When I learned to spin my own wool in the late 90’s, I saw the light. We had Rambouillet sheep and it spins up like butter.
    Recently I went through some very old stash and rid myself of the scary acrylic. I only saved some very nice stuff to use in some Knitting for peace projects that specify non wool for the items. It really is wonderful how affordable the real thing has become- and for really fabulous feeling wool.

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