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Ditzy Girl
Permanent Resident
USA
4712 Posts |
 Posted - 01/19/2012 : 5:25:45 PM
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What are some of your fave yarns for baby blankets?
Zola, Seattle, Wash.
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Ditzy Girl
Permanent Resident
USA
4712 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2012 : 09:32:02 AM
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Well I didn't like the yarn I was using for the Tree of Life Baby Blanket so I frogged it. It was too heavy. Now I am looking for yarn to try again. I live in Seattle and we have had a snow storm for a couple of days. I have a 50% off Jo-Ann coupon and I see this a.m. the bus is running again. My big outing today is to take the bus to Jo-Anns and buy some yarn for the baby blanket. I don't want to take the car out in this slop and I have been soooo good about working out of stash that I have nothing light enough in my stash so I MUST GO to Jo-Anns and buy some yarn . It will be my outing for today.
Zola, Seattle, Wash.
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purlthis
Permanent Resident
USA
2715 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2012 : 10:21:45 AM
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Encore!
Rachel
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As I get older, I prefer to knit. Tracey Ullman
http://purledthis.blogspot.com/ UPDATED! WITH PICS! |
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PBELKNAP
Permanent Resident
USA
1127 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2012 : 12:18:32 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by purlthis
Encore!
Rachel
I second this! I LOVE working with Encore, for many things. Plus, I get to throw business my LYSO's way, rather than a big, large, cold, impersonal chain store.
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PAM
Twitter Name = WildKnitter
Blog: http://wildknitter.blogspot.com
If I could only do this for a living... |
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Ditzy Girl
Permanent Resident
USA
4712 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2012 : 2:55:35 PM
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Well I just returned from Jo-Anns and bought a pound of Caron in a lovely soft green. Now I can restart the Tree of Life baby blanket.
Zola, Seattle, Wash.
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Knitrageous
Permanent Resident
USA
1445 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2012 : 09:57:28 AM
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That's a good choice Zola. I like something washable and soft.
~~~~Jamye
http://knitrageous1.blogspot.com
I don't have a problem with authority, I just have a problem with people telling me what to do. |
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ikkivan
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
429 Posts |
Posted - 03/04/2012 : 08:17:24 AM
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Well, I used synthetics for baby items in years past until I had a sort of epiphany when I was knitting some of the military helmet liners ... nothing but 100% wool was accepted because of the burning/melting/stick-to-the-skin issues. That's when a connection to baby blankets hit my brain because so many baby items of synthetic fabrics are treated to make them flame-resistant.
So now I will not knit baby blankets out of anything other than 100% (usually superwash) wool. Period. Yes, I know that is adding a lot to the cost, but I've decided I'd rather knit a newborn hat and booties from washable wool than a big, impressive blanket from dangerous (IMO) acrylic.
Donna, with intentions always bigger than her available time. (OkieDokieKnitter on Ravelry) |
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ikkivan
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
429 Posts |
Posted - 03/04/2012 : 08:27:44 AM
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P.S. I have made baby blankets from blends that were 75% synthetic and 25% wool, but decided that the wool content probably wasn't enough to make the blanket safe. I'd be interested in knowing WHAT ratio of wool to synthetic would be necessary for the wool to extinguish a flame before it melts the synthetic portion. The addition of some nylon or acrylic often does help bring down the price of the yarn.
Donna, with intentions always bigger than her available time. (OkieDokieKnitter on Ravelry) |
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anderknit
Permanent Resident
USA
2549 Posts |
Posted - 03/04/2012 : 09:01:30 AM
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Donna, I agree with what you said about wool and flame resistance. One way to find less expensive wools is to look at the "private label" brands of certain yarn retailers, such as Knitpicks and Webs.
Sorry I can't help with your question about what ratio of wool to synthetic provides flame resistance. You could try the good old flame test on some yarns in your stash. It's an interesting question.
"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.' " |
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Nanaknit
Chatty Knitter
286 Posts |
Posted - 03/04/2012 : 09:42:14 AM
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Tee, hee, hee. When I read Anderknit's post I got a visual of a woman in her back yard with a flamethrower, testing a red heart yarn blanket hung on a close line. Hopefully there is someone else on the forum who appreciates my inappropriate sense of humor.
Linda
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't."
-Eleanor Roosevelt |
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Ditzy Girl
Permanent Resident
USA
4712 Posts |
Posted - 03/04/2012 : 5:22:44 PM
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I really like the feel and look of the Caron super soft, but also
use the Encore.
Zola, Seattle, Wash.
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Grand-moogi
Seriously Hooked
Australia
773 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2012 : 01:38:42 AM
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If you are looking for good 100% wool and can't afford anything really expensive, try Bendigo Woollen Mills. They sell their wool in large 200 gram balls (that's just over 7 ozs) for about $12 to $17 Australian a ball. Our dollars are almost par at the moment. I think it is about $1.07 so $10 Aust would be worth $10.70 US approximately.
They only sell direct to the public so you can't buy it in a shop. The thing to do is to go on line and find them and then put your name on the list and they will send you sample cards. That way you can see the real colours etc.
You do need to think in terms of ply.
4 ply is fingering, 8 ply is double knitting.
12 ply is probably chunky.
You could put three 4 ply yarns together and knit a 12 ply pattern. 2 X 4 ply is double knitting etc.
I do not have any connection with Bendigo Woollen Mills apart from the fact that I often knit with it.
Maybe we need to get it reviewed?
How would we do that?
I knit a hug into every stitch |
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NutmegOwl
Gabber Extraordinaire
561 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2012 : 10:39:29 AM
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My Darling Bebe (now in preschool) has had skin issues since birth and can pretty much only wear/use natural fibers. That means cotton and 100% wool. (Superwash or not - doesn't matter to me.) So the acrylic baby blankets were nice, but we couldn't use them until she was older, and had clothing as a barrier between her skin and the blankets.
One yarn with some acrylic that has worked well for us though, is Crystal Palace Bunny Hop, which has some angora in it. The polyamide (acrylic by any other name) must be different enough to not cause her issues, and it comes in some nice Crayola brights, too.
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Nutmeg Owl
Quaecumque sunt vera
http://www.owlwaysknitting.wordpress.com |
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technikat
Gabber Extraordinaire
592 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2012 : 10:23:29 AM
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I've read that polyamides are more like nylon than like acrylic. Not being a chemist I have no idea what the difference is.
My FOs
http://www.flickr.com/photos/technikat/ |
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daniella
New Pal
1 Posts |
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crc532
New Pal
USA
23 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2012 : 06:27:20 AM
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Cascade 220 Superwash is what I have decided to use for baby things. Years ago, I made a pair of legwarmers for my daughter that were too large. I used to throw them in the wash because they were always sitting around. They look just like they did 5 years ago. I have even thrown them in the dryer with no difference in the fiber. The yarn was not heathered, which I don't like as much. I just heard about the flammability of acrylics and that made my decision also.
crc |
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Thredbende@aol.com
New Pal
5 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2012 : 06:34:57 AM
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| As a registered nurse and maker of many baby blankets, I recommend natural colored cotton in unmercerized fiber. All things exuded from babies (and new mothers, by the way) stain, so baby stuff must be bleachable, IMHO. I like to make small cabled blankets with fringe with worsted weight white cotton, no synthetic added. With washing, they get gloriously soft and a fuzz that reassures our primitive, once pelt wearing wee mammal brains. Babies will happily twine their fingers in the fringe; my daughter called her blanket "fringy" and I had to replace the worn nubbins with more after several years since cotton is not strong. |
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Judy Gibson
New Pal
USA
1 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2012 : 07:25:36 AM
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| Well, for ease of care it has to be acrylic. And for babies it has to be soft. My all-time favorite baby yarn is Dreambaby (by Patons I think), which comes in fingering and DK weight. It's not sold in general crafts stores like Jo-Ann as far as I know. Second choice, a light worsted weight, is Caron Simply Soft. It comes in a large color choice including variegated ones. The "painted" versions seem bulky and heavy when knitted but wash out to be quite soft. |
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ikkivan
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
429 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2012 : 08:17:03 AM
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Sorry to repeat myself here, but I suppose this subject brings out the evangelist in me ... "ease of care" does NOT have to mean highly flammable synthetics. Review CRC's post about the wonderful superwash wools now available.
Donna, with intentions always bigger than her available time. (OkieDokieKnitter on Ravelry) |
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purlewe
Permanent Resident
1866 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2012 : 08:43:47 AM
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I tend to wool or cotton for babies. I once had a new mother to be insist on my knitting a baby gown in 100% acrylic and I was so astonished. I offered linen and cotton as choices, but she insisted on acyrilic. That is where my tennis elbow started. :D So now, as the knitter making the object, I insist on cotton if not wool.
Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming. ~Myrna Loy
http://purlewe.typepad.com/ |
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Stasher
New Pal
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2012 : 08:44:00 AM
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| Cotton-wool blends are my favorites for small afghans. I haven't tried the 50/50 blends, but I have used the 80% cotton/20% wool blends: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece or Cascade Sierra. The wool gives the cotton a wonderful feel, and it's still machine washable and dryable (sp?) even though the label says to dry flat. I've also used 100% mercerized cotton like Tahki Cotton Classic--smaller gauge, but I love the drape. I've done a log cabin blanket out of yarn similar to Cotton Classic. It was lovely. |
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Best Yarn for baby blankets
