Yarn Review - Stylecraft Baby DK

This was the yarn I used for the socks I just wrote about in my last post, and I thought I'd write a little review of it, since some things came to mind when I was knitting with it. I used it to make the socks that I made my Mum for Christmas, and also made a pair for myself. I knit it pretty tight, on 2.75 needles (4mm are what are recommended on the ball band), to make a thicker fabric for the socks.



It knit up into the socks quite nicely. It's soft and comfortable against my feet, and they make a nice pair of house socks, being relatively thick. I don't know how they'd hold up in shoes, but my intention is just to have a thicker pair of socks for the house, to keep my feet warm in winter.

The yarn comes in 200g (590m/645 yards) balls, which was enough to make 2 women's socks with approx 10" cuffs, and one with 8" of cuff. I bought another ball to finish making Mum's socks, but I'm going to use the rest for yet another pair of socks (but probably patterned this time).

I really liked working with this yarn. It's really quite soft, and if I was making something for a baby that had to be machine washable, I'd definitely consider using this yarn. I think it would be soft enough, and the lilac I used is a really pretty shade.

Actually, when I was knitting with it, I got this strange feeling that it didn't actually feel like acrylic. It just felt too soft, and shiny, like cotton. In fact, I actually felt this way so much that I had to check the ball band to see if there was any cotton in it. I was pretty sure it was 100% acrylic (which is turned out to be), but it just felt like cotton in my hands, you know? And it has a slight sheen, just like some cottons that I've come across. It is 100% acrylic, which is what I had thought when I picked it up in the shop, I just thought it was odd that in my hands, it felt like cotton. Not bad odd, in fact I really liked it. It might even be a nice yarn for a scarf or something. Being acrylic, it won't be as warm as a wool pair of socks, or scarf, but it feels nice against my skin. I think it would make a nice scarf for the spring season.

The stitch definition is very clear too, again, like cotton. You can see it in the photos of the socks.



One problem I had was that the yarn was a little splitty. I've had this problem with other Stylecraft yarns (Special and Life, which I mentioned in this post) It was probably exacerbated by the fact that I was using smaller than recommended needles, but overall, I think it's just the way Stylecraft yarns are spun. With the Baby DK though, it behaves so much like cotton, that any splitting is quite visible. In fact, the way that the yarn split and behaved was another thing that made me think it had some cotton in it.

Overall, I really like this yarn, and I think I'll defintely use it again. It's soft, and I think makes a nice alternative to cotton, because it behaves so much like it. Like I said, I think I would use it in a spring scarf, or a baby sweater or something. Next time I'm in the yarn store actually, I think I'll have a look and see what other colours they have ;)

Look! A WIP Actually In Progress!!

It seems like it's not very often these days that I post about a work actually in progress. I always seem to leave it till it's finished, and then write one post about the FO. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with that - after all, it means that I'm busy knitting - but it's nice sometimes to write about something that isn't finished yet.

So here it is, the Icelandic Turtleneck Sweater (rav link), from the crochet me book (amazon link), by Chloe Nightingale.

I've been obsessed with this sweater since I first bought the book, and have been desperate to make it, but I never seemed to have enough suitable fingering weight yarn. So, on the way back from my parents' house last week, I popped into the wool shop at Glenrothes, and bought some :) I went in looking for navy, since I'd used navy Stylecraft Special 4 ply for my CanCans, and figured that would be a suitable yarn. But they didn't have enough navy to make the armwarmers as well, and that's really what makes the whole outfit, I think. So I looked around, and they had this Stylecraft Life yarn in a pink heathery type colour. I know, pink! It's soooooo not me. Usually. But recently I've been kind of drawn to making things in pink (I've no idea why, and I hope this new found girlyness goes away soon, it's just not right, lol!). Anyway, it's working up quite nicely, and it'll be a change to have something in a pastel-y colour.

The yarn seems to be spun exactly like the Stylecraft Special, it has that same splittyness :( My crochet hook keeps going through the plies. But it's soft and makes a nice fabric, as does the Special. The only difference between the two yarns is that the Life has a wool content, and you can feel it in the fabric :) It's an affordable, nice yarn for a sweater or other garment, you just have to watch what you're doing or you end up with split stitches. But it forces me to relax, and slow down, and do the whole zen knitting/crochet thing, which can't be bad really!