Help with yarn shopping, please!

emsumm

My sister has graciously offered to make some soakers and skirties for my girls, but I have zero experience buying yarn and I am hoping someone will help me!  I want something pretty and relatively versatile...girly is fine, neutral is fine, too.  I need enough for at least 2 items (soakers or skirties), and I'd like wool.

Would anyone be willing to help me shop?  I tried looking on Spots and got totally overwhelmed.

moussy

I can't remember who here recommended BFL (blue faced Leicester) . I bought 8 oz. Off of spots and bought 4oz. Of trim. My MIL made 1 medium skirty with the Juliette skirty pattern and she has enough left for at least one more or med. Longies.

Dr.Loretta

How much are you willing to spend?

Try knitpicks.com and see if anything speaks to you there.

I made a skirty for DD in Taos variegated wool and like how it turned out.

I just bought a custom dyed yarn and am itching to start knitting. It's from Three Irish Girls.

As a general rule, I'd look for at least 80% wool (I'd just go ahead and get 100%), not superwash, and worsted weight. Your sister's pattern should give the amount she needs.

Here are some ideas:

https://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Wool_of_the_Andes_Tonal__D5420208.html

https://www.yarnmarket.com/yarn/Artyarns-Supermerino_Yarn-1999.html

https://dancingleaffarm.com/products/yarn/rhumba/

https://www.yarnmarket.com/yarn/Crystal_Palace_Yarn-Taos_Yarn-2770.html?PPC=true&kw=goo:Taos+Yarn-p&s_kwcid=TC|8929|taos%20yarn||S|p|6661050853&gclid=CKvLo8PP9akCFZV25QodA1LGXQ

 

 

emsumm

Dr.Loretta:

How much are you willing to spend?

Try knitpicks.com and see if anything speaks to you there.

I made a skirty for DD in Taos variegated wool and like how it turned out.

I just bought a custom dyed yarn and am itching to start knitting. It's from Three Irish Girls.

As a general rule, I'd look for at least 80% wool (I'd just go ahead and get 100%), not superwash, and worsted weight. Your sister's pattern should give the amount she needs.

Here are some ideas:

https://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Wool_of_the_Andes_Tonal__D5420208.html

https://www.yarnmarket.com/yarn/Artyarns-Supermerino_Yarn-1999.html

https://dancingleaffarm.com/products/yarn/rhumba/

https://www.yarnmarket.com/yarn/Crystal_Palace_Yarn-Taos_Yarn-2770.html?PPC=true&kw=goo:Taos+Yarn-p&s_kwcid=TC|8929|taos%20yarn||S|p|6661050853&gclid=CKvLo8PP9akCFZV25QodA1LGXQ

 

 

This is insanely helpful, thank you!  I clicked on the first link and there are already 3 that I want.  Thank the good lord I can't knit myself, or this could get bad very quickly...

bethandjoe09

If you're looking for information on yarn types, then I've found this link helpful (though there's a lot of info in it):

https://www.diaperswappers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=129834

 I agree with Dr. L that you want at least 80% yarn content, and higher is better.  Superwash apparently doesn't take lanolin as well (I think), so you want to avoid it for soakers.  Worsted weight wool will usually work for woolies, though within the worsted weight category there's still a range of weights (weight = thickness and affects both the length of yarn you'll need and how thick the woolies will be).  You can use Paton's wool, which you can get at most stores that sell yarn (I've found it at JoAnn's, Meijer, Ben Franklin... pretty much everywhere).  If you want to go fancy, then I have some Mosaic Moon yarn and some Western Sky Knits yarn (both sell through HC), and I like them both.

You can always link something you're thinking about using here, and get opinions.  As long as you don't have something like silk in it, though, and it's 80%+ wool, you should be fine.

emsumm

Ack, how am I ever going to decide????

 The top contenders:

   Carnival

Crocus

  Deep Waters

    Blue Violet

bethandjoe09

I've found that deciding can be easier if I can find samples of the colorways knit up, so I can see what they look like.  Sometimes it's easier to decide that way.  I was only able to find one, but here is what the Carnival yarn looks like knit (the texture would be different for yarn you'd use for woolies, but I'd think the color distribution would be about the same).  Deep Waters and Blue Violet will both be more tonal, I think, so a much subtler variation in color.  I have some shorties in Malabrigo yarn that are somewhat of a cross between those two colors, and I love them.  I really have no idea about Crocus. 

emsumm

Oh, thanks, that's a great idea!  Damn, why did I ask my dh's opinion...he thinks it's "busy."  What the hell does he know?  Lol