What’s the Best Yarn for Crochet? Here’s a Short Guide

What’s the best yarn for crochet? The generic advice is it depends on your project and preference. Well, here in this guide we’ll actually give you useful tips. We’ll give you strong recommendations on what to use for your knitting and crochet projects. Let’s get started.

1. Natural or synthetics?

More and more Australians now are becoming environmentally conscious. We’re now aware of the possible effects of every choice we make (including the products we use and the hobbies we choose). We want to be environmentally responsible every chance we get.

It’s also the case with knitting. Many people choose natural yarn to help protect the environment. For example, they choose yarn derived from plants and animals instead of acrylic and nylon. Products derived from plants and animals are said to be more sustainable (it also supports the local industry and livelihood, Australia produces a lot of organic wool).

That’s why the most common choices among hobbyists are cotton and wool yarn. Cotton comes from plants while wool yarn comes from animals. Wool is becoming more popular and we’ll discuss more about it later on this article.

2. Wash, texture and price

Let’s talk about price. If you’re a beginner and you’re just looking for a small project, you can already do a lot with $50 or less. With this you can already create a hat, beanie, sock or a small sweater for babies.

However, aside from the pricing you should also think about the washing instructions and other considerations for the yarn and fabric. For example, many types of yarn can sag and absorb a lot of weight when you soak them in water. Some are also weak against microbial growth and can be inelastic (the fabric doesn’t go back to its original form if stretched).

There are also other considerations such as the yarn’s texture (both about touch and the look). Texture can greatly affect the appearance of the final project especially with large ones such as sweaters. To deal with this, hobbyists start buying a pattern instead and follow the yarn recommendations stated.

3. Cotton or wool?

Both are said to be natural and sustainable, but which is the superior one?

Wool has many advantages because it’s elastic, durable and even resistant to microbial growth. It’s also beginner-friendly because of its elasticity. You won’t experience too much hand strain if you’re just starting out with knitting or crocheting.