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For Knitting, Crocheting and More: The Best Yarn

  1. Mira HandCrafts Acrylic Yarn Skeins
  2. INSCRAFT 40 Pieces Crochet Yarn
  3. Caron Simply Soft Worsted Weight Yarn
  4. Lion Brand Homespun Yarn
  5. Bernat Softee Baby Yarn
  6. Lily Sugar'n Cream Worsted Weight Yarn
  7. Cebelia 167G DMC Crochet Cotton Yarn
  8. Patons Classic Wool Worsted Yarn
  9. Lion Brand Yarn Wool-Ease Yarn
  10. Patons Silk Bamboo Yarn
  11. Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Baby
  12. Buyer's Guide

Whether you need cotton yarn for crocheting dishcloths or faux fur for knitting fashionable scarves, there’s a variety of yarn types available to match your needs. Synthetic yarns, such as acrylic are usually slightly elastic which make them ideal for beginners. Many synthetics are also available as basic worsted-weight yarns, which are suitable for most types of knitting or crochet projects.

More expensive wool and cotton blends tend to be a little trickier to use, while specialty yarns like boucle yarn have their own unique challenges. Still, the extra flair makes these specialty yarns highly popular. Whether you’re looking the best yarn in 2022 for a project, or just looking for something new to try, the different types of yarn here offer you some great options. If terms like “worsted weight” or “boucle” have you shaking your head in confusion, check out our helpful buyer’s guide below.

Best Yarns Worth Considering in 2022

Mira HandCrafts Acrylic Yarn Skeins - Best Yarn Overall

These acrylic yarn skeins from Mira HandCrafts are a go-to for all crafters. The yarn won't fray or unravel while you work, and the finished product holds its shape very well. The texture is even and soft for long-lasting quality. One benefit of all acrylic yarn is price. This pick comes in a set of 12 at a price that’s hard to beat. Plus, you’ll receive seven e-books with different craft patterns with your purchase. It makes for a great starter kit for beginners or a great way to motivate more advanced crafters.

INSCRAFT 40 Pieces Crochet Yarn - Beginner's Top Choice

Have endless hours of fun with this bag of crochet yarn which contains 40 different colors. Each ball of yarn is around 40 yards and is vibrant. The storage bag makes it easy to store these balls of yarn away once you’re done.

You can use them for knitting, crocheting, or even making friendship bracelets. The fun colors allow you to add a pop of fun to your clothing. Since the storage bag is so spacious, you can even keep your knitting tools inside it. This yarn is strong, so you don’t have to worry about it breaking easily. It’s also not too thick, allowing you to easily knit masterpieces.

Caron Simply Soft Worsted Weight Yarn - Runner Up

A classic yarn, the Caron Simply Soft brand offers one of the softest standard-weight acrylic yarns. Along with the gentle texture, the yarn’s loose feel can make some projects sag, especially ones with a more open crochet stitch. For afghans and some other projects, though, the yarn can have an extra soft quality that makes it similar to a thicker baby yarn. The yarn comes in over 50 colors with a great selection of solids, while the Simply Soft Paints has an additional dozen variegated yarns. The skeins weigh either 4 or 6 oz., with around 208 to 315 yards per skein.

Bernat Softee Baby Yarn - Also Consider

Baby yarn isn't exclusively for baby-related projects – it's simply a lighter-weight yarn that’s good for any number of crochet projects from afghans to baby outfits. Bernat has a number of great worsted and chunky-weight yarns, but the Softee Baby brand offers a light-weight yarn in fun range of solid and variegated baby pastels, as well as some brighter colors. Even with a sturdy tension, this yarn gives projects a soft, almost cloud-like feel. It’s 100% acrylic, making it machine washable and fairly durable. Each solid-color skein has 5 oz. or 362 yards of yarn, while the variegated skeins are slightly smaller with 4.25 oz. or 310 yards.

Lily Sugar'n Cream Worsted Weight Yarn - Consider

Many standard easy yarns are a synthetic blend, but this yarn is a 100%-cotton worsted-weight. The yarn is fairly firm, though it can soften after washing, and it’s a great choice for blankets, garments, or kitchen gear. Sometimes the colors bleed if the yarn isn't wash properly before using it, but being cotton, it’s more absorbent than other yarns, making it the go-to yarn for dish cloths. It also resists heat, so that it also holds up well when used for pot-holders or hot-dish-mats. Sugar n’ Cream skeins come in a mix of solid and variegated colors, with 3 or 4 oz. per skein or 200 yards of yarn. The yarn is available in 14 oz. cones as well, which work nicely for large projects such as baby blankets.

Cebelia 167G DMC Crochet Cotton Yarn - Best Crochet Yarn

This brand is famous for its embroidery thread and has recently introduced a line of Italian designer yarns, but it also produces a beautiful cotton thread. The product is 100% cotton and comes in a fine, double-mercerized thread that gives it a harder, stronger feel compared with other cotton threads. The pearly texture makes this thread great for delicate projects like doilies or lace. DMC’s other lines of cotton thread offer a wide range of sizes for different projects, but Cebelia comes in the most common range of sizes 10, 20, and 30. It’s also available in 22 solid colors, wound into balls of 50 grams. For size 10 thread, that’s 284 yards, while the smaller sizes have more yards per ball.

Patons Classic Wool Worsted Yarn - Best Yarn for Felting

Patons Classic Wool yarn is one of the more standard brands available and can be found in craft stores as well as specialty yarn shops. It’s a 100% wool, worsted-weight yarn that comes in around fifty shades of variegated and solid colors. And, while it doesn’t have quite the range of colors as some of the other brands, it still has a good selection and a variety of interesting multicolored patterns available. For both solids and variegated yarns, the skeins are 3.5 oz. and 210 yards, making them slightly larger than some of the other brands, though similar in price.

Lion Brand Yarn Wool-Ease Yarn - Best Knitting Yarn

Lion Brands Wool Ease yarn offers knitters a popular wool blend at a reasonable price. This yarn is worsted-weight, giving it a fairly average weight suitable for most garments or afghans, though the brand also offers chunky and super-heavy versions of this yarn for even heavier projects. Wool-Ease comes 36 different colors. Even better, with its blend of wool and acrylic, the yarn is super warm, but still machine-washable, making it easy to use and care for. The exact blend of fibers varies from color to color, along with the size of the skein. Solids come in 3 oz. skeins, while most other colors come in 2.5 oz. skeins, with between 162 and 197 yards to each skein.

Patons Silk Bamboo Yarn - Best Knitting Yarn

A specialty material manufactured by one of the larger brands, this yarn combines silk and bamboo for a super-soft feel. Its slightly lighter than the standard worsted-weight, but the Silk Bamboo brand comes in a medium-weight yarn and can be used in a variety of patterns and styles from scarves to sweaters and jackets. Each skein comes with 2.2 oz., or 102 yards, of yarn, so most projects will require a number of skeins to complete. For the size, its more expensive than Patons other wool, cotton, or synthetic blends, but it gets high ratings and offers a range of vivid colors. For a unique combination and an eco-friendly fiber, knitters might find the brand worth a try.

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Baby - Best Knitting Yarn

A popular specialty brand, this yarn offers an interesting blend of merino wool, acrylic and cashmere. The yarn is sport-weight, slightly lighter than Debbie Blisss worsted-weight Cashmerino yarn. It has a soft feel, is a great light-weight yarn, and works well for more delicate projects. The yarn comes in small skeins of 2.5 oz., with an estimated 137 yards per skein. In addition the Baby Cashmere line, Debbie Bliss offers a good selection of other product lines as well, in various weights and textures, but it is relatively expensive compared to some of the more common brands.

Buyer's Guide

While yarn is a very simple material made of fibers spun to create a long strand, describing it isn’t always so simple. Besides color, people tend to use certain terms to describe yarn’s weight, its texture, and even its source. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. This guide should help you understand the basic terms you will find on a package of yarn or listed within a set of instructions.

Yarn Types

Natural vs. Synthetic

Many crafters prefer to work with natural fibers both for their texture and that they’re also a renewable resource. How the product will be used is another important consideration since cotton can be highly absorbent making it a good choice for washcloths or towels; keep in mind it’s also highly flammable and can be an allergen for some people.

Synthetic materials are generally less flammable but may melt if exposed to high temperatures. Ultimately, the best material will be one you’re most comfortable working with while meeting any requirements you have for your specific project.

Felting Yarn

For most projects, you want to avoid yarn that pills or turns fuzzy after you wash it. Felting yarn is different since felting intentionally mats the yarn fibers to create a solid block of material. Crafters have used a wide variety of yarns for felting, including synthetics, but loosely spun yarns made from animal fibers are generally the easiest to felt.

Specialty Yarn

This is a rather broad term encompassing any unusual type of yarn, particularly when the fibers are spun to create a pattern or texture in the yarn. Boucle yarn and eyelash yarn are a couple of the most common types of specialty yarn, with tight loops or curls added to the former and long, loose strands threaded through the latter.

Terminology

Skein

A skein is an individual package of yarn. Most instructions will list the number of skeins you need to complete the project. Be careful, though, because the amount of yarn in a skein varies widely. Using a different yarn or a different size of skein could mean you run out too soon.

Weight

Generally this describes how thick the yarn is. Using a yarn that’s too bulky or too fine can change the size of your project. Weight can also be measure in ply, as in 2-ply, 3-ply, or 4-ply yarn, but using standard yarn weight is considered a more reliable measurement.

In this system, yarn is divided into six categories. Crochet thread is the finest, followed by fingering-weight or sock yarn, then baby yarn and sport yarn. Light or light worsted yarn is a bit heavier, while medium weight is known as worsted weight. Bulky yarn is significantly heavier and good for thick projects like rugs, and as the name implies, super bulky is the heaviest yarn available.

Ply

Ply is an older standard for measuring yarn weight. A ply is a twisted strand of fibers that can either be used on its own as singles yarn or twisted again with other plys to form 2-ply, 4-ply, or even 8-ply yarn. The more plys a yarn has, the bulkier it will be, but not all plys are the same weight to start with. In the US, the Standard Yarn Weight System may give you a better idea of the yarn’s actual thickness.

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