What You Wanted to Know About Yarn Fiber Types | Podcast Episode #124

Episode Transcript

Brittany:
You’re listening to the BHooked Podcast, episode 124, with Brittany. Welcome to episode 124 of the Be Hooked podcast, the place where we love yarn, we love to learn, and we believe yarn can do more for us than just make pretty things. I was thinking about that statement the other day and realizing that although I really do love finishing projects, I just absolutely love the process even more because it helps me focus, it keeps me calm, and then most importantly, it keeps me happy.

Now, if you’re brand new to the show, my name is Brittany, and I dedicate my time to helping you be a better crocheter and or knitter on my YouTube channel. But here on the podcast, I strive to inspire you with what we talk about here and make that statement come alive for you. If you’re not new to the show, well, hello there, my old friend. I’m really excited that you’re joining me today. No matter where you are, I really just want to thank you, first of all, for spending some time with me today.

And I know you’re going to love this one if you’re just scratching your head about choosing the right yarn, specifically the right fiber for your project. Okay, so we’re moving into our third yarn mini series episode. And by the way, I’ll be wrapping up this series next week. I’ll share what we’ll talk about in that last episode at the end of today’s chat. But for now, I really want to dive into your questions about fiber. Yes, your questions.

Now, usually I record these podcast episodes in advance, but for this episode, I really want to make sure I’m answering your specific questions so that I feel like I’m doing my job to the best of my ability. So I went to my community on Instagram and asked, what do you want to know about choosing fiber for your projects? And quite a few of you responded through that story and typed in your responses, your questions about choosing fiber for your projects. I’ll get to as many of those as I can today.

And by the way, this type of episode is sort of an experiment. Rather than me to try and guess exactly what you’re struggling with… I can just read your questions, your specific questions, and know for sure that I’m helping you in the best way possible. And I really do think that’s a win for both of us. So please let me know if this is something you really like and that you would want me to do more of in the future. Just tell me in the comments section on the show notes page for today’s episode, which is behooked.com slash 124. Just type the word yes, and I’ll know exactly what you mean. And we’ll do more of these episodes in the future.

Now for this to work you do have to follow me on Instagram so that you can see my stories. My handle there is at bhooked b-h-o-o-k-e-d so just search for me and follow. Now if you do tell me that you love this style and we do more of these keep an eye on my stories and Instagram and when you see that pop up it’ll have like a little picture of some earbuds and with a question about the topic for that episode, you’ll have a little space so that you can type that in. I go to that directly as I’m creating sort of the outline here for the episode, and I want to answer as many of them as I possibly can.

Okay, now on to today’s topic. The question for today was, what do you want to know about choosing fiber for your projects? So we’re going to get to as many of those questions as possible. So the first question comes from Merity33. And by the way, I am totally not going to say some of your usernames correctly. And I do apologize for that. Might be a little bit of humor for you as I try to say them correctly. But anyways, this person asks for fiber versus types of projects.

Now, I really wanted to start with this question first because it’ll give you a great overview and sort of like a starting point when you just don’t know what to pick. Like you’re just clueless. You have no idea where to start. So I do want to preface this by saying personal preference is really going to be a deciding factor when it comes to choosing the air quote right fiber for different project types. However, I’ll do my best to be as unbiased as possible, but then give my own personal preferences and experiences too.

Since I’m recording this as it’s like 90 degrees outside, let’s talk cotton and plant fibers. I personally turn to cotton when I need a project that’ll be cool and durable. So think bags, totes, washcloths or towels, summer wearables like bathing suits or beach wraps, cover-ups. One thing to keep in mind about cotton is there isn’t a lot of stretch to it unless it’s a blend of some sort and then you might have some stretch to it. But just keep that in mind as you’re planning your project. Does that project need to have stretch to it? If it does, cotton might not be the right choice. If it doesn’t, then it may absolutely be the right choice.

So here’s the deal with cotton and some plant fibers. Basically those yarns that when you pull on the strand by itself, it doesn’t have much or any give at all to it. So no stretch whatsoever. Now you might experience a little stretching in your stitches. Like as you work up the piece, you could stretch it, you know, side to side, top to bottom. You’re going to get a little bit of stretch there. And that’s just because of the stitches. But as far as the fiber itself goes, there’s very little to no stretching at all.

This quality makes it really durable, but it also can sometimes make it harder on the hands to work with. I know some people who can work with cotton all day long and it’s what they prefer to use. For myself personally, I tend to get a little bit of soreness in my fingers, specifically the middle finger on my yarn holding hand. For me, that’s my left hand because I’m right-handed. That finger. I use that finger to help me with my gauge and my tension to sort of work the stitches and I get some soreness there in that finger if I’m using cotton for a long time.

Another thing you might notice or you might have heard about cotton is it tends to be a little drier or possibly even more absorbing and that’s why it makes it feel more dry. But if you work with it for a long time, at least for me in particular, it does tend to make my hands feel a little drier. It’s not a deal breaker. I usually just take more frequent breaks and put lotion on my hands, but that’s the general rule for me personally when it comes to cotton. Take more frequent breaks, and I know that it’s typically the right yarn for a project where durability is an absolute must.

Now let’s talk synthetics. These are those 100% acrylic yarns we’ve all used before, and as you can imagine by the variety in your stores just walking down the yarn aisle, they all behave a little differently. So this one is very subjective to the person and the project and that sort of thing, but I’ll do my best to sort of generalize this one. Now I’d venture to say that you can use a synthetic fiber for just about every single type of project.

With the advances made in the fiber arts industry, you can imitate just about any natural fiber in any color and any texture. And as an added bonus, many of them are now machine washable and you can even throw them in the dryer. But as a general rule, I personally love to use acrylics for projects like accessories. Things like hats and scarves, I know I’ll make dozens of every fall, so I’m a little less concerned with the wear of it. Synthetic yarns are also really great for embellishments like flowers, and in many cases, they’re the perfect option for baby projects, as long as you get those machine washable and dryable varieties.

Until last year, I only used synthetic yarns or synthetic blend yarns really just because they’re super affordable, they’re easy to find, they’re easy to get, they’re easy to recommend because they’re available pretty much everywhere. But today, I still use them primarily. I do love to use these yarns for all of those reasons I just mentioned, but I am experimenting more and more with more premium yarns and animal fibers.

So speaking of animal fibers, this encompasses another really large group of fibers that you could use for just about any project type. First, let’s mention wool. It tends to be the one that comes to mind first. Now, I don’t want to get into the specific varieties of wool because there are quite a few of them. But generally speaking, I look to wool yarns for items that I want to be warm, that I know will get minimal or gentle use, and, well, those projects that are really special because wool yarns have a tendency to be a little more expensive, and I like to save those for special projects and gifts.

So wool has many wonderful qualities that benefit the animal itself, so keep those in mind when thinking about a project use for them. Wool is an excellent choice for sweaters and other wearables because it’s warm, it has a nice weight and drape when worked up, and it’ll sometimes act to keep some of the water away. Now wool and wool blends are also a really great choice for other winter… winter wearables like scarves, hats, gloves, mittens, socks, leg warmers. Seriously, the list goes on and on.

There are very few projects where I would say wool isn’t a good choice. For me, I wouldn’t want to put wool on my skin during the summer. So maybe something like a wrap or a bathing suit or a beach cover-up or that sort of thing. For me personally, that’s not what I’m into when it’s really, really hot outside. Not to say that you couldn’t use it for those things. Again, this is where that personal preference comes into play.

I do tend to steer clear of wool when I know a project is going to need to be washed and dried or if I know the recipient has an allergy to it. So those are two things to keep in mind. Just know that wool is pretty versatile. You can use it for a lot of different things. And I know that’s not very specific, but it’s very true. So just keep in mind your recipient. Are they allergic to it? And how is it going to be maintained? Does it need to be washed? Does it need to be dried? That sort of thing.

Then there are other animal fibers like alpaca, mohair, cashmere, and angora. And there are blends of these as well. These fibers are often shorter in length, and this is called staple length. And just think of it as the length of your hair. So the length of that hair, when it is removed from the animal, that’s the staple length.

And the shorter the staple length, it will give it more of a characteristic halo look to it. So that’s why you see with alpaca and mohair and cashmere angora, those fibers, it tends to look somewhat fuzzy, and like I said, the technical term for this is a halo, that’s characteristic to these types of yarn.

So if you know you want a smooth project or you want your stitches to really shine, this isn’t going to be the right fiber for those particular projects because the halo is going to hide some of the stitches. Or if you just don’t like that look, then of course you don’t want to use it for your project.

Now, these fibers are also really known for winter wearables, some of the things that we talked about before, sweaters, hats, scarves, mittens, that sort of thing. But I like to specifically use these only when I know they’ll get gentle use.

Now, I will say, though, I crocheted a hat out of Lion Brand’s Baby Alpaca about four years ago. And I don’t wear it every single day in the winter, but I wear it a lot during each of these four winters. And it still looks exactly the same as it did when I finished the hat, despite it having four years of winter wear.

So these… Yarns, these fibers aren’t necessarily delicate per se, but I do like to keep some of these things in mind because they’re more expensive yarns, right? We want to make sure that we’re choosing the right project and we’re keeping all of these factors in mind.

Something else I haven’t mentioned yet about animal fibers, this works for wools and some of these others that we just mentioned, alpaca, mohair, that sort of thing. They’re really great for shawls and wraps.

Then we have our novelty yarns. These are your ribbons, your boucle, your chenille, and everything in between. And when choosing this fiber for a project, I generally have one stitch in mind and a basic shape, since what makes this fiber so unique also makes it such a pain to work with.

So these are typically what I call low stitch definition, projects. So that’s why I like to have one stitch in mind, single crochet, double crochet, half double crochet. If I’m working in knits, maybe knits, just knits and purls, a stockinette stitch or a garter stitch. Because I know that I’m not really going to see that stitch and I don’t want that stitch to be the primary focus of the project.

I’m using something completely simple and it’s also helping me because that novelty yarn, sometimes if it’s really fuzzy or hairy, it makes it really difficult to see those stitches.

And if you’ve worked with these yarns before, you know exactly what I’m talking about. You kind of just have to feel your way through the project rather than see your way through it. Now that’s not to say that you have to use novelty yarns for something specific. I’ve used novelty yarns for everything like baskets, like just little just small little baskets that I would use in my bathroom or something like that. I’ve used it for hats. I’ve used it as embellishments on other things. I mentioned that Oscar the Grouch project last week that I made for my nephew. And I used Lion Brand Fun Fur, I believe, for the eyebrows, just in like a brown color. And it was perfect because it looked like his bushy eyebrows. So you can get really… creative with novelty yarns, just keep in mind that you might have lower stitch definitions. So if you want to make a project where the stitch is going to be your main focus, this is probably not the right fiber choice for you.

Okay, so in these four basic categories, and this is just a general starting point, okay? Cotton or plant-fibered yarns. Think durability and cool. Projects that you want to be durable and you want to be cool to wear or to use. Synthetics. Think accessories and baby projects. For animal fibers, think winter wearables. And novelty yarns, think simple and unique.

All right, our next question comes from Dalarini, who asks about different fibers leading to different drape. So three main factors affect the drape of fabric made from knit or crochet stitches. The weight of the fiber, the stitch itself, and then the gauge.

Now when you’re planning a project, usually the first checkpoint is the weight of that skein or that hank or donut or whatever the yarn is that you have in your hand. The weight of that — and I’m not talking about the thickness, like that weight of the yarn. I know it’s confusing, right? The physical weight of that unused yarn. It’ll usually tell you on your yarn label, or if you have a little scale, you can figure out the weight that way. Since most projects require multiple skeins to complete, the weight of the entire project is the weight of all of them put together. And I don’t say that to be captain obvious or anything, but it’s something I overlooked several times before it really sank in.

A skein of yarn might not feel like much in your hand, but if you’re turning that into a blanket and you’re going to use 25 of those, you need to think about that because you don’t want the blanket to be so heavy that it just sags and it, you know, distorts the stitches and the shape of it. Same thing with clothing.

Now relating that to fibers, generally speaking, your cottons and plant fibers are going to be the heaviest. They’re more dense. Followed by animal fibers, you might tend to find that some of them are a little on the heavier side. And some of the novelty yarns too can be quite heavy. And then synthetics. And that’s a pretty… general statement there. There are certainly exceptions. You’re going to find some heavy synthetics. You’re going to find some heavy novelty yarns. And you’re going to find maybe extremely light cottons if it’s a lighter weight, if the thickness of it is a little bit lighter. But generally speaking, that’s what I find to be the case most often.

So just remember though, the heavier the yarn or the heavier the fiber, the stretchier and the heavier the drape will be.

When you’re talking about drape, it’s also important to realize that it’s not just the fiber that affects the drape. I mentioned two other things that affect drape, which is the stitch that you use and the gauge or the size of the stitches and rows per inch. This comes from the size of the hook or the size of the needles that you use. So of course there’s going to be some variability from project to project and person to person.

I always recommend making a swatch before like diving full fledged into a project. And don’t just make a tiny little square. Don’t just make like a two inch by two inch square and call it done. Make like a six or a seven inch square. It’s going to take you more time, but it could be some mindless crochet while you’re sitting on the couch or while you’re waiting in line for something. If you make a bigger square, you can actually feel the drape and decide whether you like it for that project before moving on. You’re investing a little bit of time now, but you’re saving that time potentially by creating a project that you just don’t love the drape of, that you’re not happy with.

All right, the next question comes from Wenday YM, who asks, what is the best yarn material for items like dishcloths and bathing suits? Now I have to say, hands down for this one, my recommendation would be cotton. It’s durable so you can wash them over and over and they won’t pill or fall apart as easily for that everyday use and like scrubbing.

Now for bathing suits, you might also try using a cotton acrylic blend so you can get a little stretch to it, right? We kind of want it to stretch around certain areas. Just be sure that it’s machine washable and dryable.

Okay, next we have a question from Yarn Republic who asks, what’s the best for garments in terms of drape and laundering? I mentioned a moment ago how the weight of the fiber affects drape as well as the stitch and the gauge. So those are all things to consider here. But what we haven’t explored yet is particularly important for garments, and that is the yarn weight, as in the thickness of the yarn.

So these are your number two, number three, number four yarns. I’d venture to say most people lean towards lightweight, DK, and sometimes even worsted weight yarns for garments, myself included. The thinner the yarn, the thinner the fabric will be. And that does two really great things for me. It promotes a flattering drape, and it doesn’t add extra bulk in places that I don’t want to look extra bulky, you know?

As far as laundering goes, I’d say ask yourself what you prefer doing. Are you okay with hand washing? What about laying it flat to dry? We’ve got several clothes that I just know I can put in the washer, but I can’t put in the dryer, and so I have a drying rack for those. I don’t mind doing that. If so, animal fibers might be the perfect way to go. But if you have no intentions of doing that, if you just want to throw it in the washer and the dryer and be done with it, you may want to explore synthetic fibers or something like mercerized wool, which is a machine washable and dryable wool.

We’ve talked about one here. It’s Marley Bird’s yarn, Chic Sheep, and that is machine washable and dryable. So you might experiment with something like that.

All right, Crochet2Play asks about how the fiber will act or wear over time. It always seems like a gamble, right? This is part of the reason why I like to keep using yarns that I’m familiar with, because we really need to see firsthand how it wears over time.

But if I’m stepping outside the box and using a yarn I’m unfamiliar with, then I like to put my gauge swatch through its paces before it ever becomes a project. I like to block it, wash it, dry it if it’s one of those yarns where I can do that. I’ll take it and rub it together. I’ll rub it on other things. I’ll stretch it. And while pretty much anything else I think a project might go through.

It’ll take a little more planning ahead to do something like this, but it’s definitely worth it if you plan to invest a lot of time in your project. This will help you sort of imitate what might happen to that project. And if your swatch after you’ve done all of these things to it doesn’t look very attractive anymore, then you know what might not be a great choice for that project because you’re investing the time now, but you’re saving it later, hopefully, by selecting the right fiber type for that project.

Who wants to knit an entire sweater or crochet a sweater and wear it once or throw it in the dryer and then it comes out and it’s all fuzzy and pilly and you hate it and you never wear it again. We want to completely avoid that.

Let your kids have the swatch. Let them do what they do with the swatch. Really put the yarn to the test and then assess it after some time. And it could vary based on project. Sometimes I’ll play around with it for a couple of days before I make my decision. Sometimes I’ll just sort of let it sit on the couch for a couple of weeks and I’ll just play with it and rub it together and see what happens to it after that time before I make the decision whether or not to use it for the project that I wanted to use it for.

Another really good idea is to read through some of the reviews online about the yarn that you’re buying it from, particularly if you want to use a yarn that you’ve never used before. So Amazon is really great for this and this is usually the place that I like to go to to find those reviews just because so many people are using Amazon and ordering yarn on Amazon and they will tell you about the wear in their review and then you can use that to decide if it’s a good fiber for your project.

But I wouldn’t skip the gauge swatch step. Make sure you save yourself some time in the long run by double checking yourself and making sure that it is the right fiber.

Next up, we have a question from Tara’s Whole Heart who asks about the difference it will make to the actual project if you were to switch. So switching the yarn or switching the fiber mid-project.

Now I have to be honest and say I would be really cautious of this one. As you’ve heard so far, fiber influences weight, wearability, durability, care, and a whole slew of other things. So you need to factor all of these things into your project. When you’re using one fiber, you’re just factoring it all in once, right? But if you mix fibers, you’re sort of multiplying that by two if you’re using two different fibers or three if you’re using three different fibers. And so it can get really complex to care for.

And again, that’s not something that we really want to do, right? We want to make beautiful things, but we also want to make beautiful things that we can care for so they’ll last.

But if you must switch mid-project or even if you’re planning to switch because you want some texture variability in your project and Be sure that you keep these three factors as similar as possible in your yarn choices.

So make sure that the weight, as in the physical weight of the yarn, are the same as well as the thickness. I mean, that’s just sort of yarn substitution 101 there. You want to make sure that the weight is comparable. But the physical weight of it itself, you want to make sure that they are similar because that will affect the drape.

Also keep in mind how the yarn will wear over time. Is it prone to pilling? For example, sometimes single ply or roving yarns have a tendency to pill or fuzz as they wear, and you don’t get that so much with plied yarn.

So if you’re mixing maybe two different wools because you really like a color of a roving yarn, but you have some plied wool on hand, and let’s say you’re doing stripes, well, you may find that over time that roving yarn might fuzz or pill over time and that plied yarn doesn’t. So you might have a sort of a fuzzy, smooth, striped effect to your sweater over time.

So just keep that in mind too. And then what are the care instructions for each? That’ll be really important as you try to keep your project in pristine condition as long as possible.

So sometimes mixing fibers can be a really cool look and you can certainly pull it off But just think about the project. How is it going to be worn or used? And how will it be cared for? And then just make sure your selections align on these fronts.

All right, and our last question for today comes from Hooked on Stitches, who wants to know, what fiber is best for dyeing?

Now, I have to say, definitely animal fibers. I’ll be honest and say that I don’t have a whole lot of experience with dyeing yarn. Something I sort of have played with and just dabbled with here and there. It’s not something that I do professionally or on a regular basis. But I have had the opportunity to speak with some really amazing and talented designers here on the show.

And one particular episode that sticks out in my mind as a really great starting point for you is episode 91 with Allie from Explore Knits. She talked me through the entire process of dyeing yarn from start to finish, and we did spend quite a bit of time talking about fiber choice and why animal fibers are a better option for dyers, and especially for first-time dyers.

Now, although I wasn’t able to get to all of your fiber questions today, I want to share a few episodes…

Thank you so much for tuning in. two days episode. For the show notes, you’ll go to BeHooked.com slash 124. Also, don’t forget when you’re on that page to say yes in the comments if you thought this style of episode was fun and you want to see more of it or hear more of it in the future.

Okay, so episode 13 is dedicated to helping you choose the right yarn for your projects. I mentioned fiber and some of the best practices for making a selection in that episode, so it’s a really great starting point if you just don’t know where to go from here.

And then more recently in episode 80, I walked you through some ways to make better fall projects by selecting the right yarn. Again, I mentioned some different fiber there as well and how you can think about fiber in terms of the project and what it might be best for.

Now, as with many things in crochet and knitting, making the right fiber choice for your projects is very much a learning process. It’s something that I feel like I’m still learning. Today, I have not tried every single fiber type out there, although I would love to, but it’s a learning curve, right? It takes time. It’s a process. You’ll need some time to build the confidence to be able to say, yes, this is the right fiber type for my project. And then even then, once you have that confidence, you might still make a choice that you’re not happy with. I know I still do today.

Now, one resource and little ninja trick I mentioned briefly today was about reading Amazon reviews for your yarn. Since so many people use Amazon, there’s usually quite a few reviews for me to read through to see if I can get some clues about wear and drape.

The bottom line is to think about the project first. How will it be worn or used, and how will it be cared for? That’s like my first checkpoint. When I answer those two questions, I can weed through some of the options.

From there, I like to consider the recipient. Do they have any allergies? If so, I will eliminate those options.

From there, I do think about the drape and the weight, and I look at the physical weight and the thickness weight of the yarn to help guide me in that decision.

And sometimes I’ll start with a couple different options. You don’t have to start with just one. Sometimes I can’t choose between one fiber or the next or one yarn or the next and I’ll make a swatch with both of them and then put it through those paces where I’ll wash it, I’ll dry it, I’ll block it, I’ll kind of beat it up a little bit to see which is going to be the better yarn for the project.

And then my final checkpoint is usually to read through those reviews especially if I’m unfamiliar with the yarn or I’ve never used it before and then I’m going to say it again, make your test swatch.

You’re going to spend some time now. You’ll probably thank me later because you’ll have a project that you have tested and you have proven was great for that project.

Last week, we talked about that yarn notebook was sort of like our bonus tip for actually the last two episodes. Well, what you determine about a particular yarn and fiber is about its use and how it wore and how the drape was and that sort of thing. Those are really great things to keep in this notebook if it’s something that you’ve decided to make.

So next to your little tail, your little swatch there that you’ve got in your notebook, write some of the things that you found out about that yarn. Did it pill? Did it have a really heavy drape? Did it have a really light drape? Was it super thick or maybe heavy or not stretchy, record some of these things so that you can refer back to them later. And again, you can use some of this to help you guide some of your future decisions.

All right. Next week, we’ll wrap up the yarn mini series with a very much requested topic of making yarn substitutions. So subscribe so you don’t miss that one.

And I will see you next week, my friend.