I walked through Walmart and Michaels yesterday, feeling of all the yarn. I wanted something soft for a baby blanket and the selection isn’t big around here.
The one I settled on was Caron Simply Soft which feels lovely to me but I noticed that it’s an acrylic yarn and I feel like acrylic yarn gets a bad wrap…I got to wondering, how many people use acrylic regularly? I love a great ball of yarn, but I can’t always afford the expensive stuff.
Acrylic Yarn
For a while I only associated with squeeky knitting (it’s what I used to learn to knit on bamboo and metal needles - boy it was noisy work). I really started to hate acrylic, but recently I have found some lovely yarns that are acrylic, softer than natural fibers and more practical for the receivers. My brother, for example, would NEVER hand wash an item on purpose. Most new parents do not need to worry about special wash instructions for the beautiful blanket you made for baby. Having said this, I did knit a hat for a friend recently, bough the yarn (an expensive ‘Italian’ acrylic) that actually had instructions for it to be hand washed only!!!
I use simply soft for all my baby blankets and kids stuff. Acrylic is washable and that is the number one reason for me to use it. Kids are messy, their clothes rip easily and they tend to lose things. So good ole cheap acrylic is just thing for kids in my book. Simply soft is good. And they have bright colors too. Microspun feels good in the store but a painin the boo-tay to work with. I’ve also heard it makes you sweat. :shock: I stay away from the Red Heart varieties that feel like aspestos. THey do make some baby yarns that maight be good. Plymouth Encore is pretty soft and comes in a TON of colors. So yeah don’t write it off outright. Use Knit Picks for cheaper wools for adults and yourself and cheaper acrylics for kids. That’s my .02 
I don’t generally use 100% acrylic anymore, but I do use Encore for any kids’ clothing or anything that I want to be machine washable. Acrylic has its place, for sure, but there are so many other great yarns out there that I want to use.
I think acrylic and cotton are very practical fibers because you can generally machine wash and dry them.
Unless it was something extra special (like a shawl), I would prefer not to give stuff to people that requires special washing.
For me, I don’t mind soft acrylic, although the scratchy stuff is easier to knit with. 
If money was no object, and caring for items was no object, of course I would choose natural fibers. But, for something cheap and easy to care for, acrylic can be a godsend.
well cool…I’m glad to see I’m not going to be cast aside by the knitting world for knitting with acrylic…I’m really liking this simply soft and I agree about redheart–it is really really scratchy. It still has it’s place though…
The simply soft stuff is great - homespun and the red-heart version baby clouds, if you don’t knit too tightly do very well too. I don’t like the red-heart worsted, but I don’t mind the wool=ease worsted at all.
I think you need to tailor what you are using toward your end user. I agree, a new parent does not want a hand wash blanket. How many of us have seen those acryic knitted or crochet blankets that our kids literally loved and used to rags? They don’t consider them scratchy at all!
I don’t mind wool/acrylic blends, but generally stay away from acrylic. I’ll use it when making blankets, b/c they need to be machine washed. But for clothing, scarves, etc., it’s generally wool or another natural fiber for me.
I LOVE SIMPLY SOFT!!
I make almost all my stuff for kids out of either that or cotton. It is soft, affordable (with great yardage) and has a pretty sheen to it.
Having used Ingrid’s washable yarn of choice (Plymouth Encore) I have to agree that I like it, it’s really soft and feels great to work with, but I just can’t afford the 5.75/ball (altho it is worth it!! 
)
If you have an AC Moore nearby, Red Heart started making a softer acrylic that is kind of a mix between Microspun and Simply Soft - but it’s slightly more expensive with less yardage than Simply Soft.
I use acylic and cotton basically. I have no yarn stores that sell anything else other than these both.
I have alot of acrylics that are veeery soft, very good for garments and such.
And I don’t feel like spending 7$ on a 50yrd hank of natural wool when I could get something else for more that less than half the price! :oops:
I must say i’ve never used acrylic to make a FO, my mum taught me to knit and she didn’t have acrylics in her stash (but she did have a silk/linen blend destined for a sweater that i used to make a scarf with, which i had no idea was so expensive until mum saw me wearing it - she forgave me tho) (i think… 
:shifty: hmmmm)
however, i am curious about the caron simply soft, it does sound nice and i don’t really have the budget to knit big things out of the yarn i like
i just bought simply soft for a hat and it is dreamy
Personally I love to knit with natural wool. Some projects just dont look or feel right in anything less. (knitpicks has great prices)
But I have to agree with the rest of ya - acrylics are great for most projects. They cant be beat for softness (most) and easy care. Also availability is a big factor. I know I can always get more yarn of the right color if I use the readily available acrylics. But the wools? Its a nearly impossible to buy more if you dont get enough the first round (happens to us all) and I have a good long drive to nearest yarn shop. I dont want to spend 2 hours of my day to find I cant get what I need.
My Mom crochets all of her stuff in acrylic (she just got some wool last night for the first time to crochet and felt a purse), so that’s what I use for knitting and I like it, once it’s washed once it’s not scratchy at’ll. I’ve had some blankets she made for us out of it for years and I love 'em and so do my cats. I’m glad they’re mostly made out of a the Red Heart 'cause of it had cost anymore I would prolly cry when my cats played on them and got claws caught in 'em.
Holly
Ok. at the risk of sounding like a total yarn snob, I have to say I generally wouldn’t touch the stuff. I am a major wool fanatic and love the way it keeps me so warm and comfy. There is no doubt that I’m majorly lucky to be able to afford the wool, but I’d rather have less wool than more yarn, generally.
Having said that, I in NO WAY transfer that snobbishness to other knitters. If you want to knit with part wool, part acrylic, all acrylic, heck, all YAK hair, go for it. I just love to see people enjoy knitting.
I’ve only met one acrylic I like, and it’s a lovely, soft yarn at Michael’s. Maybe I should buy a couple of skeins and see if I like knitting with it before I dismiss wool so easily. I just hate Red Heart stuff - not my taste.
So there ya go.
Alison
Alison, I’m curious. What do you use for all the baby things you make?
…and what is this lovely soft acrylic at Michael’s?
I would 
love to knit with all yak hair…
So, before I was converted to eBay, I was busily knitting whatever people gave to me out of their old yarn stashes, lots of acrylic. Now I am swimming in huge spools of alpaca purchased inexpensively and deliriously happy with my FOs. It’s so soft and warm and lovely. It feels like cashmere for 1/5 the price (often less than wool, certainly less than I would pay in any store). I’m working a project now in pure alpaca fiber for $1.85 per 50g length including shipping!!! (purchased in bulk, waited for the right lot).
notes on eBay: always use sellers with a strong feedback rating, scrutinize the shipping cost and use the advanced search option to see how much similar items have gone for over the past 6 months to get a fair price!!
but for easy wash items I may return to acrylic. Modern Science is a wonderful thing!
whit
I still use acrylics… I do like the Encore DK cause its in my budget so when I go to the LYS thats usually what I buy… My grandmother crochets and only uses Red Heart… I want to make lap afghans for the grandmothers this Christmas and I may use red heart… it just depends with me if I can get to the LYS :cheering: if I can only go to wally world thats ok too…
Alison…where did you go…we are waiting in suspense to find out about this soft acrylic at Michaels…do tell…