One of my best friends is expecting a baby in the fall and I would like to knit a blanket for the little guy/girl. My friend is pretty picky about her own clothing as far as not using polyester or other “un-natural” fibers. She prefers cotton, wool and the like. I know she would feel the same about her baby. I’m on a fairly tight budget so my question is can anyone recomend a nice “natural” yarn for a baby that won’t kill my wallet? I don’t have a yarn store near me except a Joanne’s but would order online if necessary. Would love it if it was machine wash/dry as well but that may be too picky. Not that big of a deal if it is great yarn. I’m a new knitter and don’t know a lot about yarn yet. Any ideas would be great! Thanks! :XX:
Need reasonable $ natural fiber yarn for baby project...help
maybe I can beat Ingrid on this one! 
Maybe I’ll even make a good suggestion!
At Joanne’s they carry the Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton - it’s 100% cotton and knits up nicely. Somewhere on here I posted a photo of an afghan that I did with double strands in the natural color. I got the big spools for $10 each - used 4 spools, double strand on size 11 needles and made a 5x6 afghan doing it in squares. They did have some pastel colors if I remember correctly. This might be worth considering AND it’s washable!
Good luck! Ang
I found where I put that photo. The subject on General Knitting was “my dumbest question yet re: cotton yarn” and I posted a photo of the throw - you could do a search if you want to see the pic. You don’t have to do double strands - for a baby blanket, might not want it that heavy anyway. This thing washes up so well and it was affordable.
Hope that it helps. Ang
Cotton blankies are soo nice! I haven’t tried it, but I’ve heard Bernat Cotton Tots knits up and washes up a lot softer than the kitchen yarns available. Since it’s made for babies it comes in pretty colors for little ones too.
I know my sugar and cream and peaches and cream aren’t reall soft after washing, so it’s something to consider since this will be for a baby.
Good luck!
:shock: Hilary… we beat Ingrid! :shock:
You don’t think she’s sick, do you?
Ang
countingsheep, LOVE the throw you made. I found the post and it is very nice. I think it is a little advanced for me but I’ll have to look into these yarns you two mentioned. Thanks! Any other ideas? :XX:
Knitpicks Shine is really affordable and sooooo soft. It’s machine washable and they just added new colors too that are so pretty! I’ve made several baby items with it. 
the knitpicks yarn looked nice too. I like shine as well as crayon. It’s pretty cheap too so maybe I’ll try it out. Does anyone know if knitpicks yarn is available in stores or online only?
It’s only available online. And if you click through the link here at the forums, it helps support KH. 
Personally I wouldn’t use the kitchen cotton like Lion Brand or Sugar and Cream. Even washed they are just not that soft. They work great for dishcloths though. I’ve used Bernat’s Cottontots and it was pretty soft and I’m sure KP shine is soft and is a great price!
I vote for the kitchen cotton stuff too, I just made a dish rag with some natural color I have and washed it and it is incredibly soft. I love it! I made the rag first so I could see how soft it would get after it was washed so I could decide whether or not to make something for dd with it. Maybe the lack of dye would help the cotton to be softer? All the rags I have had have been light or natural colors and they have been very soft, some of my favorite kitchen rags.
I just got an order in of knitpicks crayon yarn and it is wonderful too. I am making a baby sweater out of it but only just started or I would post a picture. It seemed reasonably priced to me but I am not sure what your price range is. The cotton I got some time ago on a 1 lb. cone, it is Peaches and Creme brand.
I hope some of that helps!
I’m leaning toward knitpicks crayon. It looks a bit thicker than shine which needs smaller needles. I think Crayon would work up faster. What I would like to do is order one ball to start in case I don’t like it but am concerned that if I don’t order it all at once the dye lot will not match. I can’t find anything on knitpicks’ site about dye lot. Is this an issue I should worry about? I have no idea how many balls of yarn I should order for a decent sized baby blanket either. I’m worried that if I order 4 or 5 balls and then it isn’t enough and order more it won’t match. Ah, the troubles of a new knitter!
My crayon yarn has a lot number, maybe you could order 2 skeins, or however much you would need, to make a small hat or scarf or something, that way you get to try it out without purchasing a bunch at once and you’re not having to worry about dye lots. If you decide you like it enough then you can go back and get as much as you need for your blanket. I have no suggestion though as to how many skeins to get for the blanket, I haven’t made one yet.
You probably won’t really find much difference in dye lots on this type of yarn. I’d suggest you find a pattern that you like and figure out how much you’ll need from the beginning. If you order one ball, you’re going to have to pay shipping for one ball. And then again for the rest of the yarn. If you really want to try it out, then get the one, but it might be a good idea to know how many you’ll need before you place the second order. Order for yardage rather than skeins or ounces to make sure you have enough.
If you want to try it out, I like the idea of a hat. You could make a hat and booties for the baby to match the eventual blanket and see if you like working with the yarn.
thanks for the ideas and tips! I had another thought that I would love your opinions on. Was considering the idea of knitting with crayon and perhaps another yarn (perhaps shine?) to add bulk and maybe make the project go faster since I’m kind of a slow knitter. Any thoughts on this? Not sure if I can find matching colors or two that go together well. Has anyone tried this with knitpicks yarn? any suggestions on what would mix well with crayon? Is this a bad idea?
You can pretty much mix any yarn, especially where gauge is not a big issue. Did you know that Shine is now available in worsted weight? That widens your options, too.
I did see shine in worsted. I would just have to decide on color. I don’t know the sex of the baby. Suggestions anyone in either shine worsted, crayon or a combo of both? :XX:
I haven’t used any of them. Do you have a pattern yet? That might help you decide. Anything that shows stitch definition might look better in the Shine.
As for color, you could go traditional, or jazz it up and go primary colors–appropriate for anyone.
I want to do something very basic and easy since I’m new at this and still slow. was thinking of just making it all garter stitch and using both strands at once for bulk. Maybe a seed stitch border…we’ll see.
In that case you could pretty much do whatever you want as far as yarn is concerned.