What's a good warm yarn? Edit: What about weight?

#1

I’m planning on making a hat/mitten/scarf set for my dad and step-mom. Got the pattern I want, the designs I want…now I just need the yarn.

They live in the cities in Minnesota, and while I know how blasted cold it gets up there, I don’t know what is a good yarn to use for the winter wear.
Since it’s going to be next to the skin, it obviously needs to feel nice too.

I’ve been looking around online and found a few that seem like they’d work, but I was interested in getting some input from other knitters who live in the frigid zones about what works well for them.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks! :slight_smile:

#2

My favourite for warmth AND washability {as well as inexpensive!}would be Bernat Denim. A scarf worn inside the coat {next to the neck} needs to be really soft. For me, the texture on the hat and the mitts isn’t as critical.

#3

Oh yeah, good point. I’d like the items to be machine washable. If I need to I can shell out the money for them, but, like (almost)everyone else inexpensive is good. :wink:

Thanks for the tip. I’m gonna go check it out. :slight_smile:

#4

They say alpaca is the warmest because the strands are hollow. Soft next to the skin, but not machine washable. How often to you really wash a hat and scarf anyway?

#5

I was thinking about alpaca since i’ve heard it was warm. But I figured I’d also look into some machine washable ones.

I dunno how often Becky (my step mom) would wash them, but I know she does laundry a lot. :wink:

If I can’t find a nice machine washable, I’ll probably go with alpaca. :heart:

#6

A lot of nice wools come in superwash, too.

#7

What weight should I be looking for? I know what the terms are, I’m just not sure which one would be best. I tried to find a link that explained it earlier, but I failed. :oops:

Thanks for the help. Sorry to be such a pest. :blush:

#8

You can’t learn if you don’t ask. I’d go for worsted since it will work for scarves, hats and mittens. I don’t think I’d like bulky mittens, and a dk weight scarf wouldn’t be heavy enough.

#9

Yay! That’s what I was thinking. :slight_smile:

Thanks. You rock Ingrid. :cheering:

…which I’m sure you know. :thumbsup:

#10

At my house, hats, mitts, and scarves are all washed pretty frequently. Even those of the adults. Sand and such that is spread on the streets gets into the air, and then into your clothes. Cleaning the snow off of your car, waiting for a bus, etc. puts you in contact with all that stuff. Unless the winter is very mild, salt isn’t quite so much of a problem like it is out east, but still a concern. Even things like going in and out of stores, and the temperature changes can create a lot of sweat, which will also get your things dirty.

The Bernat Denim is a worsted weight, but I have used chunky for a lot of things too. If I’m not using them for driving, chunky/bulky mittens help keep my hands warm and aren’t uncomfortable. I don’t know about gloves since I haven’t made any. I have used cotton quite a bit with good results as well. It dries quickly when put on to the heat vent in the kitchen! I have a pair of wool mittens on needles right now that I’m going to be afraid to use, since I have no idea how I’ll wash them! When I was at Ram’s once, one of the clerks showed me a pair of felted mittens she had made that had an eyelash cuff; so felted items would be suitable too as long as you are willing to handwash them when they need to be.

Sorry for rambling on.

#11

Don’t be sorry. Any and all input is helpful. :slight_smile:

#12

I also want to add a little pattern to the brim of the hats. I remember reading that you can’t do regular intarsia in the round. So, should I knit the hat on straights and seam it up? Or, how would I be able to do it in the round.

With my dad’s hat, I just want a few stripes of a diff color on the brim, so that one shouldn’t be too difficult (specially with the handy links to the ‘jogless’ join).

Thanks again.

#13

It depends on the pattern you want to put on the brim. If it’s one that goes all the way around, you can knit in the round. If the intarsia pattern happens to carry the main color through it, I can tell you how to do that in the round. If it’s a solid block of different color, you’d have to do it flat and then seam up the hat.

#14

I want it like this: (Gotta love MS Paint. :lol: )

So, yeah, the pattern would be around the whole brim of the hat.

#15

So then you could do it in the round with stranded knitting (aka Fair Isle).

#16

Ah. Ok, cool.

Thanks. :slight_smile: