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My favourite yarns to work with
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items I knit, crochet, spin and weave. I'm at my happiest with yarn running through my hands. Here, I've pulled together some of my most frequently used yarns, from large commercial suppliers to small one-person independent dyers.
I love a gradient yarn, and I use these for a lot of my designs. This is a fingering-weight, cotton/acrylic blend. It's light and drapes well. There are a wide range of colours available, with more coming all the time.
Whirl - Scheepjes
Another gradient yarn, this one from a UK supplier. Christine creates ‘bobbles’ of cotton/acrylic yarn, 4 strands of yarn with one colour change at a time, so there is more of a fade effect.
Yarn Mixology = gradient yarn, each bobble is handmade and unique
Celebrating small independent dyers. I use Bluebell Yarns for special projects. Currently, I'm working with the 4ply Winter Luxury 5 skein fade set made of Bluefaced Leicester, Shetland and Tussah Silk. Not cheap, certainly, but a real treat.
Hand-Dyed British Wool & Yarn - Bluebell Yarns
If you are looking for a soft cotton dk yarn, then I really enjoy using King Cole's Cottonsoft. It gives a lovely stitch definition, and there is a huge range of colours.
Cottonsoft DK - King Cole
This is another of my ‘go to’ independent yarn dyers. Lots of bases to choose from, but I generally buy 2 skeins of sock yarn and see what I can design from there. A really lovely range of colours here.
Moonlight Fibre - Artisan Hand Dyed Yarn And Fibre.
I regularly buy from here, another independent yarn dyer. I love the bases available, particularly the sock yarn, and I have designed a few pieces with this yarn.
Fruitful Fusion - Hand Dyed Yarn
I go to LottieKnits for some luxury. I've used their Aglow singles, a beautiful 4ply yarn in Merino, silk and yak, to make a sumptious scarf for my daughter.
Lottieknits
This is the yarn I go to when I'm making crocheted mandalas to hang on my wall. Great stitch definition and a fabulous array of colours. In fact, I usually add 2 balls of this to my basket whenever I go shopping online ‘just in case’.
Maxi Sugar Rush - Scheepjes
I like this Aran yarn for several reasons. It works up well, particularly in Tunisian crochet. I like the range of colours. I like the ‘flecks’ in many of the colours. It comes in economical larger balls for big projects. It does have 30% wool, so it makes warm blankets/garments.
King Cole Fashion Aran 100g - All Colours - Wool …
Lets talk pure wool. Increasingly I find I'm moving away from acrylic (although it still has a place in my stash). WoW is somewhere I go when I'm looking for skeins of 100% wool in natural colours.
World of Wool
Scheepjes Catona is a mercerised cotton yarn that I use for making mochila bags and when inkle weaving braids. It comes in a wide range of colours, has good stitch definition, and is lovely to work with.
Catona 50g - Scheepjes
This is what I would class as a more expensive yarn, a dk weight, 100% wool that is wonderful to work with. The colours move through the skein and it drapes really well. I loved working with this.
220 Superwash® Wave - Cascade Yarns
This is a 100% British wool dk yarn that I use when weaving on my rigid heddle loom. I like the richness of the colours. It's not a soft wool, but it is very warm when used in a scarf.
West Yorkshire Spinners Colour Lab DK - All Colours