Baby Blanket Yarn

[bookchan]

Hello I have a question that I was hoping you could help me with. I just found out that a friend of mine is pregnant and I would like to crochet a baby blanket for her. The problem is though that I have no idea what type of yarn to use for this. Do you guys have any recommendations? My only requirement is that she can wash it easily and it won't be completely destroyed.

Comments

[feuervogel]

I've seen balls of yarn marked "baby" in the store. They're usually the fuzzy kind, and mostly acrylic. It's washable (cold?). I personally prefer natural fibers, so my first thought was cotton.

[bookchan]

Yeah, I think I'm going to go with cotton. It seems like the best bet.

[thistleingrey]

I hate acrylic and similar artificial fibers myself, and I don't really like the idea that a friend's little baby will be inhaling the fuzzy little bits that come loose from any fiber. Anyway, something nearly as inexpensive as acrylic is Lily's Sugar 'n Cream cotton, which is worsted weight and machine washable. It starts out a bit stiff, but with washings it becomes really soft without vanishing into nothingness. :) I've paired Lily with this simple repeating pattern for a few baby blankets.

"Baby yarn" seems to work best if you're making baby clothing, since there it makes sense to size down to a narrower yarn, but for a blanket the yarn width doesn't matter.

[bookchan]

That pattern is pretty! Thanks for the info on baby yarn. I think I'm going to go with machine washable cotton. Now comes the fun part of picking the right colored yarn. ^_^

[sara]

If Baby will be living in a cold climate, you might also like to try a superwash wool -- it's spendy, but I kind of figure that if I'm going to spend several months making a blanket, I might as well invest in the materials (and since I'm at a stage in my life where people keep reproducing, I buy it when it goes on sale). I can get a nice-sized baby blanket out of about a thousand yards of worsted-weight superwash.

[bookchan]

They live in southern California so wool would probably be too hot. I think I'm just going to go with a machine washable cotton.

[sara]

Oh, yeah, down there I would, too.

The last one I did was for a baby who's expected in Chicago in October. I think wool was almost an understatement (sadly, one can't crochet in down).

[munin]

Most of my baby blanket yarn comes from Hobby Lobby because I just can't afford the prices on some of the specialty yarns in my LYS. I've had really good luck using there Baby Bee brand of I think Sweet Delights. I've also used their regular I Love This Yarn to good results.

[bookchan]

Thanks! I'll check those yarns out.