Cheap Yarn

When cheap yarn is the right choice

There is a persistent snobbery about budget yarn that does not survive contact with reality. If you are knitting sixty squares for a charity blanket, teaching a class of children to crochet, making a pet bed, working a prototype before you commit expensive yarn to a design, or producing a blanket that will be washed weekly by a toddler's family, an inexpensive machine washable yarn is not a compromise – it is the correct tool. Wool is a wonderful fibre and a terrible choice for something that will be put in a hot machine wash by a person who has not slept for a fortnight. The trick is to spend money where it changes the result and to save it where it does not.

Best uses for value yarns

• Blankets and afghans: the single biggest yarn consumer in any craft room, and the place cost per metre matters most.
• Charity knitting: hats, mitts, blanket squares and premature baby garments, all needing easy-care fibres.
• Learning and teaching: smooth, light-coloured, low-cost yarn in a big ball, so nobody worries about frogging.
• Amigurumi and toys: washable, durable, and colourful without a large outlay per shade.
• Swatching and prototypes: test the shaping in cheap yarn, knit the real thing in the good stuff.
• Costumes and props: made to be worn twice.

How to judge a budget yarn

Look at metres per 100g rather than the price on the ball, because big-ball formats vary enormously and the headline price hides the real comparison. Then look at the ply: a smooth, well-plied yarn will behave better and pill less than a loosely spun single at the same price. Squeeze a ball if you can – a yarn that feels squeaky and hard in the hand will knit into a squeaky, hard fabric, and no amount of washing will fix it. Finally check the care symbols, since washability is usually the reason you are buying it in the first place.

Getting good results from inexpensive yarn

Tension does more for a budget acrylic than fibre content ever will. Worked too tightly it goes stiff and plasticky; worked at a generous tension it drapes far better than its price suggests. Swatch and try a needle a half size larger than the ball band recommends. Choose stitch patterns with texture – moss stitch, basketweave, ridges, granny stripes – because texture reads as craftsmanship in a way flat stocking stitch in a cheap yarn does not. And use good colour. A well-chosen palette of three inexpensive shades will always look better than one expensive skein in a colour you settled for.

Care and finishing

Acrylic and acrylic blends will not block like wool: wet blocking relaxes them, but the shape you make is the shape you keep. Never let a hot iron touch acrylic. Direct heat kills the fibre, leaving it flat, limp and shiny, and it cannot be reversed – hold the steam well above the surface if you press at all. Machine wash cool in a mesh bag and dry flat. Weave ends in along the stitch line with plenty of travel, because slippery synthetic yarn works its ends loose faster than wool does.

Value yarn questions

Is cheap yarn bad quality?

Not necessarily. Budget yarns are usually synthetic or blended rather than badly made, and for washable, hard-wearing projects that is an advantage.

What is the cheapest yarn for a blanket?

A large-format acrylic in DK, aran or chunky. Compare metres per 100g rather than price per ball.

Can I mix cheap and expensive yarn in one project?

Yes, as long as they match in weight, tension and care instructions. Mixing hand-wash wool with machine-wash acrylic in one garment means the whole thing must be hand washed.

What is best for charity knitting?

Soft, machine washable DK. Check the charity's own guidelines, as many specify acrylic for hygiene reasons.