Overheard a lady at Joann's say she only buys acrylic now and it made me think

I was grabbing some more Lion Brand for a baby blanket last Saturday, and this older lady next to me told her friend she switched to 100% acrylic years ago because her wool blankets always felt too scratchy after washing. At first I kind of judged her in my head, since I usually go for cotton blends or superwash wool for gifts. But then I thought about my own stash and realized I've got like 5 skeins of acrylic that I've been ignoring because I thought it was 'cheap' stuff. Made a big chunky scarf for myself last night with a $3.99 skein from Big Twist and honestly it's soft and cozy and I don't have to hand wash it. Anyone else have a snobby fiber phase they had to get over?

2 comments

2 Comments

paul1173d ago

Picking up on that mix idea, I now sort my yarn by who it's for instead of what it's made of. My niece gets acrylic because she's seven and her idea of handling a blanket is dragging it behind her like a cape. My mom gets wool because she actually reads the care tags and hand washes like it's a hobby. That $3.99 acrylic scarf I made has been through the washer at least ten times now and it still looks the same, so I'm done pretending it's lesser.

evanr795d ago

I fully owned that phase back in 2017 when I refused to buy anything that wasn't merino or alpaca. Then my sister asked me to make her a hat and she literally threw the hand wash instructions in the trash. I grabbed some $3.99 Big Twist acrylic from the clearance bin out of spite and made her a hat that has survived three washes in hot water without pilling. Now I keep a mix of both. Acrylic has its place, especially for kids or people who don't want to babysit their clothes.