Winter winds, snow and ice? That translates to lots of knitting. I had a birthday to knit for and a couple of skeins of Hometown USA by Lion Brand. I was drawn to this yarn due to the extreme softness, it just made me squeeze the skeins and the vibrant colors, and then noticed that it was 100% Acrylic. I’ll be the first one to tell you, I hardly ever knit with a yarn that does not have some natural fiber in it, but this felt so tempting I couldn’t resist. I usually buy Wool Ease Chunky with a fiber content of 20% Wool and 80% Acrylic, but kept going back to this one. I just couldn’t stop touching it.
It is a super bulky yarn at 9 sts x 12 rows per 4 square inches. Available in 63 colors, the solids and multis are 100% acrylic, and the Tweeds are 94% acrylic and 6% Rayon (due to the tweed bits). I decided to try it out, as I had fallen in love with the Tampa Spice color, I thought it would be perfect for my birthday gal.
I wanted a Cowl pattern, and loved the look of the seed stitch cowl, free patterns on Ravelry. I cast on 18 stitches for my cowl and used #17 size needles, I wanted the cowl to be super squishy soft.
Pattern: Super Chunky Infinity Cowl by Hannah Hockley (knit end to end and then join, see link below on how to kitchner a seed stitch)
Chunky Knit Infinity/Eternity Cowl by Jayna Grassel (same as above but involves twisting the finished item before kitchnering the ends together))
See texture of yarn/stitch above. The snow was so bright that day, everything kept getting washed out.
Easy knit, turned out very nice, in the end I decided to not join it and keep it a scarf. I love a cowl, but if I don’t want to loop it twice around my neck, I find it awkward to let it hang. Is it just me? I figured the scarf had more style options.
I did find instructions thanks to Tricksy Knitter, on how to kitchner the ends together when using a seed stitch. She also has instructions for stocking net and knit kitcher. Tricksy also has a pleather of knitting knowledge and instruction on her website, I recommend it, go give it a look.
I was so impressed with the Hometown yarn, I couldn’t believe it was 100% Acrylic, it worked up fast, had good stitch definition and was a joy to knit with. I’ll add info later on how it survives the wash and dry test. Product Care Instructions: Machine wash. Initial water temperature should not exceed 40C or 105F. No bleach product may be used. A machine dryer may be regularly used at the hottest available temperature setting. I wonder if it will pill, I looked at the rating on Ravely and it gets a 4 out of 5 stars. I’m very impressed with it so far, and am making more projects with it. I haven’t found any Cons for this yarn yet. The price point is good. I bought mine at JoAnn’s for approx. $4.99 per skein but, I found it cheapest at Walmart for $2.97!
Solids: 5 oz. (142 g), 81 yd. (74 m)
Multis and Tweeds: 4 oz. (113 g), 64 yd. (59 m)
HomeTown USA Pros and Cons
Pros
Cheap (Wal-Mart the cheapest)
Soft
Lots of colors, multis and tweeds also (63 different) bright colors would be good for school color scarfs!
Widely available
Easy Care
Good Stich definition
100% acrylic (for those who want super easy care or wool allergies)
Super Bulky, works up super fast
My usual go to bulky washable yarn is Wool Ease Chunky, and this is miles softer than that (wool ease chunky is 80% Acrylic, 20% Wool).
Fast to knit up a item
Cons
-100% Acrylic ,For those of you that want % of natural fiber in it for warmth, I’ll update on the warmth, as single digit temps are with us for a while
-Possible pilling? I’ll update on this later, after a good several wash & drying. *update* NO pilling, I did notice a small amount of shedding (fluffy), but I washed and dried until dry, I have been washing with jeans to give it the rough treatment. I’m truly impressed!
-fuzzies-If you must rip out a project this yarn will fuzz slightly, and shed.
Overall
I love this yarn, and have already bought more to knit with. I give it a 5 out of 5 stars. I cannot find anyone who does not like this yarn, except for the acrylic haters. *grin* I think this yarn slighly can fuzz when being ripped out due to the loose twist in it. That may also account for the softness, short fibers=softer feel, more natural fiber like?
It is a super bulky yarn at 9 sts x 12 rows per 4 square inches. Available in 63 colors, the solids and multis are 100% acrylic, and the Tweeds are 94% acrylic and 6% Rayon (due to the tweed bits). I decided to try it out, as I had fallen in love with the Tampa Spice color, I thought it would be perfect for my birthday gal.
I wanted a Cowl pattern, and loved the look of the seed stitch cowl, free patterns on Ravelry. I cast on 18 stitches for my cowl and used #17 size needles, I wanted the cowl to be super squishy soft.
Pattern: Super Chunky Infinity Cowl by Hannah Hockley (knit end to end and then join, see link below on how to kitchner a seed stitch)
Chunky Knit Infinity/Eternity Cowl by Jayna Grassel (same as above but involves twisting the finished item before kitchnering the ends together))
See texture of yarn/stitch above. The snow was so bright that day, everything kept getting washed out.
Easy knit, turned out very nice, in the end I decided to not join it and keep it a scarf. I love a cowl, but if I don’t want to loop it twice around my neck, I find it awkward to let it hang. Is it just me? I figured the scarf had more style options.
I did find instructions thanks to Tricksy Knitter, on how to kitchner the ends together when using a seed stitch. She also has instructions for stocking net and knit kitcher. Tricksy also has a pleather of knitting knowledge and instruction on her website, I recommend it, go give it a look.
I was so impressed with the Hometown yarn, I couldn’t believe it was 100% Acrylic, it worked up fast, had good stitch definition and was a joy to knit with. I’ll add info later on how it survives the wash and dry test. Product Care Instructions: Machine wash. Initial water temperature should not exceed 40C or 105F. No bleach product may be used. A machine dryer may be regularly used at the hottest available temperature setting. I wonder if it will pill, I looked at the rating on Ravely and it gets a 4 out of 5 stars. I’m very impressed with it so far, and am making more projects with it. I haven’t found any Cons for this yarn yet. The price point is good. I bought mine at JoAnn’s for approx. $4.99 per skein but, I found it cheapest at Walmart for $2.97!
Solids: 5 oz. (142 g), 81 yd. (74 m)
Multis and Tweeds: 4 oz. (113 g), 64 yd. (59 m)
HomeTown USA Pros and Cons
Pros
Cheap (Wal-Mart the cheapest)
Soft
Lots of colors, multis and tweeds also (63 different) bright colors would be good for school color scarfs!
Widely available
Easy Care
Good Stich definition
100% acrylic (for those who want super easy care or wool allergies)
Super Bulky, works up super fast
My usual go to bulky washable yarn is Wool Ease Chunky, and this is miles softer than that (wool ease chunky is 80% Acrylic, 20% Wool).
Fast to knit up a item
Cons
-100% Acrylic ,For those of you that want % of natural fiber in it for warmth, I’ll update on the warmth, as single digit temps are with us for a while
-Possible pilling? I’ll update on this later, after a good several wash & drying. *update* NO pilling, I did notice a small amount of shedding (fluffy), but I washed and dried until dry, I have been washing with jeans to give it the rough treatment. I’m truly impressed!
-fuzzies-If you must rip out a project this yarn will fuzz slightly, and shed.
Overall
I love this yarn, and have already bought more to knit with. I give it a 5 out of 5 stars. I cannot find anyone who does not like this yarn, except for the acrylic haters. *grin* I think this yarn slighly can fuzz when being ripped out due to the loose twist in it. That may also account for the softness, short fibers=softer feel, more natural fiber like?
Love the color! And being a Taurus, I'm not supposed to like red, lol!
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