ACRYLIC

Pros:  
Acrylic, which is often called “artificial wool”, is not only close to natural wool in its qualities – it also has a number of unique properties. Acrylic yarn is very well dyed – you can achieve a wide variety of bright and saturated colors. 100% acrylic is a guarantee that the product will practically not fade. However, in practice, acrylic is often mixed with other yarns, especially for machine knitting. Blends with wool allow you to get the perfect option – warm clothes in beautiful colors that are pleasant to the touch, do not become spooled, keep their shape and last a long time.

Minuses:  
Among the shortcomings of acrylic products, low hygroscopicity can be distinguished, which deprives things from acrylic of hygienic qualities.

ALPACA
Alpaca, or llama, is an animal of the camel family. Light and durable, alpaca wool is quite expensive, so it is often used in mixtures with additives from other fibers. This blending, in addition to lowering the price, helps to reduce the inherent prickliness of this wool. At the same time, despite the high cost, 100% alpaca yarn is in constant demand and is offered in many yarn stores. Blends with ordinary or merino wool, with artificial fibers (for example, with acrylic) are widely used.

Pros:
Thanks to the long fibers, alpaca yarn practically does not fall off and does not form spools. Alpaca wool is hollow, so this wool has excellent thermoregulating properties – it warms in the cold and cools in the heat. This type of wool is well dyed, and today you can buy alpaca yarn in all colors of the rainbow.

Minuses:
A feature of alpaca wool is that naphthalene cannot be used during its storage, and therefore only natural remedies – lavender, tobacco and cedar – are used as anti-moths for it.

ANGORA
“Angora” is commonly called rabbit down. Once it was obtained by the Chinese as an analogue of the real angora, now called “mohair”, since the “special” goats did not take root well outside of Turkey. Rabbits, the wool of which is used for the production of yarn, are called angora.

Pros:  
Angora wool is definitely very fluffy, soft and warm. Products made from high-quality yarn with angora can last more than one year.

Minuses:  
But at the same time, she has annoying and well-known property of “peeling off”, and it is impossible to prevent this, even by reducing the percentage of angora in the yarn. Such is rabbit down – it is not firmly fixed in the yarn. Therefore, by the way, angora wool is practically not used in its pure form – in yarns it is mixed with ordinary or merino wool, as well as with acrylic. getting wet. Angoras can only be cleaned chemically. But another source says that hand washing with a mild shampoo in non-hot water is possible.

VISCOSE
Viscose is the very first artificial fiber obtained by man at the end of the 19th century, but to this day it retains its significance. It is made from a natural material – cellulose, therefore, of all chemical fibers, this is the most “natural”. Viscose threads are added to mixed yarns – to cotton, acrylic, wool, but if the craftswoman decided to knit herself an elegant evening dress – she should buy viscose yarn without impurities. The effect is guaranteed.

Pros:  
The main qualities of viscose: pleasant to the touch, hygroscopic, breathable. High color intensity allows you to create products of bright colors. Viscose is included in knitting yarn as part of a blended fiber, usually with cotton, as well as with wool, with mohair. With the help of viscose, you can improve the properties of cotton: adding it to cotton yarn increases the moisture absorption rate, which is low for cotton. It should also be noted that viscose does not accumulate static electricity.

Minuses:  
When washing products made of viscose, they require especially gentle care. They should not be twisted – wet viscose is not particularly durable. Things knitted from this yarn are best washed by hand using a mild detergent, otherwise they may stretch and lose their shape.

MELANGE YARN
Sectional dyed yarn. Its peculiarity is that one skein is painted in uniform sections in three to five colors. Sectional thread dyeing creates models with “correct” stripes. With a successful selection of the pattern, you can get very beautiful “streaks” on a knitted product.

MERINO YARN
This is wool taken from Merino (a breed of sheep), and not just sheared, but sheared from a certain place – from the withers.  Merino wool is more expensive ordinary. Other types of fibers are rarely added to it, and not in order to improve the quality, as in other cases (its quality is impeccable), but in order to reduce the price.

Pros:
In addition, merino wool is long, white, has excellent thermostatic properties and elasticity. One of the important qualities is that it does not irritate the skin. Therefore, it can be safely recommended for creating children’s things. And even with proper handling, beautiful and warm merino clothes can last for many years without losing their original appearance.

Minuses:
All the whims of woolen things are inherent in products made from this wool, so care for them should be especially thorough – hand wash using special products and dry in a stretched form.

MOHAIR
When defining “mohair”, it should be borne in mind that this is goat hair, and not just any fluffy yarn, as many people think for some reason. And the features of this hair are such that there can be no 100% mohair: it will simply fall apart into separate hairs. The maximum content of mohair in yarn today cannot exceed 83%. The high price of pure mohair often forces it to be mixed with ordinary wool, as well as with artificial threads – with acrylic, polyamide and others.

Pros:
Mohair yarn has long fluffy fibers, and products knitted from it are very airy and warm. Mohair lends itself well to coloring, it is easy to clean it from dirt.

Minuses:  
Washing mohair items requires special delicacy – it should be done in water at room temperature, using a mild shampoo.

COTTON
Cotton is a vegetable yarn obtained from cotton bolls. Cotton has been known in India since the 7th century BC, and only 24 centuries later the production of cotton fabrics reached Europe. Comparing it with other plant fibers, it can be noted that the warming effect of cotton is higher than that of flax. Cotton is stronger than wool, although less durable than linen or silk. For knitting, cotton is more often used in blended yarns with wool or acrylic, since cotton yarn itself is not elastic.

Pros:
The main properties of cotton include hygiene, resistance to alkali (and simply – to washing); cotton “breathes” (well passes air), easily absorbs moisture. Cotton is comfortable and pleasant to wear, soft and resistant to abrasion and tear, easy care. Cotton dyes well and practically does not fade.  The product is easy to wash if pre-soaked.

Minuses:  
Under the direct rays of the sun, cotton becomes less durable, and therefore requires protection. In addition, cotton products shrink heavily and take a long time to dry.

WOOL
Natural fiber, which can not seriously compete with any of the artificial. Actually “wool” is a collective term that includes wool and sheep, and camel, and goat, and llama, and rabbit, and even dogs; the wool of different animals differs both in properties and in application.

Pros:  
Their common properties of wool should be noted for the unique ability to retain heat, leveling the difference between body temperature and air temperature, hygroscopicity, softness and fit. Wool stretches well and is resistant to wrinkling. Woolen yarn retains heat better than vegetable yarn, and also gets wet much more slowly in a humid environment. Wool and acrylic, which make up a very popular ensemble today, are perfectly “sung”. Among other things, such yarn becomes cheaper than pure wool.

Minuses:  
The only serious drawback – the pilling and the formation of pellets during friction – depends on the density of the twisting of the yarn (the weaker it is twisted, the more it falls off), and can be eliminated both by special finishing methods and by adding vegetable or artificial fiber to the wool yarn.   Washing woolen products (and especially products made from pure wool) should be carried out with particular care – they should be washed only by hand, using special products. It is not necessary to soak for a long time, or thoroughly wash, or squeeze out woolen things. When drying, they should not be hung out, but carefully laid out on a flat surface.