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I guess some of you might have noticed I really love knitting Aran weight yarn.
I have tried all sorts of Aran yarns over the years and some are great, some average and some are just plain bad.
Hayfield Bonus Aran with Wool and Hayfield Bonus Aran Tweed with Wool
along with
Stylecraft Special Aran with Wool
belong to the best 400g balls of Aran acrylic/wool mix yarns.
They are lovely to knit and are good to wash in the machine.
If you can spend Rowan Pure Wool Worsted or Aran is certainly a class on its own.
A little itchy but acceptable. Knits lovely too.
If you want pure wool, spend less and don't mind itchy then Lopi Lettlopi is the way to go.
Knits wonderful but you really need a very high threshold for the wool itch.
For kids knits I recommend
Stylecraft Baby Aran
and
Stylecraft Special Aran
They are both very soft, knit wonderful and are low in price.
And now the important part and please trust me I really tried to make something out of it but I just couldn't. It is the worst ever Aran yarn I had the misfortune to spend money on.
Ben Nevis Aran
it is a horrendous combination of fibres, which should never be used for yarn.
25% Wool
25% Polyethylene
50% Polypropylene
Ever had bad yarn? Think of something 10 times worse, then you are only close.
It's like knitting an itchy rubber band without spring. It sheds fibres like crazy while knitting. It feels more like hay.
I have knitted many other Aran yarns, some of which are not around anymore and one of them is Sirdar Simple Recycled Aran. It's actually a very lovely cotton mix yarn. It's a shame it's discontinued. I grab whenever I can find some.
If you have never tried it before I can also recommend yarns by Drops. I have used a few of those and they are affordable and of good quality.
