LemLems
If you’re #ActuallyAutistic (or otherwise experience #SensorySensitivity ) and also enjoy #knitting , I would love to hear your recommendations for the most touch friendly yarn you can think of.
I’m going to be knitting something that’s going to be in contact with my skin for long periods of time, so I’m looking for the least aggravating option possible. It doesn’t necessarily need to be cheap (it’s only for a hat so I won’t need to buy a lot of it) strokability is the key factor.
TYIA
Chicken :cqlgusu:
@Lemlems are you looking for recommendations of yarn fibres, or for specific brands?
It does vary a lot and it can be hard to tell just from touching the yarn while it's still in the skein.
It's also quite personal, I think. For example, I almost always dislike working with acrylic yarns, because of the way they feel when I'm knitting with them. But some are okay, and the finished items can feel okay to wear.
Some yarn shops have a few samples of selected yarns knitted up, so you can touch them.
Personally I tend to prefer merino wool, bamboo, cotton, tencel. But it depends on the type of item (socks, scarves, hats all feel different), stitch pattern used, yarn construction, fibre quality, and a bunch of other things.
For a hat, you'll need something with elasticity, which means animal fibres such as merino wool.
Chicken :cqlgusu:
@Lemlems this is a great opportunity to pay attention and find out what you like, then 😊
It's only in the last few years that I've started to pay more attention to the feel of things, myself. I'd been overly logical and 'practical' in the past, without taking into consideration my other, less-logical responses to physical materials.
Noticing more about my own response to materials makes a surprising difference to my personal levels of contentment.
Maybe try a selection of small amounts of different fibres, constructions, etc, discover how you feel about each one, and then explore more in that direction??
My (adult) kid likes fluffy soft novelty fibres (like the kind you might use to knit a baby blanket), and can't usually tolerate hand-knitted items in animal fibres (such as any kind of wool, no matter how soft). Something about the ridges of the knitting touching their skin, I think.
I'd suggest starting with yarns that the retailers say are good for baby garments, because they're usually soft and they *should* be machine-washable (if they're not machine-washable, they're not really suitable for babies, because parents of small babies do *not* have time to handwash).
In Australia, this is my default baby-friendly yarn: https://www.bendigowoollenmills.com.au/luxury-8-ply
(I don't buy much yarn from retailers outside Australia, because shipping is too expensive.)
If you are willing to say what area of the world you're in, you may get some more specific brand recommendations
Ravelry.com is handy for looking up what other knitters have to say about any yarn you're considering. Sometimes people will write their opinions of a yarn in their project notes. I don't know if you can see this page without a Ravelry login, but here's a bunch of projects knitted with bendigo luxury 8ply https://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/bendigo-woollen-mills-luxury-8-ply/projects
LemLems
All excellent points, very useful to consider. I should probably have mentioned in my post that I’m housebound so I don’t have any opportunity to touch yarn before buying. I guess I’m just trying to get a feel for what other people’s experiences have been with different types of yarn with a view to narrowing my options.
I’ve been knitting a long time but I mostly make for gifts and jumpers for myself (ie that I wear over something else to avoid possible sensory horror)
LemLems
This is all making me realise that I’ve never actually sat down and thought about what I like/don’t like about different knitted up fabrics against my skin (beyond scratchy = no).
I guess this is what comes of not realising I was autistic until my late 40s & being high masking - I never made space for my sensory needs, even in my own head.
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