The Importance of Stretch
I suggest starting with something with stretch. This likely means an animal-based fiber (wool is the natural choice) or a blend.
Stretch can mask uneven stitches and make your work just look “better,” especially in the beginning.
What about Alpaca?
Alpaca, while very soft, tends not to be a very stretchy fiber. It’s also a more expensive fiber so it’s not one that I recommend you try at the start.
They call it poor-man’s cashmere and it can be quite supple. But, if you’re just starting out, try to stay strong and stay away from the alpaca. While it’s very soft, it’s also not very stretchy and tends to flatten out as you work with it. While you can work with those tendencies, I suggest you work with a more traditional fiber when starting out.
What about Cotton?
Cotton tends to be the de-facto choice for crocheting. While an animal-based fiber does have stretch, it can also come with a higher price tag.
Plant-based fibers don’t have much stretch in general, so if you’re just starting out, keep that in mind. If you don’t want to use animal-based fibers, there are some plant-based blends with stretch as well. You’ll need to assess them yourself to determine if it has the amount of give that you want.
100% cotton fibers can also weigh quite a bit, causing stretching out both when wet and when dry. If your item is going to weigh a lot, a blend that includes a lighter-weight fiber may be the way to go.
What about Polyester?
Today’s polyesters are NOTHING like earlier ones. They have more give, more breathability and less pilling.
Even if you’re reticent to use polyester, I suggest you give it a try.
What about Lycra (and other elastic additions)?
While elastic will make your yarn have more stretch, knitting or crocheting with it can come with some challenges. It can be harder to get consistent stitches and a consistent gauge, and when you’re starting out, that can be challenging enough all on its own.
When possible, I suggest that you don’t use a fiber with elastic when you’re starting out.
Other Fibers
There are lots of other fibers as well, but we’ll keep it simple and just focus on these few.
What Fiber Should I Choose?
Regardless of which you choose, you’ll have a lot more options with animal-based fibers. This is just the fact that there’s a lot more availability for those types of fibers.
Either way, you’ll need to try them out for yourself. From personal experience, some fibers are great to hold but not great to work with. In other words, just because you like a fiber when you see it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll also like to knit or crochet with it.
Superwash or Not?
There’s enough to say about “Superwash or Not” that we’ve dedicated an entire post to it: Superwash Yarn.
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