CARON SIMPLY SOFT HEATHERS YARN (141G/5OZ), GRAY HEATHER

Before purchasing, I read some of the reviews and if I had not already used this brand and type of yarn, I would not have gotten it. How sad for those who bypassed it. A third grandchild is marrying in November. I sent her an assortment of samples so the afghan and pillow I made the others would also be made for her. She chose Caron Simply Soft in Grey Heather ... an awesome color. She chose it to go well with her decor. I knew the pattern would be awesome (I've been using it for 40 years) but I'd always made it in white before. This is stunning. I guess I must say, the problems other reviewers encountered with the yarn do exist. You need to get used to handling the strands (hey, I'm 81 and I adapted) and I am prepared for the occasional knots and check ahead so I can avoid them. If I miss one, I just tear out to the edge and start over after cutting out the knot. Actually, this batch has been free of them. I'm having fun doing it!

This is a standard worsted weight acrylic yarn, which means that it's the most popular size and the most inexpensive kind of material a yarn can be made of (and still be yarn, in my opinion). Each solid colored ball is 6oz, which is about 170g if you are counting in grams. So, at $3.08 before tax, that's pretty good. I made a hat and fingerless mittens with this yarn, and it feels normal at first. After washing on delicate cycles (machine wash and dry on delicate/cold, recommended), it came out as soft as kitten fur! Okay, I've had Caron Simply Soft yarn before, but every single time, it surprises me how much it changes after that first wash. After the first wash it doesn't get much softer (to me), but between knitting it off the ball and putting on the hat/mittens after the first wash, it gets REALLY soft. If you machine knit, this yarn is also really nice. That is, if you don't touch the ball the whole time (read: if you don't squish the ball). After the first couple rows, you get really nice, free flowing yarn. The way that it's made into a ball makes the center pull nice and frictionless, but only if you don't squash the ball. There is a downside to this nice yarn. The yarn splits. It will split if you tend to split yarn when knitting, and it will almost definitely split if you're crocheting. I knitted a shawl for Grandma this past summer, and she said she'd crochet the edges--well, first night in, she got really frustrated because that yarn splits every other stitch! Good thing that shawl only needs one row of crocheting. So, beware of that. If it was wound tighter so that it didn't split as easily, it wouldn't be as soft (check it up, it's true). For me, it's the perfect, inexpensive worsted weight yarn. If you tend to split yarn when knitting, or if you plan to crochet with it, I'd take a look at this yarn in person before you commit to buying a lot of it.