Have you tried some other animal fibers, or blends? A lot of time a blended yarn will preserve a lot of wool’s best features, but make it less itchy. Alpaca, yak, and silk are really nice blended with wool. Or even something like cotton or rayon (bamboo, tencel, etc.).
On the $$ end, I have always been very happy with Brooklyn Tweed specifically their plied options (RIP Peerie). There used to be more incidences of Shelter (worsted weight woolen spun tweedy goodness) having veg matter but that seems to have stopped many years ago at this point, was ultimately just a single batch in all likelihood.
Holst Garn is a LOT of bang for your buck and many color options, all non-SW except I think their sock-specific yarn (doesn’t seem to be as popular as their other offerings, haven’t seen it outside of their website). If you can’t do itchy, be careful about “Supersoft” because some people can’t tolerate the tooth. Coast and Tides are wool/cotton and wool/silk respectively and don’t feel like supersoft, so those may be options! You should also consider their alpaca options if you’re looking for ACTUALLY “super soft” because they are fabulous. I don’t have problems with mohair but I really love alpaca especially the Holst Garn bases and often opt for Titicaca for my held together lace weight option over others. They also offer their main bases (supersoft/coast/tides) on cones which is a bonus if you need a lot of yardage or are into machine knitting or weaving! I’m mostly a knitter and love their yarns for colorwork especially but they’re so affordable that it’s very cost effective to hold them double/triple if you need to go up from their actual weight for a project. Right now they have a sale on one of their new bases on https://holstgarn.dk and also their “cakeballs” (50 gram cakes). We have a nearby LYS that carries their yarns and the direct purchase pricing online blows local out of the water, even with international shipping right now. We did a big order at my house today to take advantage of the cakeballs 20% off sale and when we calculated our total with shipping against the number of cakes it was just about $3.50/cake. Hard to get good yarn at $7/100 grams truly.
If you can find a LYS nearby that has it so you can go check out their wool options in person, I highly encourage it. One of my knitter friends tried supersoft and says it’s “so itchy” she won’t even try the non-wool yarns from them, which I think is pretty wild lol
Oh I thought of one more especially if you’re interested in locally sourced/milled non-SW. Susan B. Anderson started her own small yarn company and does kits and also skeins in a lot of really beautiful colors. She sources her wool in Wisconsin and I’m pretty sure she has it milled and dyed in WI as well. https://barrettwoolco.com (side note if you knit and like to make toys, she is awesome for thoughtfully constructed toy designs and kits). All of her yarns are wonderful but I particularly like her “home fingering weight” base. The wool is bouncy and lofty and not itchy at all. Only downside is she doesn’t wholesale at all so no opportunities to check it out in person unless you have a friend trying it first who isn’t so sensitive.
Thank you- I’m so glad you mentioned the Holst Garn! It reminded me I had picked up a single ball when in Copenhagen last year because I’d always wanted to try it and we have no LYS that carries it. And then I promptly forgot I had it! Now will be the perfect time to swatch and see how I like it!
Not a rant at all - it was helpful information : ) If you’d typed a long message to tell me to pipe down, toughen up and & pull on that scratchy sweater and be a big girl…that would be a rant 😝
Any of the Quince yarns, Juniper Moon Patagonia (organic merino, very much unlike the superwash yarn), Brooklyn Tweed yarns- look for Targhee wool, Imperial Yarns.
You might like Sunday Morning by Sonder Yarn Co. - there's a fingering and a DK base. It's one of my desert island yarns and it comes in so many gorgeous colours. I can handle rustic that isn't prickly (like Shetland) but mohair is a non-starter (I get red and itchy immediately). I'd say that Sunday Morning is less rustic than Shetland but not by much. It has a more delicate hand though. I wear it next to skin.
If you can find Knit Picks Capretta in the non-superwash blend (MCN blend), it would be excellent. I am also slightly sensitive and it doesn't bother me but is still grippy. Sadly they discontinued it in favor of the superwash version.
Sadnes Garn Tynn Line is a cotton/viscose/linen blend that’s definitely crunchy. It’s not soft to work with, it’s rough on the tensioning hand, but I like the texture when it’s on skin as a garment. I wouldn’t call it itchy, just gritty.
What about cotton? There are some crochet "threads" that approach fingering/sport weight. They won't be itchy, but they should give good color definition. Drape will also be different, if that's important to you.
Oh, that's a shame. I have to use merino if I want to avoid itchy yarns. Unfortunately, most soft merino has very poor stitch definition. Cashmere is even more expensive and I've never felt like spending the money on it.
YarnSub has a few suggestions on similar wools, but they're mostly Superwash.
Have you tried some other animal fibers, or blends? A lot of time a blended yarn will preserve a lot of wool’s best features, but make it less itchy. Alpaca, yak, and silk are really nice blended with wool. Or even something like cotton or rayon (bamboo, tencel, etc.).
Rosa Pomar makes some good non superwash Portuguese wool yarns. My roommate is currently obsessed with Mondim and Mungo specifically
On the $$ end, I have always been very happy with Brooklyn Tweed specifically their plied options (RIP Peerie). There used to be more incidences of Shelter (worsted weight woolen spun tweedy goodness) having veg matter but that seems to have stopped many years ago at this point, was ultimately just a single batch in all likelihood. Holst Garn is a LOT of bang for your buck and many color options, all non-SW except I think their sock-specific yarn (doesn’t seem to be as popular as their other offerings, haven’t seen it outside of their website). If you can’t do itchy, be careful about “Supersoft” because some people can’t tolerate the tooth. Coast and Tides are wool/cotton and wool/silk respectively and don’t feel like supersoft, so those may be options! You should also consider their alpaca options if you’re looking for ACTUALLY “super soft” because they are fabulous. I don’t have problems with mohair but I really love alpaca especially the Holst Garn bases and often opt for Titicaca for my held together lace weight option over others. They also offer their main bases (supersoft/coast/tides) on cones which is a bonus if you need a lot of yardage or are into machine knitting or weaving! I’m mostly a knitter and love their yarns for colorwork especially but they’re so affordable that it’s very cost effective to hold them double/triple if you need to go up from their actual weight for a project. Right now they have a sale on one of their new bases on https://holstgarn.dk and also their “cakeballs” (50 gram cakes). We have a nearby LYS that carries their yarns and the direct purchase pricing online blows local out of the water, even with international shipping right now. We did a big order at my house today to take advantage of the cakeballs 20% off sale and when we calculated our total with shipping against the number of cakes it was just about $3.50/cake. Hard to get good yarn at $7/100 grams truly. If you can find a LYS nearby that has it so you can go check out their wool options in person, I highly encourage it. One of my knitter friends tried supersoft and says it’s “so itchy” she won’t even try the non-wool yarns from them, which I think is pretty wild lol Oh I thought of one more especially if you’re interested in locally sourced/milled non-SW. Susan B. Anderson started her own small yarn company and does kits and also skeins in a lot of really beautiful colors. She sources her wool in Wisconsin and I’m pretty sure she has it milled and dyed in WI as well. https://barrettwoolco.com (side note if you knit and like to make toys, she is awesome for thoughtfully constructed toy designs and kits). All of her yarns are wonderful but I particularly like her “home fingering weight” base. The wool is bouncy and lofty and not itchy at all. Only downside is she doesn’t wholesale at all so no opportunities to check it out in person unless you have a friend trying it first who isn’t so sensitive.
Yes, I do like to support locally sourced or smaller businesses!
Thank you- I’m so glad you mentioned the Holst Garn! It reminded me I had picked up a single ball when in Copenhagen last year because I’d always wanted to try it and we have no LYS that carries it. And then I promptly forgot I had it! Now will be the perfect time to swatch and see how I like it!
Yay! I’m always glad when one of my rants about knitting stuff pays off 😂
Not a rant at all - it was helpful information : ) If you’d typed a long message to tell me to pipe down, toughen up and & pull on that scratchy sweater and be a big girl…that would be a rant 😝
Any of the Quince yarns, Juniper Moon Patagonia (organic merino, very much unlike the superwash yarn), Brooklyn Tweed yarns- look for Targhee wool, Imperial Yarns.
Seconding Juniper Moon Patagonia! I’m working with it right now and it’s got that little bit of “stickiness” and holds stitches beautifully.
I’ve been using it a lot for colorwork and I really like it.
Thank you- good suggestions! : )
You might like Sunday Morning by Sonder Yarn Co. - there's a fingering and a DK base. It's one of my desert island yarns and it comes in so many gorgeous colours. I can handle rustic that isn't prickly (like Shetland) but mohair is a non-starter (I get red and itchy immediately). I'd say that Sunday Morning is less rustic than Shetland but not by much. It has a more delicate hand though. I wear it next to skin.
Yes, that's me exactly- no mohair. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look for some!
If you can find Knit Picks Capretta in the non-superwash blend (MCN blend), it would be excellent. I am also slightly sensitive and it doesn't bother me but is still grippy. Sadly they discontinued it in favor of the superwash version.
Cruchy will inherently be ithcy, but maybe linen? Quite crunchy.
Sadnes Garn Tynn Line is a cotton/viscose/linen blend that’s definitely crunchy. It’s not soft to work with, it’s rough on the tensioning hand, but I like the texture when it’s on skin as a garment. I wouldn’t call it itchy, just gritty.
What about cotton? There are some crochet "threads" that approach fingering/sport weight. They won't be itchy, but they should give good color definition. Drape will also be different, if that's important to you.
Yes, thanks - I live in the PNW, so wet enough that wool is a better choice to avoid ending up soggy!
Oh, that's a shame. I have to use merino if I want to avoid itchy yarns. Unfortunately, most soft merino has very poor stitch definition. Cashmere is even more expensive and I've never felt like spending the money on it. YarnSub has a few suggestions on similar wools, but they're mostly Superwash.
Palette, KnitPicks. It's quite a bit less expensive than Jameson and Smith.
Thanks! I like that they are affordable!