Are you looking to branch into yarn beyond what you find at the big box craft retailers? Consider Cascade Yarns Pacific worsted weight yarn. This machine washable wool blend may provide the answer.
Cascades Pacific is the workhorse acrylic blend from my old local yarn shop with a 60/40 acrylic/wool split. This yarn feels miles nicer than the blends at the big boxes, which max out with a 20% wool content. The color palette has many bright, clear colors making this ideal for gift and kids knitting. The laundry machine cleaning care is also a plus.
Yarn Attributes
The swatch is colorway 93, a bright medium blue, which was the nicest of any of the Pacific I have used. I have previously knit with medium olive green, medium bright green, grayed darker blue, yellow, baby pink, and one of the varigated colors. Some of the other colorways have been splitty when knit on my Hiya Hiya Sharps, but no issues with this particular set of skeins.
Stitch definition is good and holds up with time with minimal pilling in hats and scarves. I never held on to baby sweaters long enough to know how garments chucked in the washing machine more regularly hold up.
The yarn has a good bit of sheen freshly knitted, though it toned down during the steam blocking of my swatch. That said, it always retains some sheen looking at the hats my kids have been wearing for three years. The hand feel is not plastic-y at all. It also lacks a woolly feel as well for those expecting the springiness I associate with high wool content.
Considerations Before Knitting
The weight is closer to a DK yarn than a worsted. I have used it successfully in patterns written for both yarn weights, much like Cascade 220. True worsted for me is around 180 yards per 100 grams, and Cascade Pacific is 213 yards per 100 grams.
Also, for newer knitters, this is a slippery yarn. So earlier in my knitting career I would only use this on bamboo. Then, I figured out I detest bamboo needles but I have no problems knitting this yarn on stainless steel now. Also worth a mention, this yarn does not frog well at alI. I found it more inclined to split when knitting with said frogged yarn. However, my re-knit sections looked on par with the parts that had never been frogged, which works for me.
Overall, Cascade Yarns Pacific is a good value when moving up out of the acrylic from the craft stores. I do not use it for myself as I prefer 100% superwash wool for items I need to launder. But it is my favorite acrylic blend for children’s accessories. I would repurchase if I had an local yarn shop that stocked it.