Yarn Review; Caron Simply Soft

This used to be my very favorite of all favorite yarns. Not anymore but when I was first learning to crochet I went with Red Heart, which I will review later, and Caron Simply Soft feels so soft and silky to Red Heart.

Caron Simply Soft is a size 4 (worsted) weight yarn, that is 100% acrylic, the recommended crochet hook is 5 mm, and the knitting needles is 5 mm as well. Now the yardage is different, depending on if you get a solid (6 oz or 170 grams with 315 yards or 288 meters) or ombre (4 oz or 114 grams with 208 yards or 190.2 meters) both solids and ombres are the same price so you do get a bit more bang for your buck with solids but not by that much. It is machine wash and tumble dry, which I have used it and can tell you that I only ever put it in normal dryer and it comes out fine. Do not iron it or bleach it, again since it is completely acrylic I would guess that bleach would just bleed out the color, which yes wouldn't be as pretty but a bleached blanket will still be a blanket.

So technically normally if a label says something like that I wouldn't recommend it for charity knitting/crochet but I've noticed absolutely nothing changing throwing it in the dryer and would have no problem giving a gift to a love one and telling them 'oh yeah, just throw it in the washer or dryer' I try to always give people machine and dry yarns when I gift someone something unless they knew going in that I was going to make them something that is not able to be machine washed or dry, but that is a story for another day.

Just a quick note I've never heard of ombre referring to yarn until the last year or so. Basically an ombre is a self striping yarn but all in one color. So if you want some fun colors together; like purples, blues and greens or whatever you won't find it in a ready made yarn skein.

When it comes to how the yarn is used it lives somewhere between size 3 and size 4, it's too big to be a size 3 but a little too small to be size 4, but is closer to size 4. I honestly think it would be better to consider it an Arayen weight, which is the weight they made that exists between sport/baby (size 3) and worsted (size 4).

I have to say I love working with this yarn, it is soft and silky so glides along your hand, it does have a nice drape, it is not the most beautiful drape I've ever seen but for big box store I have to say it is up there. Even against some of the luxury yarns it can hold its own in drape.

It is not prone to split, maybe every now and then it might split a little bit but it isn't often, and since even the best of the best yarn can split every now and then I would say that it is good. I highly recommend it, I do have to say that when you make something it will not be as shiny as it is in the skein but not by much.

It is a tad slippery so if someone were just learning to knit or crochet it might be hard to keep the yarn on the hook or needle (for me I would not recommend touching this yarn as a knitter until you are at least easily comfortable with everything you are doing. But it was much harder for me to learn to knit then to crochet, and whenever a stitch falls of my needle I try to catch it but if I don't I have to pull the entire thing undone.

Now when it comes to pilling that is hard to answer. Some colors like a dark red (I lost the label long ago) can pill pretty badly, others like Country Blue and Lilac don't pill at all, Honestly I've got seven different colors of this yarn and only that dark red yarn pilled badly. But to be fair that it gets much better if you throw it into the wash. It will pill like any acrylic yarn but it isn't that bad.

So would I recommend this yarn? Yes. Unequivocally yes. It is a lovely yarn with some lovely drape, is enjoyable to work with, still having expanded my horizons with yarn I have to say it is one of the most enjoyable yarns to work with.

I might say if someone was just learning to crochet or knit that day hold off until they get the very basics. Just because it is the slightest bit slippery, not super slippery but it is a bit. Like if you can chain and single crochet and double crochet or cast on, knit and bind off then I would so recommend it.

The one bad thing is there aren't many colors and so I tend to use other yarns (like Red Heart) that have more colors. But when it is able to be used it is a joy to work with.