Feels Like Alpaca!
While I was in New Zealand, my girlfriend picked out some yarn so that I could make her parents some hats for Christmas. Something about making winter gear for a summer holiday seemed odd to me but I wasn’t about to pass up a chance to do some knitting! She picked out Lion Brand’s new Feels Like Alpaca in Denim and Rust.
Flax by tincanknits made using Lion Brand’s Re-Spun in Blush
This yarn is new to me, and I also believe new to Lion Brand. I don’t usually go for Lion Brand yarns, although I can be caught admiring the pretty colors in their Mandala line from time to time. The last time I bought Lion Brand, it was their 100% recycled polyester Re-Spun yarn in Blush. That yarn was super pretty - it had a nice drape, good stitch definition, and appears to have held up pretty well in the (machine) wash over time.
Rust
Denim
The Lion Brand Feels Like Alpaca yarn is another hit! It feels surprisingly close to alpaca! I think it definitely looks like alpaca, and feels very soft. I’m not sure if it’s just because I touch so much yarn, but it does feel synthetic to me. Without the label, I’d assume it was some kind of alpaca blend. With the label, I know that it is 87% acrylic, 7% polyester, and 6% nylon. It’s also machine washable, which is a big plus in my book!
I found this yarn to be a bit slipperier than most synthetic yarns I use, although I found it would catch on the lettering of my DPNs. I used Crystal Palace size 3 (3.25 mm) bamboo needles for the entirety of both of the hats that I made. I found that it was fairly easy to undo stitches, but was a bit prone to being split with a knitting needle while working with it. Despite the yarn being fuzzy I still felt the stitch definition was pretty good - better than most alpaca I’ve worked with. I assume this has something to do with the synthetic nature of the fibers.
Rainbow Indigo Fisherman's Beanie by Janet Stimson made using Lion Brand’s Feels Like Alpaca in Rust
Cengkeh Beanie by Amelia Putri made using Lion Brand’s Feels Like Alpaca in Denim
Would I buy it again? Probably! I really like the feel and look of this yarn, and I do like the Burgundy colorway a lot! The only issue I’m seeing is that the color palette isn’t super varied. Every color is gorgeous, but I would love to see a green, or a brown, or more of a true red or purple. If there was a dark slightly desaturated purple it would already be in the mail on its way to me.
Bonus hat for the girlfriend made using Lion Brand’s Feels Like Alpaca in Rust and Denim
This hat is mostly my own pattern, but uses the colorwork chart from The Easy Ombre Slouch Hat by Paul S Neary