Know the facts of Yarns

Yarns are made out from different type of fibers spun together. The fibers are derived from various sources such as natural fibers from plants and animals (cotton or wool) and synthetic fibers (nylon or acrylic). To meet the demand and taste of the sophisticated crocheters, the yarn industry has come up with a variety of sizes and textures duly mixing and matching the fibers. As a beginner, you can try your hand with a yarn that is smooth in its surface and with a medium twist ? this will make your life little bit easier to start with.

Normally yarns are marketed by its length rather than by its weight. Yarns are normally packaged into balls, the most common ball size being 1-3/4 oz (50 g). The length of each will vary depending on the thickness and fiber composition.

Wool is considered as a good yarn for any to crochet work due to its stretching feature, which again makes it easy to push the point of the hook into each stitch. Silk is another yarn, which is widely used for crocheting, but silk is more expensive and has less resilience than wool.

Other yarns that are made to resemble fibers are synthetic yarns such as acrylic, nylon, and polyester and all these synthetic fibers are manufactured from petroleum products. Yarns made out of synthetic fibers are less expensive and they are more stable, machine washable and do not shrink.

The only known disadvantage of synthetic yarn is their tendency to loose shape when exposed to heat. The best suggested alternative to have a better yarn is to go for the blended one that has got both natural and synthetic fibers in it.

Common types of yarns based on weight are normally available. However, there are wide number of manufacturers distributed through out the world who produce yarns that fail to comply with the common weight parameters of yarn. The most commonly sold yarns are:

* Extra-Bulky
* Bulky
* Aran Wool
* Worsted
* Sport
* Aran Cotton
* Double Knitting
* Sport Mercerized Cotton
* Worsted Acrylic
* Viscose Rayon
* Linen/Viscose
* Metallic Viscose
* Metallic

You can start a crochet work with basic things such as hooks and yarns.