Three Cotton Yarns

I am a big fan of Lily Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn, and have used it in many, many projects. When I need something sturdy, for a tote or bag, when I need something for a kitchen project - such as a dishcloth, hot pad, oven mitt, or kitchen rug, I reach for my stash of Sugar'n Cream. I have also used it for hats and kids' scarves. So, when I went to a lys and discovered some Kertzer yarn, Coolspun Cotton, that looked a lot like Sugar'n Cream, I had to buy a couple of skeins to try. And then, Coats announced that they had a cotton yarn, Creme de la Creme, and I went on a search for that. I found some on-line, and ordered some. (I do like having this blog - it gives me a great excuse for buying new yarns to blog about!) I got the Creme de la Creme a couple of days ago, and put it aside until I decided what to do with it. I had enough of one color to make a small project, and looked in some books that I had ordered and received the same day as the yarn. I'll blog more about these books, because I am going to work on an idea that I got from one of them, and I don't want to spoil the surprise! But - I decided to make a circle shape from the Creme de la Creme. I bought the color Old Bluejeans Ombre, and I wanted to see if the color "pooled". As I was crocheting the circle, I decided to work circles in the other two yarns, to compare them. When I found the CoolSpun Cotton, I discovered that I bought the same color - only it's called Faded Denim. And then I remembered that Sugar'n Cream has a Faded Denim color too, and I was sure I had a ball of that. And I did! So I crocheted circles last night, with all three yarns.


These are the circles I crocheted. From left to right - Sugar'n Cream, CoolSpun Cotton, Creme de la Creme. I used a Susan Bates H8/5.00mm Silvalume hook for all three swatches. And I worked 10 rounds in all three yarns. Same pattern. As you can see, the Sugar'n Cream and the CoolSpun Cotton worked up to the same size. The Creme de la Creme was slightly smaller. The "pooling" of the colors was similar for all three yarns. Now - for the particulars about the yarns:
Sugar'n Cream - Faded Denim, 100% cotton, 2 oz., 95 yards, machine or hand wash, dry flat. Hook: 4.5mm, US 7.
CoolSpun Cotton - Faded Denim, Soft 100% cotton, 1.5oz., 73 yds, machine wash, tumble dry. Hook: 4 - 5mm, G/6 to H/8.
Creme de la Creme - Old Bluejeans Ombre,100% Combed Cotton, 2oz., 99 yds, machine wash, tumble dry. Hook US H8/5mm.

I don't know the difference between 100% cotton, Soft cotton, and Combed cotton, but I could definitely feel a difference between the first two and the last swatch. The Creme de la Creme felt softer. But - I'm sure a lot of that was because the yarn itself is thinner, and so the stitches have more space around them.



Look at this picture of a strand of each of the yarns. From left to right: Sugar'n Cream, CoolSpun Cotton, Creme de la Creme. You can see that Creme de la Creme is slightly thinner. What I find interesting, is that Coats recommends an H8/5.00mm hook for this thinner yarn. Lily recommends a US 7, 4.5mm hook for Sugar'n Cream, and Kertzer recommends between a G/6 to and H/8, which is 4.00mm to 5.00mm. What you should know, if you don't already (and I'm sure you do), is that the smaller the hook, the more firm (rigid, stiff - whatever you want to call it) the fabric is. So with a G6, or a G7 hook, with the first two yarns, you would get a very stiff fabric. Which is okay - if that's what you want!

One other interesting fact - all three yarns say "worsted weight" on their labels. Obviously, some worsted is not like other worsteds, and if you substituted one for another in a pattern, your gauge might not be the same. If gauge were critical, this could pose a problem!

My conclusions: I like all three yarns! Sugar'n Cream has many choices, and is readily available on-line and in stores. And you know I really like the Sugar'n Cream Stripes! CoolSpun has a good start! Nice colors, but not as many choices as SnC. Creme de la Creme looks like a winner, also. Soft drape, good colors. I can't wait until it's readily available in the stores! All three are not expensive, so when you just have to have a yarn fix, or need some yarn for swatching and trying out new stitch patterns, all three are perfect!