5 attributes of Red Heart’s Baby Yarns

The three yarns I’m reviewing this week are all ideal for baby projects, but set side by side they’re very different. I’ve managed to list five different attributes: texture, weight, fiber composition, color choices and ideal projects.

Texture

In terms of texture, these three baby yarns could not be more different. Soft Baby Steps is very silky soft, but Cutie Pie holds it’s own with a velvety soft texture. Comfort Sport, is soft, but not really in the same league as the other two. Comfort Sport is an excellent all-purpose yarn, it’s amazing for your baby knits because it’s soft enough for a baby’s skin, but you’re not afraid to use it for other things like afghans and perhaps something for yourself. This yarn is really easy to knit with. It slides well on any kind of needle, so no matter the needle materials you’re using it’s sure to work up well.

Soft Baby Steps, as I said, is incredibly silky soft. This is perfect for anything right next to baby’s skin. If you’re using any kind of needle material that is rougher, the soft fibers may catch along the shaft of the needle. I would highly suggest a metal or acrylic needle; anything synthetic and machine honed to a flawless surface.

Cutie Pie, has a very unique texture. It feels velvety and soft in a way that I’ve never felt in a yarn. I would also suggest a synthetic needle material when using Cutie Pie, although the fibers wouldn’t catch on the shaft of the needle, I don’t think it would slide as well. When you first start knitting with this yarn it takes a couple minutes to get used to the ‘feel’ of it. The fleeciness of this yarn makes the stitches want to snug up close to their ‘neighbors’. This isn’t ideal for ripping things out, but excellent for closing holes and creating warm baby knits.

Weight

Comfort Sport’s weight is right in the name of the yarn; sport weight. For those who haven’t heard a lot about sport weight yarn, it’s heavier than fingering weight and lighter than a DK or worsted weight. It’s an excellent medium for those transitioning from heavier yarns into lighter weight yarns. The needle size recommended for this yarn is 4mm or a US 7. I like this needle size for this yarn. As a loose knitter, I generally go down one or two needle sizes to get gauge, but this needle size was perfect.

Soft Baby Steps is the heaviest of the three yarns; it’s a medium weight yarn. The recommended needle size for this yarn is 5mm or a US 8. When I was knitting my swatch with this size needle, the swatch was a little bit airy. I had to go down a needle size in order to get a really good fabric I liked. As I said before though, my gauge is a little bit loose, I usually have to go down the needle size.

Cutie Pie yarn is the lightest weight, although the chenille feel makes it seem thicker. Many knitters are scared of knitting with lightweight yarn because they think the projects will take them forever. This yarn is a great place to start, it will feel like a thicker yarn but you’re actually knitting with lightweight yarn. The recommended needle size for this yarn is 3.75mm or a US 5. Again, this is an excellent suggestion, when I started knitting with the recommended needle size my gauge was perfect. The fabric was not too open nor able to stand up on its own.

Fiber Composition

All three yarns are made from synthetic fibers. Comfort Sport and Soft Baby Steps are made from acrylic, while Cutie Pie is made from polyester. In this respect, these yarns are very similar.

The synthetic fiber makes it washer and dryer friendly, while not giving up a lovely texture.

Color Choices

Cutie pie has a basic selection of solid colors. Since it’s such a different texture from your regular yarns, I don’t know how well variegated colors would show up. The texture of the yarn would make any color changes more fluid and not as distinct. The selection of solid colors includes very saturated and beautiful tones of the base colors; pinks, blues, purple, green, etc.

Soft Baby Steps come in a wide and varied selection of colors. There are solid colors in baby tones, bright saturated colors and variegated to match the solids. On the Red Heart website, there are a whopping three pages of colors.

While I think the true value of Comfort Sport is its versatility, it also comes in a fair variety of colors. No variegated colors, but several tones of one color. For example, there are five different shades of blue.

Ideal projects

Comfort Sport is one of my favorite kinds of yarn, it’s the kind of yarn you can knit anything with. If you end up buying this huge ball to make one baby sweater you’re going to have a lot left over. There are thousands of projects out there looking for yardage just like this; drink cozies, shawls, pet beds! If you can dream it, you can knit it with this yarn.

I would use Soft Baby Steps to knit sweaters, booties, scratch mittens for those cute little leggings with the monster face on the bum. Regardless of what you choose to make, it will be baby’s favorite. While Cutie Pie is a lightweight yarn, I love this yarn for blankets and snuggle sacks. Just touching this yarn brings images of plush, luxurious, warm blankets to mind. It’s light enough that you could also use it for garments worn close to the skin, like Soft Baby Steps, or choose to knit warm sweaters and over garments.

Between Comfort Sport, Soft Baby Steps and Cutie Pie all of your baby knitting needs will be covered! Summer is the most popular time of year for babies to be born, I’m telling you this now so you can get a jump start on it. With all the beautiful colors, gender neutral included, baby season won’t be so stressful! Join me tomorrow for more knitting fun.