Yarn for newborns

I want to crochet a very soft luxurious looking baby blanket that will look good after being machine washing a lot. What yarn should I get? Acrylics I use for myself are somewhat scratchy. Does Michael's have really good quality yarns or do I have to look for a yarn shop? I live out by Riverhead.
Thank you.

Re: Yarn for newborns

my friend did a nice newborn hat out of sock yarn. It was awesome!

Re: Yarn for newborns

Yarn for newborns

Believe it or not, acrylic will soften up a lot when you wash and dry it. I knit my girls a ton of toy fruit/veggies, play hats for their baby dolls and little scraps and they've been spit up on, washed, dried etc and they are definitely softer now than they were when i knit them. And those were done with the cheapie Lion Brand stuff that is like a buck a skein.

I know a lot of people who use wool or alpaca but those can be prone to shrinkage etc whearas the acrylic can be washed/dried with no issue. I am very careful about using anything other than cotton/acrylic blends or acrylic with babies though because of potential skin problems along with the fact that these are getting washed and dried a ton. Caron makes a soft acrylic that is really nice that you can get at Micaels or Joanns. I believe either Caron or Lion Brand makes one called baby soft or something. Lion Brand also has cotton ease which may work.

I wouldn't want to use sock yarn/fingering weight for a blanket, too light and won't be luxurious and plush feeling. You'll want something heavier, like a worsted or bulky.

I've ordered yarns from Knitpicks.com and yarn.com both are great and have wonderful yarns. You can get some pretty neat colorways online that you can't always find in stores, just watch the lot #'s to make sure that you get color consistency.

If you want a good yarn store, there's Granny's in East Islip, Rumplestilskins in Sayville or Village Knitter in Babylon Village . There is also Hampton Yarn.

Re: Yarn for newborns

Thank you very much Tara. You gave me a lot of really good information. I will give some acrylic pieces I have a couple of washings to see if I like the feel. Did you ever put fabric softener in the water? They don't pill?

I saw a couple of Paton yarns at Michael's that are 70% acrylic and 30% nylon. Any thoughts on those? They seemed a tad softer.

Yarn for newborns

I haven't had issues with acrylic pilling on any of the baby blankets/toys we have, but I use dryer sheets.

I haven't used the Paton yarns so I don't really know, but that blend should be OK

Re: Yarn for newborns

Thanks so much. I decided on the Paton's Simply Soft and so far so good!