Favorite Yarns for Hats

Oh my gosh! This is a hard post to do. I have used SO MANY different yarns for making hats/beanies/toques it's going to be hard to pick favorites in order.

Yes - I donate all the beanies I make as well. Some go to Chase the Chill in Edmonton & some are sent with a friend who donates them to places in Williams Lake, BC & Prince George BC. You will notice that some of my photos show the hats with pom poms and tags, I do take those off when I donate the hats.

For this post I will just list the yarns in no particular order.

Bernat Premium (100% Acrylic, 360 yards / 329 meters, 7 oz / 198 g)

Always a favorite for everything. Winters in Canada are cold so it's nice to have a warmer cozy beanie. This yarn is perfect for cold winters if you don't like to use bulky yarns. The yarn is so soft and warm. It shows stitches well which is something I really like. And it comes is a good variety of colors. Unfortunately you can only purchase it at Walmart and Yarnspirations.

Yarnspirations usually has the best variety of colors but the yarn costs way more there. If you can find it at Walmart, it's the most affordable place to buy it.

Yarn Bee Yarn ID (80% Acrylic & 20% Polyamide, 252 yards, 5 ounces)

This is a Hobby Lobby Yarn. Unfortunately Hobby Lobby does not ship to Canada, so whenever we get to the US I try to get to one and buy yarn I haven't tried yet. When I saw this yarn I was first drawn to the pretty colors. It's really nice yarn! Love the way it feels, so soft, and it's so easy to crochet with. If you like more pastel colors, you should definitely try this yarn.

Hobbii Yarns Fantasy (100% Acrylic, 164 yards / 150 meters, 3.5 ounces / 100 grams)

LOVE this yarn! Oh my gosh it's so soft. You can only find this yarn on the Hobbii website. I haven't ordered from Hobbii very often, I find that their yarn is usually thinner than I would like. For example, this yarn is labelled as Bulky, but it crochets almost the same as the Bernat Premium. It might be a bit thicker. The colors are amazing and they have quite a few to choose from. The yarn is very easy to use, no splitting and unravels well. It would make a beautiful scarf, blanket, maybe even slippers!

Not everyone wants a warm beanie, since not every place in the world gets winters like we do in Canada. So the next few yarns are lighter weight yarns.

Stylecraft Special Aran (100% Acrylic, 214 yards / 196 meters, 100 grams)

Paintbox Yarns Simply Aran (100% Acrylic, 201 yards / 184 meters, 3.5 ounces / 100 grams)

Here they are together again lol. I like to put them together because for me they are equal yarns. The Paintbox is a tiny bit thicker, you wouldn't be able to use both yarns in the same project, it just wouldn't work. But they crochet the same, have lots of different colors, and are both easy to crochet with. The Paintbox can only be purchased at LoveCrafts, and they tend to be out of quite a few colors (usually the colors I want). I would suggest purchasing the Stylecraft at the Wool Warehouse. Yes it's in the UK, but I have ordered from them often with no issues. It can take up to 2 weeks for the order to arrive.

Oh I should mention.... I ordered yarn from LoveCrafts in January and had to pay extra duties at the post office. The order came out of the UK! Previous orders where shipped out of the US, so not sure what is going on there. Definitely a deterrent for ordering from LoveCrafts. Probably won't do it again :(

Lion Brand Heartland (100% Acrylic, 251 yards / 230 meters, 5 oz / 142 g)

This used to be my "go-to" yarn for beanies. It's nice and soft, easy to work with & comes in stunning colors. The yarn is labelled as worsted weight, but it's more of an aran weight yarn. It's smooth and a bit shiny. Not all the colors are the same thickness, but that's ok. I find it hard to do stripes and match colors with the Heartland yarn. You can purchase the yarn on the Lion Brand website, and many other stores. I haven't actually used this yarn in a few years, it was hard for me to find in Canada (I live in the middle of no where), and quite often I couldn't find some of the colors I wanted, so I switched to other yarns. If you have easy access to it, give it a try. It would also make a beautiful shawl or scarf.

Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn! (100% Acrylic, 355 yards / 325 meters, 7 ounces / 199 grams)

Maybe it's a good thing that Hobby Lobby doesn't ship to Canada lol. For years I have heard people say that this was their favorite yarn. I did buy some years ago when we were in the US, but hadn't for a few years now. So this winter I decided to try it again. Picking colors was the hardest part! Oh my gosh! It's so nice that they have matching striped & variegated yarns as well. This yarn makes a really nice beanie & shows the stitches well. Thankfully it also unravels well many times lol. The colors all seem to be the same thickness, so a striped project isn't a problem.

This hat pattern hasn't been released yet.

Herrschners Worsted Heather Yarn (100% Acrylic, 489 yards / 448 meters, 8 ounces / 226 grams)

Since I was in the US for the winter I thought I would save some money on shipping costs and order some yarn from Herrschners that I haven't tried before. The colors are what drew me to this yarn, & the fact that I could purchase a Sample Pack and save some money :) You can also buy colors Individually as well. Again, it's labelled as worsted weight, but it's more like aran weight. Still makes a really nice beanie and with the right stitch pattern can be super warm. When I bought the yarn the plan was to make a blanket, but that wasn't working out the way I wanted, so switched to beanies. I have ordered another sample pack and had it sent home. Will make a blanket yet.

The yarn is nice and soft, easy to work with and unravels fairly well. I do really like the colors :)

This hat pattern hasn't been released yet.

Some other yarns that I have used for beanies and would use again:

Cascade Yarns Anthem (100% Acrylic, 186 yards / 170 meters, 3.5 ounces / 100 grams)

Willow Yarns Denim Grace (40% Acrylic, 30% Nylon, 30% Wool, 360 yards / 330 meters, 5.3 ounces / 150 grams)

Lion Brand Ferris Wheel (100% Acrylic, 270 yards / 247 meters, 3 ounces / 85 grams)

Red Heart Colorscape ( Ball Weight: 3.5 oz. / 100 g | Ball Length: 187 yard / 171 m | 100% Acrylic )

That's all for now! I do have some new yarns waiting for hat patterns, so who knows, I may have to change or add to this list :)

I would love to know what your favorite hat making yarn is! Leave a comment below, message me on FB, or send an email. I will reply to all messages :)

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