Do you have a favorite yarn? Mine changes depending what I'm crocheting/designing.
A few days ago I posted on FB asking what people would like to know about yarn when I do reviews. Many people mentioned these 2 companies.
I have tried both the Stylecraft and the Paintbox (dk & also aran weights), and like them both equally.
Both yarns are 100% acrylic. They are soft and easy to work with, slide very nicely through my fingers when I'm crocheting. I wrap the yarn around my pinky finger to help keep tension and never have an issue with it gripping or pinching. My favorite hooks are the Clover Amour hooks. The yarns slide easily on the hooks, no gripping, splitting, or snags.
They are however not the same weight so not interchangeable. The Paintbox yarns are a bit thicker than the Stylecraft yarns. So.... if you are making a hat, I would lean towards the Paintbox Aran as opposed to the Stylecraft Aran. For any pattern using dk weight.... they are both very nice, but again, not interchangeable.
Both Aran weight yarns do make lovely hats, scarves, fingerless gloves etc. Both DK weight yarns are wonderful for shawls, cowls, lacy scarves or any project that calls for a lighter weight yarn. Both drape fairly nicely on shawl patterns.
I have not tried to wash any of my projects using these yarns, so can't tell you anything about wash & wear.
Where to purchase:
Both brands can be purchase at Love Crafts, however their selection of colors is usually lacking. Yes, there are a lot of color options.... but they seem to always be out of many of them, or at least the colors I would like. They are the only option for the Paintbox yarns unfortunately. Their shipping is pretty good. I'm in Canada so it takes 2 - 3 weeks for me to get any order. I've never had to pay extra duties or charges no matter how large or small my order was.
The Stylecraft yarn can also be purchased at Wool Warehouse. It's in the UK. I have ordered from them many times with no issues. They always have all of the Stylecraft colors, and an amazing variety of other yarns as well. Shipping is also good, but again 2-3 weeks to get to Canada. And I've never had to pay extra duties or charges here either no matter how large or small my order was.
Both companies have patterns on their websites that use these yarns.
Here are some of my patterns using all of the above yarns.
Paintbox Simply DK:
Paintbox Aran:
Stylecraft Special DK:
Stylecraft Special Aran:
Hopefully in the near future I will try both brands in their chunky yarn!
I hope this has been helpful in some way :)
Happy Crocheting!