virtual yarntasting: stylecraft special

Stylecraft Special
We believe this is one of the best acrylic yarns on the market and is a very popular yarn.  Special is produced in 4-ply, DK, aran, chunky and super chunky and includes a range for babies. This review is specifically about DK but the characteristics are duplicated across the range. 
 
Special DK comes in a vast array of colours – you can see the colours we stock here  which is only just over half of the range!  This means it is a good choice for projects using multiple colours and is the preferred choice of many crochet designers.
 
The yarn is smooth and nicely rounded making it easy to work with for beginners and more experienced crafters alike. Compared to other acrylic yarns, it feels gentle to working hands and doesn’t tend to snag on dry skin. The smoothness of the yarn means that it is slightly more slippery than is ideal for stranded colour work. Darned in ends may work free over time.

As it is 100% acrylic, Special DK goes a long way with 295m on a 100g ball and is very reasonably priced. This makes it an economical yarn making large projects more affordable for those with smaller budgets.
 
Special DK is an easy to care for yarn as it can be both machine washed and tumble dried. Care needs to be taken though as if too much heat is applied it loses structural integrity and the project may grow and lose its bounce.
 
No yarn is perfect so we should mention that acrylic generally doesn’t feel as warm as wool to wear and has less stretch and “memory” which can affect the lifetime wearability of a finished project, especially if too much heat is applied. Like other acrylic yarns, it originates from petrochemicals which may contribute to our environmental changes. As a synthetic, it cannot resist heat and will melt and then burn if exposed to a naked flame.
 
Technical details: 
Premium acrylic, sold in 100g/295m balls.
Knits to standard DK tension of 22 stitches x 30 rows on 4mm needles. 

Recommended for:
This is a utility yarn that can be used for almost anything, both knit and crochet.
Particularly good for blankets and kid's garments
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Our opinion:
When Jenny knitted with Special DK she needed to use a slightly smaller needle as her tension tends to be slightly loose. She achieved stitch and row tension by dropping to 3.75mm.  Jenny found it less relaxing than other yarns to knit with as it lacks stretch. Ruth found it an ideal yarn to crochet with as it flows smoothly through the stitches without splitting.

Itch Rating: 
(0= not itchy at all 'I could wear this next to my skin' and 5  =very itchy 'I can't wear this')
Ruth's rating: 0
Jenny's rating: 1
 
Bottom line:
This is a good quality acrylic yarn with an amazing colour palette. It feels soft when knitted up and is accessible to any budget. 

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Summary:

​Pros:
Premium quality acrylic
Good value
Vegan friendly
Smooth and easy to work with
Versatile
Huge colour range
Easy to care for

Cons:
Petrochemical origin
Very slow to biodegrade
Structure destroyed by heat
Low to medium stretch
Low “memory”
Fairly slippery – not ideal for colour work