Your Team Spirit Yarn Shopping Guide
When you’re looking for the perfect yarn for the project you have in mind, it can sometimes be quite difficult to find it. That goes for wanting to match your favorite team’s colors!
Luckily, there’s now yarn available that aim to match team colors.
However, all yarn is not made equal, and that is why we have put together this team spirit yarn guide.
The yarns we’ll cover in this article, are:
- Premier Yarns - Spirit Stripes
- Red Heart - Team Spirit
- Lion Brand - Hometown
- Halcyon Yarn
- KnitPal Luxury Hand-dyed Team Spirit Yarn
Premier Yarns - Spirit Stripes Yarn
This non-pilling yarn is:
- 100% acrylic
- Of an Aran or Medium weight only
- Machine washable
- Self-striping, plied yarn
- Balls of 179 yds
- One of the cheapest of the team spirit yarns
As you can see, the price point is definitely a pro when it comes to making large items like afghans. However, the yarn is 100% acrylic, which means that it can feel a bit like plastic instead of yarn. It can also feel scratchy.
The yarn is also not very breathable because it’s not a natural fiber.
One of the most important things to keep in mind is that the Spirit Stripes yarn is self-striping. This may work well for a simple scarf, but if you want to make anything that doesn’t have stripes, you will need to use separate yarns; matching the colors as closely as you can.
Probably one of the best-known team colors yarn is Red Heart’s Team Spirit Yarn. This yarn is:
- 100% Acrylic
- Of Aran/Medium weight only
- Balls of 244 yds
- Self-striping, plied yarn
- Machine washable (cool wash)
- Also one of the cheapest of the team spirit yarns
Although the price on Red Heart’s Team Spirit Yarn is very low, it should be remembered that the yarn is 100% acrylic and that this alone brings the price down significantly.
Not always soft to touch — especially after a few washes — Red Heart’s Team Spirit works well for afghans and similar projects.
However, because the Red Heart yarn is also self-striping (just like Premier Yarn’s Spirit Stripes), the use of the yarn is quite limited. This is especially the case when you have specific colorwork in mind and don’t want stripes or pooling to appear as you work.
Continuing the trend of sport team colors is Lion Brand’s Hometown yarns. These yarns break with Red Heart and Premier in that it is not self-striping yarn.
The yarn is, however, available in a wide range of colors that include colors that you can match to team colors.
This yarn is:
- 100% Acrylic
- Only available in super chunky weight (16-ply or roving)
- Balls of 81 yds
- Machine washable
- More expensive (but not by a lot) than the Red Heart Team Spirit and Premier Spirit Stripes
Although this Lion Brand Hometown yarn makes for a larger range of projects color-wise, the weight of the yarn may be a problem if you want to show your team colors by using a more intricate or light-weight pattern.
As with all 100% acrylic yarns, the yarn can also have a bit of a “plastic-feel” to it. That it’s machine washable, however, makes it easy to take care of.
What makes Halcyon Yarn interesting, is that it is a yarn shop that has taken the time to match up yarns from different producers to the various sports teams and leagues.
These yarns are divided into not only different colors, but also different weights (light, medium, and heavy) and this immediately broadens the amount of projects that can be made.
Most of the yarns are also of a single color and not self-striping like the Premier and Red Heart Spirit yarns.
However, not all the yarn on Halcyon yarn are natural fibers, so you have to be careful if you want to use only natural fibers in your project.
Because of the wide range of yarns available from Halcyon, the price points do vary a lot, but are definitely not as cheap as the Premier and Red Heart yarns.
KnitPal Luxury Hand-dyed Team Spirit Yarn
If you’re looking for something truly special, then KnitPal’s yarn is definitely the way to go.
KnitPal’s Team Spirit Yarn is:
- 100% merino Superwash, with most of the wool coming from small farms in Peru
- Available in fingering, DK, and Worsted weight
- Pantone color-matched yarns — this means that the colors will match your team’s colors perfectly
- Lovingly hand-dyed
- Kits for different items, in the colors of your choice is available
- Much more breathable as it is 100% wool (natural fiber)
- Fingering weight — 490 yds, DK weight — 250 yds, Worsted weight — 218 yds
- Should preferably be handwashed, but can be washed on a gentle, cool cycle because it’s superwash merino. The garments or items should also be dried flat, preferably in the shade
- Relatively expensive, though comparable with other hand-dyed wool and yarn
KnitPal’s hand-dyed yarn is perfect for those die-hard fans who insist on having the perfect color yarn for their project.
The luxury of 100% merino wool also makes this the perfect yarn for special gifts (even if that gift is for yourself!).
Not sure what you should make with the yarn or perhaps you are looking for some team spirit designs and can’t decide? Then look no further than the KnitPal kits. From blankets to hats, bags, and even shawls, you will definitely find the perfect projects to make.
While the price of KnitPal’s yarn is more than most of the other yarns — especially the Premier and Red Heart yarn, the pure bliss of not only wearing merino wool, but also working with it is well worth the extra money spent. Plus, in the long run, you will find that the 100% merino wool is a lot more hard-wearing than the acrylic counterparts.
Of course, because the KnitPal wool is 100% merino, you can also be assured that it doesn’t have that plastic-feel to it and will naturally break down when you do throw it away at the end of its long life. Therefore, the KnitPal hand-dyed yarn is a lot more environmentally friendly!
To summarize, the yarn you use for your project will depend not only on the size and use of the project, but also on who the project is for.
For example, you may want to make a baby beanie from one of the yarns from Halcyon Yarn, but a blanket from the hard-wearing KnitPal Hand-dyed Yarn.
You will also need to think about whether or not you want to use self-striping yarn or would rather go for plain colors that you can use however you want to.
Also rather opt for natural fibers instead of 100% acrylic yarn; which is basically plastic.
To see some of the wonderful KnitPal kits, click here and to have a look at KnitPal’s perfectly color-matched yarn, click here.
