What's a Fiber Known For?

[Falling2311]

That's hopefully a title that will make ppl read twice

So my sister wants some leg-warmers for christmas and the topic says the yarn is 59% rayon and 41% wool. ok. So being the the broke and jobless college kid i am, i go to knitpicks.com ( ) to find a yarn similar to the one in the pattern. well, knitpicks.com doesn't hav any wool blends with rayon. well, i'm buying from knitpicks- there's no question there. so i was trying to figure out which blend to buy then- since i'm assuming rayon's in there for a reason. so to figure out what to replace it with i need to know what qualities rayon is known for- what would it have done to the leg-warmers- make them shiny? make them stretchy? what?
so then i figured well- what are all the yarn fibers known for? if i were going to create a pattern for something and i had to choose a yarn for that particular pattern what qualities would make me choose that fiber?

Anybody know??

[Silver]

I think rayon gives the yarn some shine, and probably makes the finished fabric nice and drapey. Good for a sweater or skirt, not so much for legwarmers. I would think the wool is the important fiber in this yarn. It will give the yarn some stretch and memory so the leg warmers stay up.

Sometimes the pattern writer lists a particular yarn ONLY because he/she was paid to use that yarn.

[samm]

I agree with Kristin. The rayon would only add a sheen. Wool is warm! You might find an acrylic wool blend, which is sometimes less expensive. If you go pure wool, Galway is lovely to knit with, a worsted weight. It does require hand washing though, but how often would you wash leg warmers? I don't know if Knitpicks carries that, though. Good luck! Sounds like a terrific present! Wish you were my sister! samm

[Falling2311]

Thanks both of you guys! ^_^ actually knitpicks DOES carry that so you guys just made my life so much easier! (and they have superwash wool which means if my sister decided to b her stubborn self and throw them in the wash anyway (which she certainly would do) they won't b ruined! YAy!
Thanks again!

[jeanius80]

to make legwarmer, i would go with the sock yarn from KP (i buy bare and dye it... so thats what i'd do)
sock yarns from KP
the essential (solids)<--probably two for leg warmers
essential tweed
you could also choose from thier machine washables. i would definantly go with one of the wool blends as opposed to the cotton ones. (better strech and elasticity<-stays up better!) cotton tends to loose it's shape and would fall down.
HTH

[Falling2311]

Awesome! thanks! ^_^ i was gonna buy the superwash (i think it's called Swish?) wool. (jus cuz i'm pretty sure my sister would get them dirty and throw them in the wash with everything else.) i'll look into the sock yarn tho! ^_^