I Tried Twenty DK Yarns so You Don't Have To

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links at no extra cost to you. Please read my full disclosure for more information.

It’s always so hard to know what yarn’s the best for any given project, especially if you’re buying online.

Which I am, right now, because my local yarn shop is moving stores and therefore is closed for the move. (Yay for them, but boo, no yarn!)

I’ve seen the LoveCrafts store around on Pinterest before, so I figured I’d give them a shot and order some yarn.

Twenty skeins, to be exact.

Why Order Twenty DK Yarns?

I wanted to find a yarn that I really like and can use as my go-to DK yarn from now on. Not too expensive, lots of colors available, and soft.

So, because I’m extra, I ordered EVERY yarn that fit my qualifications: less than $8, at least 20 shades, and DK weight.

The yarns I ordered:

Rico Baby Classic DK in White
Premier Yarns Bamboo Fair in Spa
Stylecraft Naturals Organic Cotton in Blue Lagoon
Rico Essentials Cotton DK in Aqua
Stylecraft Naturals Bamboo and Cotton DK in Sky
Hayfield Bonus DK in Lagoon Blue
Yarn and Colors Amazing in Glass
Berroco Vintage Baby in Lagoon
Valley Yarns Haydenville DK in Lake
Sirdar Stories DK in Pool Party
Paintbox Yarns Baby DK in Dolphin Blue
Rico Creative Ricorumi DK in Denim
Tahki Yarns Cotton Classic in Dusty Blue
Valley Yarns Superwash DK in Blue Mist
Stylecraft Special DK in Denim
Sirdar Snuggly DK in Soldier Blue
Rico Essentials Merino DK in Navy
Paintbox Yarns Simply DK in Navy Night
Premier Yarns Anti-Pilling Everyday DK in Navy
Schachenmayr Bravo in Schwarz

Twenty skeins of DK yarns arranged from dark to light in a line. — Image: All twenty skeins of DK yarns arranged from dark to light in a line.

How They’re Evaluated

I looked at a number of things when evaluating my twenty DK yarns:

As I said earlier, cost is important because I’m (sadly) not made of money. I wanted every skein to cost absolutely no more than $8.00 USD; much more than that and making a blanket is, like, hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

I also looked at cost per yard of yarn. Sure, $3 is less than $5, but if the $5 skein has twice as much yarn that’s a better deal.

Material was also a factor. Sometimes you really need a cotton yarn, sometimes you want acrylic, sometimes you don’t care. Because of the ways natural and synthetic fibers differ, I broke the twenty DK yarns into three categories: natural fibers, synthetic fibers, and blended fibers.

In addition to cost and material, I looked at color. If I found a nice yarn but it only came in four shades, that was a no-go. I need LOTS of color in my life so any yarn I considered had to have at least twenty different shades.

Finally, I looked at how the yarn is cared for. If you’re making something for a baby, it should be machine wash-and dry-able (at least, according to my mom, who I think has made literally 100 baby blankets). And honestly…I’m not likely to bother with hand-washing anything!

Testing All Twenty DK Yarns

Once I ordered my twenty DK yarns (which was actually not that expensive — less than $90 including shipping for 20 skeins is pretty good) I had to actually use them to test them.

To test how they worked up, I made test swatches that were 24 stitches across, and crocheted until they were all 5.5″ tall. By my gauge, for a middle-of-the-road DK that worked out to be 28 rows and approximately a 5.5″ square. Some thinner DKs required more rows to get to 5.5″ tall, and some thicker DKs required fewer.

Photographed crocheted swatches of the twenty DK yarns. — Image: Swatches of the twenty DK yarns in a rough color gradient.

I picked all blues (plus white and black)… pretty much for no reason other than that I like blue. I’ll probably make them into a blanket or something later, since as all twenty are DK yarns they’ll work up more or less the same.

Once I made the swatches, I washed them! Machine washable yarns went into the washer on a cold-wash cycle with some clothing, and machine dry-safe went into the dryer on medium-low heat. (Why launder with clothes? Because, especially for baby gifts, that’s how they’re most likely to be washed in real life.) For the ones that got laundered, I also looked for signs of fuzzing, pilling, and felting after laundering.

I chose not to block since I wanted to see how well the yarns would hold their shapes after laundering. Some of them held their shape really well, and some of them, uh, didn’t.

Two swatches of DK yarn, one in a rectangle and one in a lumpy trapezoid shape. — Image: Two swatches of yarn. The left, Rico Merino DK, held its shape well; the right, Schachenmayr Bravo…didn’t.

The Reviews

Reviews will include the following specific information about each yarn:

Cost at the time the article was written
Materials used to make the yarn
Shape: hank (loose), ball (donut-shaped, tag goes through the middle), or skein (oval-shaped, tag around the outside)
Length in both yards and meters
Cost per yard in cents
Machine washable? Yes or no
Machine dryable? Yes or no

In addition, each yarn will have a short paragraph about my experience using it and how it worked up. Is it thick or thin for a DK, is it pleasant in the hands and on the needles/hook, is it shiny or muted, what sort of project might it be good for?

The review will conclude with the most important information: the verdict. Will I rebuy this yarn? Yes, maybe, or probably not — either way, I’ll make my judgement clear.

There are three more articles in this series: natural fiber reviews, synthetic fiber reviews, and blends plus final verdicts. Check them out!