Cotton Yarn

Cotton is cool to wear, machine washable and has no scales to felt or itch, which makes it the yarn for summer tops, market bags, dishcloths and anyone who cannot wear wool. It has no memory, so ribbing relaxes and a heavy garment can grow.

Cotton-wool and cotton-linen blends fix most of that: Cotton Fleece has enough wool to spring back, and Zooey's linen keeps a tee crisp.

Read first: Cotton, linen and summer yarn: which to knit with · Wool, alpaca, cotton, silk, linen, mohair and cashmere compared · Crochet hook sizes: letters, numbers and millimeters