DROPS Cotton Light Yarn Review

If there is one thing that I never shut up about it is how much I love Cotton yarn. I think I have really pin pointed that love down to that fact that I always aim for a certain kind of drape in my designs that you just can’t achieve with bulkier fibers like acrylic or wool when you are crocheting. If you want a knitting level drape in crochet I feel like you have to use cotton (or just really thin yarn in general). The down side to using cotton is that it is so hard to find good cottons yarns, so I have been slowly trying some different kinds and doing these reviews in the hopes that it takes the guess work away for other people who are thinking of trying out new brands of yarn. So today I am focusing on reviewing DROPS Cotton Light.

DROPS (I feel) is a fairly well known company, they will typically show up pretty fast when you search online for yarn or pattern. They are actually quite well known for posting a bunch of really nice patterns, that I have recently found out I am not the only one who can never follow one haha. No offense to DROPS, there is just something about the way the patterns are written that you get lost within the first few rows. Anyway! I have recently taken the DROPS Cotton Light for a spin and I’m going to share some thoughts and feelings about it, should you be on the fence on getting some for yourself!

I have gathered some of the platforms for DROPS below should you wish to check them out and or follow them!

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Yarn Review

 

Part of why I am doing these reviews is that I often order yarn online, which can be a real toss up when it comes to what you think you are ordering and what you actually receive in the mail, and to be honest, this particular yarn was not quite what I thought it was going to be. Now when it comes to ordering yarn online there is definitely a learning curve, and I am definitely still learning. Most sellers will give you basic information about the yarn and it is really up to using your personal knowledge to try to decipher that information. For example, this what the information that I was given from the website that I purchased it from.

Colors Purchased: Light Pink (05), Grape (24), Mint (27), Light Beige (21), Khaki (12)
Weight: DK
Material: 50% Cotton/ 50% Polyester
Length: 1 Skein = Approximately 115 Yards (105 Meters)
Recommended Hook Size: 4-5mm
Recommended Needle Size: 4mm
Gauge: 28 Rows of 24 Stitches =10cm x10cm Square

Texture:
Texture is one of the first things that I found to be unexpected about this yarn. In general I think one of the tough things about finding good cotton yarns, is that unless the cotton that you are buying is premium, you really aren’t ever going to be told what grade of cotton you are getting, so it could really end up being any kind of quality unfortunately. (I have a whole other post about cotton yarn and the different types here if you want to look into the subject further). So when I purchased this yarn I knew that it was 50% Cotton and 50% Polyester, so part of my learning curve was that I haven’t really worked with a cotton with that particular blend before, so I wasn’t sure how the Polyester was going to effect the overall texture of the yarn, but I think I found that the answer is that it makes it a little rough. Now I don’t mean uncomfortably rough, it’s just not as soft as cottons that I usually work with so I wasn’t sure how it was going to feel in the end. However, once I worked up a garment using this yarn I found that it is very nice on the skin and not scratchy which I was very happy about. I also imagine that it will get softer and more loose after a good steam or wash as well.

Color Match:
I would have to say that the color match was pretty spot on. Every color that I received was identical to what it was shown to be on the website, so i definitely don’t have any complaints there!

Workability:
I am not going to lie, when I first started working with this yarn, within the first row I remember turning to my boyfriend and said “I do not like this yarn”, which was heartbreaking because I had ordered SO much of it haha. However, it’s almost never fair to develop a full opinion on something within only 30 seconds, so I continued giving it a chance. My main issue with it is that the fibers were separating very easily, if felt like i was tearing it apart with my hook (your worst nightmare right?). But yet again I stuck with it, and I must say that I got used to it.

I think when developing an opinion on a yarn it is important to understand that it is going to take some time to get used to it, that is the most important thing I have learned from trying out so many different yarns. With that being said there was one huge factor at play that was affecting my experience with this yarn. The hook that I was testing it out with was one I had been using almost exclusively for like past 3 or 4 months (so that hook had practically become part of my hand at this point) AND I had been using that one hook with one type of yarn for almost that whole 3 to 4 month period as well. My hands were so used to using that hook with that one type of yarn that when I tried out this brand new yarn, the muscle memory that I had built up over the past few months was just NOT working for this yarn. My tension and technique just were not right for the yarn at that point in time because I had been working working with a different yarn blend and weight for so long. Therefore once I kept working with this new yarn for a few minutes my hands began to adjust and I was not longer having issues with my hook separating the yarn fibers!

With that being said, the fibers in the Cotton Light are always going to be loosely bound together, so if you are very sensitive to that, then this may not be the yarn for you, but if you have experienced that with other yarns and know that you can get used to it and work through it, then I think that this yarn could easily be worth giving a try!

Affordability:
Personally, I always try to shop for yarn on a budget and I found this yarn to be extremely affordable! Particularly this month (July 2018) DROPS is actually have a 40% off sale on their cotton yarns (which is why I maybe went a little overboard and ordered over 60 balls). DROPS is available through several online retailers (which I will get more into in the section below), but I always get mine from Wool Warehouse, but I think the prices are pretty much the same no matter which retailer you buy from. With the current sale going on I got this yarn for about $0.64 a ball, which is a pretty big steal if you ask me haha. Even without the sale, I believe it is usually still between $1-$2 per ball.

Where to Buy DROPS Cotton Light?

When you go to the DROPS Website, they actually give you a list of retailers where you can purchase different types of yarn that they offer. Not all of their products are available at every retailer, so if you want a specific yarn make sure you see exactly where they offer it. As of now, it seems as though DROPS Cotton Light is actually only available through Wool Warehouse, maybe this will change when the sale is over?

Wool Warehouse: 
I have used Wool warehouse quite a few times to purchase yarns that I can’t find elsewhere. They have a very diverse collection of yarns that I had never even heard of before I started exploring their site. You may notice that Wool Warehouse is based in the UK, so when you go on the website it will usually automatically have everything priced in pounds (there is an option to get approximate US Dollar amounts, but if you checkout with it in pounds, your bank will do the conversion for you and it usually doesn’t end up being too much more than the amount you saw in pounds, but if you are concerned make sure to check the conversion rate before you purchase!). 

They do ship to almost anywhere in the world and have the most reasonable shipping rates that I have seen from an out of country retailer (I think it was only $4 for shipping to the US for over 60 Balls of Cotton, which I have seen other retailers require up to $30 for shipping like that). With that being said, they have a disclaimer stating that international shipping can take up to 2 weeks or even longer. Personally I haven’t waited more than a week each time I have ordered from them. This last time I only waited about 4 days, so waiting 2 weeks is not always a given if you are concerned about that.

Summary

Overall I would have to say that I do actually really do enjoy this yarn, one of the biggest selling points for me is that it has a beautiful drape once you work it out. Since it is a DK weight I think it makes a very good Summer/Fall transition yarn, its a little heavier than some other yarns that I would use for Summer, but on breezy Summer nights I think it would keep you the right amount of warm and cozy which means that it would make a great yarn to make a nice sweater for the Fall. I had never really intended to keep working with cotton into the colder months, but now that i have discovered this yarn I think that I just might extend my cotton obsession into the Fall haha. I can easily say that this is a yarn that I would purchase again!