yarn addiction… slight yarn addiction.
Before I will go on my crochet yarn drama, I want to make a “crochet blogger” drama first. I thought a million times before putting up this blogsite because my gut feeling said that I just could not keep it up. And, somehow, my gut instinct is right. Crocheting takes soooo much time on top of the real-life tasks. So I just have to say “kudos” to crochet bloggers who can actively maintain their website, crochet, and put up tutorials.
So now on to the yarn drama… You can check my previous post, “Buying Yarns in Cebu…” if you want to get started yarn hunting in Cebu, Philippines.
Cebu (Philippines) has pretty much limited availability of yarns for crochet or knitting. So one option is to order online, and have it ship to Philippines or group buying with friends to save on shipping, or you can go around asking relatives to bring it with them when coming home. But this does not really interest me much because as “passively chill” I could be, I’m very impatient. I don’t like waiting for 3 months for unnecessary stuff. @.@
Until I randomly stumbled upon Baguio yarns via google. Searching for “yarns in Philippines,” it’s the Baguio yarns that would keep popping up. But it can be tricky to find them, unless you’re in Baguio, because you can mostly get them from “online / facebook mom and pop yarn sellers.”
And, once you’d find them, there’s the doubt of “are they legit?” So first thing first, I never encounter any problem buying from the facebook yarn sellers in Philippines I have transacted with. They’re the most hardworking, honest, creative, and reliable group of individuals I met. And, they’re all women. Thus, it’s hard to resist to become a yarn addict especially when you’re transacting with sweet moms. So I listed the name of the sellers along with the yarns below.
I don’t know how to “systematically categorize” the yarns I bought locally but here’s my attempt.
Imported Brand of Yarns
Gantsilyoguru.com. I think by default, Gantsilyoguru is the first online store a newbie crocheter would go to. And, I think it’s because they are the only one who has a very updated website. So this was where I got the first set of hooks and Lily Sugar n Cream cotton yarns, which I bought for my Nanay.
Pomelo LLC. This is owned by a friend. But I think she no longer carries yarns because I bought all of them. @.@ It was a mix of Premier yarns, Lily Sugar N Cream, Bernat, and others. I got them when I started so I was not really picky with yarns.
I love Lily Sugar n Creams because they’re worsted (5mm up hooks) so it’s easy to finish projects with them. (They probably have thinner cotton yarns.) But they tend to be so bulky / heavy, which is probably would feel so cozy if you’re living in colder climate but it can be blahhh in our tropical weather. But this kind of bulky yarns are something I highly recommend to beginners.
I did not get addicted with imported brand of yarns because expen$ive! And, so that’s why I get to do more digging about yarns I could source locally.
Baguio Yarns
For some reason, almost all yarns I got locally are called Baguio yarns. I’m not sure if they’re really produced in Baguio, or Baguio businesses got them from China or somewhere and sell them in Baguio. Either way, let’s just stick to calling them Baguio yarns.
Baguio yarns have 2 basic types: Acrylic and Cotton. As I mentioned in my previous post, “Buying Yarns in Cebu…,” acrylic is synthetic fibers meaning they’re chemically fabricated, while the cotton is plant-based so they label it as natural.
And Baguio acrylic and cotton yarns has also different kinds under each, see below. Correct me if the following is wrong.
- Acrylic
- Indophil
- Lanalon
- Boucle
- Whisper
- Velvet
- Cotton
- Classic – Or they call it straight
- Kulot / Curly
- Baguio Merce
- #10, #20
- Chunky Cotton
- Mixes
- Gradient
- Mallows
- Regular
- Handspun / Plied
Boucle was my very first Baguio yarn I got. Some would say you can consider it as fancy yarns.
I was totally a newbie when I got them so I really have no clue as to the different textures of yarn. My daughter was asking for blue sweater because she loves blue color. Then I found these, and they look pretty.
But since I was a beginner when I got them, I had a hard time handling it. First is its “messy” texture that would make finding the stitches and holes very hard to do. To make it worse, I got dark colors making it more harder to find the stitches. Also, it appears “worsted” because of its messy look but it’s actually thin, so that would be another challenge especially if you started with the worsted Monaco acrylic.
If you’re a very newbie, you might get this in the later stage of the career to avoid frustration. =)
Seller: Rosal’s Crochet & Accessories.
Classic / Straight Cotton. Since, I was having a hard time with boucle, I looked for another yarn. So obviously, I went for the “straight” type of yarn.
Since it was again my first time, it did not occur to me that the Baguio Classic Straight cotton are actually like that of “sewing threads” grouped together. So when buying and you want to have all the yarns have uniform thickness, you need to ask details about how many plies / thread in 1 pull.
For very beginners like me a year ago who was used to the Monaco acrylic, dealing with loose threads can be really tricky especially when you do not know how to control much your grip. I actually gave up on this and hid them.
But now, I got a better grip and I’m quite comfortable handling them now. I think it was making amigurumis that train me better with my grip. I’m bad at amigurumi but the little kids you’d be making them for don’t really bother, and it helps a lot exercising your grip and control of the hook.
Seller: Gantsilyo Baguio
I recently got back to it, and here’s my finished project from it. I’m loving Baguio classic cotton yarns now! =)
Yarn Mixes by Thread Artists
I don’t know how to describe this but just see photos below to give you an idea.
My first purchases were from Baguio Yarns by Miss Crochet A Lot and Ashley’s Crochet. Just this year, I got some from Sugar Free Fiber Arts. I think they’re all based in Baguio, Philippines.
These women mixes threads (can be in different types: polyester, acrylic, cotton, and others) to produce these yummy yarns. The photos below do not give justice to their work of art so kindly visit their facebook pages to appreciate their work better.
I think I will create a separate post with more details about these yarn mixes.
Baguio Merce
They would usually call it “Baguio Merce” for mercerized cotton.
Chunky cotton. Gantsilyo Baguio call this “Baguio Merce” but I also saw other sellers call it “chunky cotton.” This one is thicker than the usual Monaco mercerized cotton thread. It’s closed to 4-ply of Monaco undye cotton threads, the ones usually used in hand-dyed yarns. I have not used it so I could not say much about its characteristics.
Baguio Merce #20. I’m not really sure if this #20, but this is thinner than the monaco mercerized cotton thread, which is #10. The white one in the photo is even thinner than the others.
Seller: Baguio Yarns By Miss Crochet a Lot
Indophil Acrylic Yarns
My first encounter with this yarn is from Miss Crochet a Lot, and I love it. It’s so soft that I think it would be fine to use it on baby stuff. But I have yet to make a blanket of them yet. It’s what I used in beanies / hats.
The Indophil yarns are way softer than the Red Heart regular acrylic yarns. Like the classic cotton, the indophil yarn cakes are composed of many threads / ply of indophil.
Seller: Gantsilyo Baguio
Lanalon Acrylic Yarns
I first encounter these yarns in our first trip to Baguio. The first on my itinerary was Hangar Market, nevertheless. (I will also create another post for that.)
I’m not sure which is softer, Lanalon or Indophil (I have yet to make another post also for this to detail their differences.) But what I like with Lanalon is they’re single ply (just make sure to request it from the seller) so I have a control if I want to make it thicker or just use 1 ply of it.
Seller: Gantsilyo Baguio
Baguio Curly / Kulot Cotton
When we went to Hangar Market, Baguio, this was the most available aside from the Indophil and Lanalon. I just probably did not know my way around that I could not find much supply of the Classic cotton. I was hesitant of getting them because they remind me of boucle, they’re challenging to use. But the colors on display were so yummy, I ended up with 6 kilos. Plus, they were so cheap there but the shipping was not. So yes, it’s still practical to get them from facebook sellers. =)
I came across a post before that it’s curly or kulot because they’re from the trimming of cotton fabrics which are winded to become yarns. It’s kind of “upcycle” actually.
I cannot much recommend these type of yarns to beginners because it’s hard to find the stitches and holes because of its “messy” character.
Kulot Gradient Yarns.
Though I tried to avoid the Curly cotton yarns but it was just hard to resist when I saw this rainbox mix from YarnLine. Yarnline did a good work on curly cotton yarns, which you might want to check.
Seller: YarnLine
Velvet & Whisper Yarns.
I have a Velvet yarn, which I got recently from Miss Crochet a Lot from the latest package I got from her. But I haven’t tried it yet. I saw whisper yarns when I went to Hangar Market. I think they’re kind of the same, or I think the Velvet tends to be thicker. I avoided getting these yarns because they reminded me of boucle.
But now that I have a better grip, I will get back to them one of these days, and make a new review from there.
I guess I covered the different Baguio Yarns that I acquired along my crochet journey. And, this is getting long. So I will make a part 2 for the following yarns I got locally:
* Japan Surplus (JS) Yarns. Most of them can be the wool type.
* Hand-dyed Yarns
* Vigan Yarns
* Local Brand Yarns
* Imported Repacked Yarns.
* Destashed Yarns. Yes, it deserves its own category. =)
Before I end this, I would like to share that I put up an online SHOP >>. I’m inviting you to please visit it. There’s nothing much there yet. But feel free to share it around. Because I certainly need some dough for this addiction. =)
If there’s any item you want to display in my shop, I’ll be happy to post it. =) Feel free to message me >>.
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