Ever wondered how Zpagetti and Hooplayarn’s compare?

Well, both are jumbo yarns, ideal for crochet or knitting and each comes in a range of colours and patterns. The yarn consists of a long strip of fabric which is a by-product of the textile industry – you are likely to come across the fabric joins as your bobbin unwinds. The thickness may also vary a little –  however you are unlikely to notice this once you have worked your crochet or knitting. The yarns have a high percentage of cotton, mixed in with a stretchy fabric such as jersey or spandex – the amount of stretch each yarn has will depend on the % of the “stretchy” fabric it contains and will vary between patterns and colours.

So far I’ve made a Crochet Rug from Hooplayarns’ Pink Rose yarn and a Handbag from some black Zpagetti – for more info check out their posts.

Although both yarns were great fun to use and worked up quickly, there seems to be quite a difference in the amount of ‘give’ each yarn had. To check this out, I thought it would be interesting to carry out a direct comparison.

Firstly on width, Hooplayarn’s Pink Rose yarn measured 2.5cm, and the black Zpagetti’s came in at just over 3cm.

When it came to the amount of stretch, I cut two 10cm lengths and then pulled each to its maximum length.

Hooplayarn’s Pink Rose stretched to 12cm (an increase of 2cm) and the black Zpagetti yarn reached 17cm (an increase of 7cm).

For me, this would indicate how important it is to decide what you are going to make before you choose your yarn. As you can see I’ve only compared one type of yarn within each range and it would be interesting to try out lots more to see how they compare – I can feel a graph of ‘amount of stretch’ against  percentage of cotton / stretchy fabric coming on! If the amount of stretch does differ within each brand, then for me this would be the most important factor to consider (along with the colour and pattern) rather than the brand itself when buying your yarn.

The amount of stretch your yarn has will influence how tired your hands get as you crochet or knit.

If you fancy trying either yarns out (I would definitely use both again!) Zpagetti is available in a wide range of knitting or haberdashery shops in the UK and Hooplayarn can be purchased online from Creative You.