I’ve discovered that my hands really do not like working with cotton yarn. Too many rows and the pain forces me to pick up something else, or take a break from knitting altogether. Unfortunately, most of the yarns approved for Knitted Knockers are 100% cotton. I’ve tried a couple of different brands now, and I don’t know if the problem is that cotton has a lot more “drag” so that there’s resistance when pulling one stitch through another, or that there’s very little spring to it, so it just doesn’t give. Either way, if I knit with cotton for too long, I’m miserable.

So when someone donated some Bamboo Pop yarn for the Knockers, I was eager to try it out. I’ve gotten several rows in, and I thought I’d share with those of you who may have the same problem with all-cotton yarns. Bamboo Pop is 50% bamboo, 50% cotton. Not only does the bamboo make the yarn noticeably softer, it has much more give and much less drag on itself. The softer yarn is much easier to work with, and doesn’t seem to bother my hands nearly as much; I may be able to knit as long with it as I can with other fibers. As an extra plus, it also adds a subtle sheen to the yarn that is typically not present in 100% cotton, which tends to be very matte.

For those of you who prefer to use natural fibers, and for those who prefer plant-only fibers, I highly recommend Bamboo Pop as an alternative to 100% cotton yarn. The ease of working with it is significantly better than cotton. I suspect that this may be true of all cotton/bamboo blends, and perhaps cotton blended with other fibers, but I have only tried this one type so far.

Do you struggle with pain when working with 100% cotton yarn? Have you found tricks that make it easier, or do you have a favorite cotton blend you’d like to recommend? Share in the comments, or on Facebook or Instagram!

PS: I’m not getting any kind of kickback for a positive review or anything, I just wanted to let others who may struggle with cotton know about this alternative.