Whilst making the grocery run, I usually try to avoid the yarn section. However, I saw some rollback tags and I had to see if there was anything good. That’s when I noticed that the Mainstays brand of yarn has an anti-pill line! They were out of black, but they had this lovely dark charcoal color. I was very intrigued when I felt how soft it was. It when into the cart quick as a flash since the price wasn’t bad either. But, is it really anti-pill? Let’s find out in the Mainstays Anti-Pill Acrylic Yarn Review!

price

$2.66

For anyone who wants to figure out the price per yard, just take the price of the yarn and divide it by the yardage. like this:

2.66 divided by 240.5 = 0.0110602910602911

So, basically it’s .01 cent a yard. This is in line with the price of budget yarns, see my Red Heart Super Savers Review. If you’re lucky you can get yarn for under a penny per yard. But for something that says it’s anti-pilling, that’s a really good price. Here’s my Lion Brand Basic Stitch Anti-Pilling Yarn Review if you want to compare apples to apples.

Details of The Mainstays Anti-Pill Acrylic Yarn

This yarn is created with special Anti-Pill combines all the softness of high quality 100% acrylic. It feels super soft hand and luxury, giving the projects that ”just finished” look after wash. It is designed for Walmart with most desired medium weight and wonderful to use for clothing such as sweaters, scarves, hats, home decorations and for handmade gifts to your precious beloved ones. t is presented to your view with a variety of shades. Hope brings fun to knit lovers. Ball is 5 Oz 240,6 yards Care: machine wash. Knitted Gauge: 4″x4″(10 cm x 10 cm) 16 STS and 22 rows with 5-5.5 mm (U.S. 8-9 ) Knitting needle crochet gauge 4″x4″(10 cm x 10 cm) 12 SC and 12 rows with 6.5 mm(U.S. 10.5)

• Mainstays Anti-Pill Acrylic Yarn
• Anti-Pill Acrylic yarn is perfect for many types of knitting
• It is easy to work with
• Ideal for begining knitters and experts alike
• Includes 240.6 yards of a skein
• Great for creating baby blankets, garments, sweaters and more
• Available in Black , Charcoal , Green , Pink and White
• Easy to care for: Machine wash. Dry flat in shade. Low iron. Do not tumble dry
  

The details above are from Walmart.com. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-5-Oz-Anti-Pill-Acyrilic-Yarn-100-Acyrilic-Pink/786835316

First Impression of Mainstays Anti-Pill Acrylic Yarn

This yarn is amazingly soft. It has a great swish to it, and it seems to be on the thicker side of a worsted weight yarn. I would say it’s more of an aran weight yarn to a thinner bulky. When I went to make a project with this yarn I grabbed a K/6.5* without thinking. it just felt like the right size hook for the yarn. When I just checked the label it recommends a K/6.5 hook.

(*It’s actually more of a 6.8 because it’s a missized hook I Bought Missized Furls Crochet Hooks…On Purpose?.)

My experience with Mainstays Anti-Pill Acrylic Yarn

I noticed right away that the twist on this yarn is quite tight, which is a good sign for low amounts of pilling. There are four strands in the yarn and they really like to stay twisted. I unraveled a bit and it went right back to being spun the second I let go. There is a slight halo of fuzz around the yarn, but it’s not bad at all. I didn’t have any fuzz come off on my hands while i was crocheting with it.

The yarn didn’t unravel on me or snag my hook. When I used this yarn I chose an inline style hook and it never split the yarn. I made a cowl with it and a small amigurumi ball so that I could test the wear and use part of this yarn. Winter seems in full swing as I write this despite the fact that it’s only the 15th of November. It’s 41 degrees fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) as I type and the high for today is 45 (7.2 Celsius). I tell you this to demonstrate that my husband will probably get a fair amount of use from the cowl. I really like the yarn so far, so if the anti-pill part of this is actually true, I can see myself getting more.

Now for the part of the Mainstays Anti-Pill Acrylic Yarn Review you’ve been waiting for!

The Anti-Pill Test

In case you don’t know what it is, pilling is when there are loose strands of fiber in the form of little balls of fluff or long fibers. They are made from rubbing against the fiber over and over again. this occurs naturally from use and wear. Fibers like cotton, silk, and linen don’t pill that much, but acrylic is known to pill quite badly the more you use it.

I will be rubbing the ball I made against various fabrics to see if I can get any pills to happen. I will also be letting my puppy have a go at this ball after I try the initial rub rest. It will most definitely need a wash after a couple of days of him playing with it. Then I’ll wash the ball, and the cowl, according to the yarns labels instructions and see how it fairs.

The label says it should be washed in cold water (it should not go over 86 degrees F, 30 degrees C) can not be tumble dried, instead it must be layed flat to dry.

Here is the ball before the first rub test, and after. I rubbed the ball against a canvas bag for about 5 minutes. It really didn’t want to pill, I had to rub it quite vigorously to get the slight halo to create little fuzz balls.

cons

The main con to this yarn is that it does have some special care instructions. The first part is the water you wash it in must be cold. The second is that you can not machine dry the yarn, it has lay flat to dry instructions.

Other than that I really don’t have any complainants. There are only five colors in the line at the moment, but they might add more if it gets a good response.

conclusion

Now for my final thoughts on the Mainstays Anti-Pill Acrylic Yarn Review. I found this yarn very nice to work with. It is extremely soft, and has a great twist to it that doesn’t want to unravel or split. I had no little fuzzy bits gather in my hands while working with it. The yarn is definitely more of a bulky weight than a worsted weight, but I personally like extra thickness. Below is a visual comparison between the mainstay yarn labeled a worsted (4) weight yarn vs the lion brand scarfie yarn labeled a bulky (5) weight yarn.

As for the anti-pill feature, this yarn definitely didn’t want to pill. It took a lot of rubbing to get it to fuzz up, and more rubbing to get it to make the little fuzz balls to form. I think under normal use for a wearable made with this yarn it would take a lot to actually pill. I have a cowl that I recently made that I will be doing an update with when the winter is over. It will be right below this paragraph when I do update.

This is a great yarn to use and if the anti-pill feature hadn’t worked.. I probably would still use it. The fact that the Mainstay Anti-pill Acrylic is resistant to pilling, super soft, and doesn’t come unraveled easily makes this yarn an excellent value at $2.66 per 240.5 yard ball.

Rating

My rating

I would highly recommend this yarn to anyone that wanted an anti-pill yarn. I give it 8 out of 10 cauldrons.

I hope you found this Mainstays Anti-Pill Acrylic Yarn Review helpful! If it is, please show your support by liking this post and following my blog, so you’re alerted when ever I make a new one. You can also sign up for The Crocheting Owl Monthly Newsletter for free patterns, updates, yarny bonuses and more!