Starting a pattern for fingerless mitts that calls for fingering weight yarn.  Finger weight is pricier than Caron Simply Soft Light.  Substituting with Caron Simply Soft Light seems to yield comparable results. Mmmm, super soft.

fingerless mitt

It already feels like fall, and when that happens you get excited about crochet season! Something new for me to try, baby mittens. This calls for another challenge, using baby yarn.  I purchased some fine yarn from Turkey a while back that's a blend of 30% wool and 70% acrylic and wavy stranded (brown & green ones).   It is so soft and easy to crochet.  I also used Caron Simply Soft Light for a thicker affect (pink one).  So far I found that using single crochet stitches works up easy and fast with finer yarns, especially if you use a hook that is about one half size smaller than the yarn requires (this is just my opinion for this particular project). Instead of 3.0mm I used 2.5mm hook on the green & brown mitts.

Work In Progress
...
using Caron Simply Soft Light

simply soft light in bubblegum

Caron Simply Soft Light

I'm moving up with the pros, trying out lighter weight yarns ever since my local craft store brought in a new product line: Caron Simply Soft Light. I'll be a beginner pro in no time. (I've read that modern crochet fashion is going with the finer yarns instead of the bulkier look.)

Typically, I'd say that over 85% of the yarns in American department stores are the bulkier ones (medium, bulky, and superbulky). Finer yarn is in very limited selections here; try baby colors or sock yarn for the most part, no thanks. These stores need to catch up with the times. (Like it would be cool to have a sport weight or dk cotton blend in our stores.) I've never seen a yarn specialty store in my vicinity. (A specialty yarn shop might be helpful but also very pricey.)

Since I really like Caron Simply Soft in medium size I was really giddy to try out the new Caron Simply Soft Light. I think it's the American version of dk weight. It feels lighter to me though. I'd say it was more like sport weight unless I'm mistaken. Crochets with ease. I just hope that this product line is successful so that Caron will add a lot more color selection.