What wool....for sensitive skin

[3rdnparty]

I wanted to knit a simple cowl for a firend in a fairly chunky wool however she has v sensitive skin... even cashmere irritates it.. any ideas? was thinking about cotton as I know she is ok with that but think its not very soft....guess will need an aran weight at least... tia

thanks i may phone an alpaca place to see if i can get a test bit.....

You can get some really nice, soft cottons - they're not all like rope! If she can wear alpaca, then Blue Sky Alpaca do a particularly lovely cotton-alpaca blend :)

Is this for a surprise, or does she know? If the problem is actually a wool allergy, rather than sensitivity to the "scratchiness" then alpaca might irritate her too, it might be a good idea to knit her a thin strip to wear on her wrist for a day or two, to see if she's ok with it, rather than spend ages on something she might not be able to wear.

If it's a surprise and you can't get her to test a bit, I'd stick with cotton, or maybe try a silk / cotton blend, or a bamboo one. Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo is utterly gorgeous and comes in a lot of lovely colours. King Cole also do a bamboo blend which is nice too, but they are both DK (or the KC one might be 4-ply actually.)

Alternatively, there are some synthetic yarns available now which are surprisingly nice!

Depends what the skin is sensitive to. Alpaca; it has no lanolin in it. What about a bamboo, cotton or nylon?