The yarn world has been a-buzz since Lion Brand announced it’s new line of colourways in their Basic Stitch Anti-Pilling yarn line called Skein Tones. If you’ve ever found yourself struggling to find a good skin tone yarn for dolls or other crochet toys, the struggle is over. Lion Brand has partnered with artist Aniqua Wilkerson to create a line of skin toned colourways of yarn . I was so happy to see this line come out and excited to give it a try. Today we’re talking about Lion Brand Skein Tones and what it’s like to work with and help you learn a little bit more about this new line from our friends at Lion Brand yarns.
This Lion Brand Skein Tones yarn was provided to me free of charge in exchange for my honest review.
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Before we get into our yarn review, let’s go over the yarn label information so we know what we’re talking about here:
Lion Brand Skein Tones Yarn:
- Current Number of Colourways Available: 12. Check them out HERE.
- Fiber Content: 100% anti-pilling acrylic
- Weight: 4 (Worsted)
- Package Size: 100g
- Yardage: 185 yd / 169 m
- Suggested Hook Size: 5mm (H)
- Suggested Needle Size: 5mm (US 8)
- Crochet Gauge: 16 sts x 18 rows = 4″
- Knitting Gauge: 18 sts x 26 rows = 4″
- Care: Machine wash, tumble dry
If you’re planning on buying some Lion Brand Skein Tones, please consider doing so through this affiliate link. It helps to support the blog at zero cost to you and allows me to continue to bring you great free yarn reviews like this one and free crochet patterns.
Check out the video review of Lion Brand Skein Tones yarn:
Skein Tones is part of Lion Brand’s existing yarn line called Basic Stitch Anti-Pilling yarn. This, as the name implies, is an anti-pilling acrylic yarn which means it has been treated to resist pilling. When this yarn does pill, you can throw the finished project into the wash and the pills will come off. Now, as someone that uses this for amigurumi, that “tossing in the wash” part is a little tricky as most amigurumi toys are hand wash only but the fact that it resists pilling is great for durability when little hands will be all over crochet toys made with Skein Tones. In the skein, the yarn is very soft and feels like a really nice, premium acrylic.
I was sent the colours Mahoganey, Almond, Cedarwood, Cocoa, Hazelnut and Truffle. These colours were selected because I want to make my crochet doll patterns more inclusive and represent people of all colours and I thought these 6 would make a good start. These Skein Tones colours are beautiful and I can’t tell you how excited I am that this finally exists.
Working with the yarn was pleasant. There was a slight tactile difference between the Skein Tones and the regular Basic Stitch Anti-Pilling yarn. It felt slightly stiffer than the regular basic stitch. I took this yarn for a serious test stitch before writing this review. I did several swatches, (to see the swatch, check out my video review above), and I designed a free crochet doll pattern with it. My pattern for My Girl Pearl was designed and crocheted using Skein Tones in Mahogany. I enjoyed designing with Skein Tones but did find it to be slightly tougher on the hands when doing amigurumi than my usual yarns I use. There weren’t any issues with splitting and my final fabric had a beautiful finish with great stitch definition.
I plan on making Skein Tones a part of my regular line up of yarns to use for my crochet dolls. I am thrilled that there is such a wide variety of skin tones available and that finally someone has made it easy to make crochet toys more inclusive and diverse. The search for the perfect skin toned yarn is over and you can find the full palette over at Lionbrand.com.
If you’re interested in giving Lion Brand Skein Tones a try, check it out HERE.
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While you’re here, you may like checking out some of my other yarn reviews:
Interesting that you say “there weren’t any issues with splitting” — I’m currently using Skein Tones Mahogany to make a Lt. Uhura doll (Etsy pattern), and the yarn is splitting constantly! It’s quite a nightmare to work with. The feel is nice and it looks nice in the final product, but oh my, it’s aggravating to work with.
I’m sorry to hear that was your experience. I didn’t have that when I tested it or when I designed my My Girl Pearl doll with it, but it is possible that the yarn has undergone changes since I tried it at its initial launch.