Author: Marie from the Knitting Times. Article contains affiliate links.

Being a huge lover of the sacred yarn, I buy a little bit more than I should. Hehe, sound familiar?

I often purchase just one ball of each yarn, or sometimes different shades of the same yarn type.

This is because I like to knit small accessories such as hats, gloves, baby booties and headbands.

I thought it might be both interesting and useful to begin to review the yarn in my (rather substantial) collection, and today we will have a look at some yarn that arrived yesterday, Hayfield Spirit Chunky.

About Hayfield Spirit Chunky

Hayfield Spirit Chunky is the chunky version of the value ‘Spirit’ range of yarns from Hayfield. A British yarn company, Hayfield is part of the DMC company, which also sells the well known Sirdar range of yarns.

Hayfield Spirit yarns are colourful and self striping. A blend of wool and acrylic, the yarn has a DK as well as the chunky variety that we will review today.

Spirit yarns have a palette of eye popping, variegated shades. Hayfield Spirit Chunky weight yarn knits up quickly and adds some beautiful colour to your wardrobe. The yarn is ideal for autumnal jumpers, sweaters and accessories for all the family.

What it says on the ball band

• Hayfield Spirit Chunky yarn is 80% acrylic and 20% wool.
• Ball is 100g, 155m/169 yard approx.
• The yarn is machine washable, wool cycle, dry flat, reshape while wet. Dry press, never wet press, may be dry cleaned.
• Recommended knitting needles: 6.5mm, USA 10.5.
• Recommended crochet hook: 6.5mm, USA K/10.5

Review of Hayfield Spirit Chunky

I chose to knit a little baby elf hat with shade 400 of Hayfield Spirit Chunky. I made this hat purely because I enjoy knitting teeny little hats.

Hayfield Spirit yarns are not designed for babies. However it is fairly soft and I think the colours of this particular shade are quite well suited to a fun and funky knit.

If looking for a self patterning baby yarn I would choose another yarn by the Hayfield company, namely Hayfield Baby Blossom Chunky. This is one of my favourite ever yarns and I particularly love it for knitting chunky baby blankets. Please click here if you would like to find out more about Hayfield Baby Blossom Chunky yarn.

As for Hayfield Spirit chunky, I really do like the variegation. The stripes blend together softly, and I have to say the yarn is very quick and easy to knit with. The baby elf hat took around 50 minutes to make from start to finish, and I am not a fast knitter. I type much faster than I knit!

I think this yarn would make amazing sweaters and cardigans, both for children and for adults. It lends itself well to plain stocking stitch knitting and would also look awesome with some cables or a patterned knitting stitch. Here is a great range of some of official knitting knitting patterns to use with Hayfield Spirit Chunky.

Where to buy Hayfield Spirit Chunky

You can purchase or peruse the full colour range of Hayfield Spirit Chunky yarn by clicking the links at the following retailers:

• The Knitting Network (my go to online yarn store – very reliable and have a lot of sales as well as plenty of free downloadable patterns).
• Lovecrafts (also excellent for online yarn and craft supplies shopping).
• Ebay (a great way to support small businesses).

Finished knitting project using Hayfield Spirit Chunky and conclusion of review.

Here is the finished little elf hat. I knit this hat up really quickly and it isn’t my best work – however it shows how a small item might look using the Spirit chunky. I think that an adult hat, scarf, or children’s cardigans and sweaters would look amazing.

This is a very hard wearing yarn due to the acrylic and wool mix. It feels very good quality, a step up from regular acrylic. It is obviously no use if you are looking for an acrylic yarn, and this is not the softest yarn in the world. However, for a cardigan I can imagine how wonderful and warm it would feel when worn and I will definitely be buying it again and knitting something for myself.