Anyone Tried This?

So, about a week ago, this was posted.

Lily Elite Cotton.

Hadn't heard of it before, and was intrigued. I'm pretty new to the whole cotton yarn thing, but it is quickly taking over my stash. I hadn't ever seen it in a store before, so I went ahead and ordered it from Smiley's, despite their minimum order policy.

It arrived yesterday.

Whether it would be more appropriate for facetowels and such than Sugar or Peaches 'n Cream/Creme, as Kaitie Tee wonders, I really can't say. Possibly. But then I'm pretty happy with things as they are on that front.

But what struck me immediately was its strong resemblance to:





Both are 100% cotton.

Both have 4 plies.

You can tell that the Rowan (red strand) is a higher quality, as the plies are more evenly spun.

And the Lily Elite is perhaps a little rougher in the skein, but not by much.


The Rowan is described as DK weight and the Lily as worsted, but I think they are closer in weight than this would suggest. In fact, the length / weight is identical, at least within any reasonable margin of error. With the Rowan, you get 85 meters per 50 g skein. With the Lily, you get 169 meters per 100 g skein. That's just one meter less of the Lily per 100 g.



Now. I love me some Rowan handknit cotton dk. Mighty fine stuff.

But even its strongest proponents have to admit that it is a bit pricey. According to Yarndex, the "MSRP" is $5.50 American for 50 g. I've seen it for less on eBay. And for way more in some yarn shops.

Lily Elite Cotton's Yarndex entry has an MSRP of $2.69-$2.99 for 100 g. Smiley's has it right now for $2.50, and says the "suggested retail price" is $4.99.

Assuming a price of $5.50 for the Rowan and $3.00 for the Lily (even Smiley's adds shipping), that's:

6 - 7 cents a meter for the Rowan, and
1 - 2 cents a meter for the Lily.

Seems like a crazy good deal.

Must explore further . . .