Welcome to the first of many yarn reviews! In this series, I’m going to analyze each yarn for its compatibility with knitting machines, ease of use, ease of care, affordability, and much more. I’ll include pictures of my swatches along with notes on how the yarn performed, thoughts about available color choices, and updates on long-term wear.
Let’s get started!
All opinions are honest and my own. I am not affiliated with any company or individual mentioned or linked unless otherwise noted. I purchased this yarn myself and did not receive compensation for this review.
About Berroco Comfort
| Fiber Content | 50% Nylon 50% Acrylic |
| Yardage/Meterage | 210 yds / 193 m |
| Ounces / Grams | 3.5 oz / 100 g |
| Yarn Weight | 4 / Medium / Worsted |
| Made in | Turkey |
| Availability | Local Yarn Store, Online |
| Put up | Skein |
Care Guide
| Hand Wash | Yes | |
| Machine Wash | Yes | |
| Flat Dry | Yes | |
| Machine Dry | Yes |
Berroco Comfort is a hardworking acrylic blend worsted weight yarn that comes in over 60 colors. Available at your Local Yarn Store (LYS), it usually retails for around $6.50 a skein. This acrylic is NOT your grandma’s scratchy acrylic yarn. Soft and with a very slight metallic sheen, it can be easily blocked with steam to produce a fantastic drape in a fabric. It comes put up in a center pull skein, but if you’re planning to use it with your machine, I advise winding it into a cake to avoid yarn tangles.
Comfort also comes in Sock, DK and Chunky weights with slightly less color availability in the larger sizes and mostly variegated options available in sock weight. With the exception of the Comfort Sock, the Comfort line of yarn sticks to solid colors the majority of the time.
The wide variety of colors makes this yarn a good choice for colorwork. Comfort has a pleasing stitch definition and does not tend to lose itself as it wears in my experience.
Since it is machine washable and dryable, a gifted item with this is “safe” for any recipient as far as care instructions go. If you’re worried about your garment, you can still hand wash it and lay it flat to dry, but know that it will be just fine in your laundry machines.
In addition, those with wool allergies will enjoy this yarn, as will those who live in areas with warmer climates or milder winters.
Knitting Machine Compatibility
| 4.5mm Standard Gauge | Yes, But* | |
| 6.5mm Mid-Gauge | Yes | |
| 8mm / 9mm Bulky Gauge | Yes |
*This yarn will knit at upper tensions on the Brother KH-890, but it produces a stiffer fabric that is not as pleasant as one it will make on a mid-gauge or bulky machine. Color, as in dye lot and the chemicals used to achieve different colors, can affect how yarns perform. Always swatch your yarn before starting a project!
Swatches and Performance
If you’re interested in learning about how I swatch yarn, please check out this post.
This yarn knits like a dream on the mid-gauge and bulky machines. The yarn glides smoothly through the tension mast and carriage once the skeins have been rewound into yarn cakes and does not catch on itself. I’ve used over 10 skeins of Berroco Comfort over the years in both hand knitting and machine knitting, and I have never experienced a knot in any of them.
I found Tension 3 on the SilverReed LK-150 was a bit too tight of a fabric for my liking, but I enjoyed T4 and T5 and found that their fabrics offered a nice mix of drape and coverage/lack of excessive light showing through between the stitches when held up.
The same ideal knitting experience can’t be said for Comfort on the standard gauge. My machine did not struggle, but it wasn’t happy with me for using this yarn on it. The fabric produced was stiff and more appropriate for a purse or bag than any wearable garment. If you’d like to try out this yarn on your standard gauge machine, I recommend trying Comfort DK or Comfort Sock instead.
The above swatch was washed on warm, dried on low, and gently steam blocked, not killed, so that there is still some elasticity left in the fabric. Some stitches did catch and pull a bit on other items in my washer, so you should be sure to wash your knits in their own load or in a mesh bag or pillowcase for protection.
Though it is not visible in the picture, some very minor halo or fluffing of the yarn occurred. It has not changed the stitch definition, only added to the softness of the yarn. Garments in this yarn could possibly halo or fuzz more over time, but I have not noticed this in my experience. I have not noticed any pilling whatsoever in my swatches or garments, and my mother tells me she has not had issues with a gifted tank top made from this yarn that she has worn and machine washed for over two years, and she has experienced no fuzzing, pilling, or garment stretching. It should be noted that she does dry the top flat.
This swatch was also washed on warm, dried on low, and gently steam blocked. I did not stretch it or force it, merely smooth it out from the shape it dried in in my dryer.
Note: Because the LK-150 swatch is an older one from before my current swatch records system, I do not have its before wash measurements to calculate any shrinkage.
Here are the before and after measurements for the standard gauge swatch:
| Before | After | |
| 40 stitches | 5.875″ | 6″ |
| 60 rows | 6.1875″ | 6″ |
With only 3% row gauge shrinkage and an actual increase in stitch gauge of around 2%, this yarn does not change much in the wash, but you should always work from your finished swatch measurements in any case.
Blocking
Comfort blocks well with a steam block. I do not “kill” the acrylic with the steam heat, only lightly run the steamer head over the fabric as I move it to the desired dimensions. I do not think this yarn needs to be “killed” to achieve drape or a desirable fabric, especially as the “kill” process slightly melts the yarn, and, I believe, can affect the integrity of the garment. If you do desire or need a more aggressive blocking experience than what I prefer, Comfort can and will meet your blocking desires for the most part without killing the yarn.
Final Thoughts
Comfort performs well no matter what yarn weight you choose. At around $0.03 a yard for worsted weight, you’re looking at a nice, quality acrylic for a good price. A sweater quantity (1000-2000 yards) of this yarn retails for around $35.00 to $75.00, and some shops will give you a bulk buy discount. It’s not exactly a “budget” yarn when you compare it to what you can find at big box stores, but it is definitely worth the price when you consider the quality of what you’ll be running through your machine or your hands and then wearing next to your skin. Plus, when you buy from your local yarn shop, you’re supporting smaller, local businesses, and I don’t think you can go wrong there!
As a sucker for hand-dyed yarns in all kinds of gradients, I usually find myself wishing for rainbow magic colorways in whatever yarn I’m using at the moment, but that isn’t necessary here, and that isn’t what Comfort is trying to do. If you’re looking for a go-to acrylic yarn, Comfort is a great choice.
I’ve used Comfort in tunics, dog sweaters, and scarves, and I’ve seen customers and students use it in baby items, hats, and blankets. If you have a project, you can usually find a Berroco Comfort line yarn that will fit.
I give Berroco Comfort Worsted a solid 4.5 out of 5 score.
Have you used Berroco Comfort before in your machine knitting? What about in your hand knitting? What kind of projects did you use it for, and what did you think of its performance?
Are there other properties you think I should include in my yarn reviews? What yarn should I review next? Let me know in the comments!
ELY Knits 
you are doing very well!
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