ok, so i am a frak about yarn. i’ll bet you are too, easily. what is your favorite inexpensive yarn… do you guys have any great resources for it? i have just had to vow to not be a yarn snob (too much). i love natural fibers and recently found a joann fabrics exclusive on this really fun 100% wool yarn called licorice. i’d love to hear about your finds/resources for cheaper yarn!!!
Cheap yarn
I really like Homespun by Lion Brand. People seem to really like it when I make gifts out of it. I haven’t knitted with it yet, but have done tons of crocheting.
I also really like all of the Wool-Ease yarns. (lion brand again) It’s hard for me to work with the T&Q, simply because it hurts my hands for some reason, but I really like how it looks.
Does your LYS have a sale bin? One of mine dies, and one doesn’t, but I can get some really cool stuff for craft store prices just because there was only 1 ball left or it was too funky to sell well. I actually cleaned my room yesterday and have a whole rubbermaid container full of yarn. :? I don’t know how it got here. :o
my lys does have a sale bin, but usually there is only a skein of a kind, so… i am in a sweater phase and am trying to reduce the cost of the sweaters i am making a bit. i just can’t afford to go much above $6 for a good size skein when i need to buy 6-10 of them.
I just happen to live 25 minutes away from the biggest yarn store in the country, Webs, in Northampton, MA. They have excellent prices, and do mail order. Their website is (get this): www.yarn.com
If you spend $60+ on yarn at a time, they give you 20% off!
Amy
oh my god! i had no idea. i’m only an hour from northhampton! where is it exactly?? actually, i should be able to find out from their site.
excited!!
back again. their site is not the best. kind of confusing. so where is it exactly? have you ever tried one of their grab bags? so tempting, but not to know…? anyway, thanks for the info, amy. i’ll have to plan a trip over there with my mum. she’s been crocheting up a storm lately!
While I am new to knitting, I am already becoming quite the yarn snob, and am a teenager with a limited budget. Wool-Ease is great, but it varies from person to person. I won’t use it for projects for me so much, as I find it somewhat itchy. I don’t use acrylic, unless specifically ordered by comission. I just don’t like the feel of it as I knit. What I have found is that elann.com has some really nice yarns for fairly cheap prices. I just got 6 skeins of Highland wool at 50 g (1.75 oz) each. I haven’t gotten to dip into them yet as I am finishing a fairly complicated scarf first. Hope this helps.
They have directions on their site, on the “Contact Us” page. And a link to get a map to their store through mapquest. From their site:
HOW DO I GET THERE? (DIRECTIONS TO THE STORE)
* From East or West, take the Massachusetts Turnpike to Exit 4.
* After you exit, take I-91 North to Exit 18.
* At the end of the ramp take a left onto Rte. 5 North.
* Go 6/10 of a mile and look for a blue ATM on the left.
* Take that left onto Service Center Road, pass Northampton Rental and Whalen's and you'll see Webs' bright blue awning on a gray brick building.
They’re not hard to find. They’re only about a mile from downtown. Their warehouse is huge, and I don’t know if it’s designed for browsing; I haven’t been in that section since they re-designed the store. They used to let people browse back there; I imagine they still do, if you really want to see everything they have. Usually I just browse in the smaller, designed-for-the-public section, which is still big, but doesn’t, obviously, have their full selection. You can also request their catalog, which shows a selection of yarns that you can look through for good prices, and then when you go in, you can ask to see the yarns you’re interested in.
Amy
New to the boards and this is my first post. Yay me!! 
I just started knitting a few days ago and I don’t understand why acrylic isn’t being raved around here. I am totally digging the Lion Brand’s Mircro Spun. My family is huge on softness (and this stuff is soft) and acrylic looks really easy to clean, as opposed to the extra care required to clean wool.
I live by a Michael’s and the wools and cottons didn’t feel as soft as any kind of the acrylic. Am I missing something on selection? Or are the other fabrics easier to knit with?
As for cheaper prices, perhaps stocking up at certain times of the year would be feasible. Boxing week sales and inventory sales are always great to get the quality that you want without breaking the bank.
Anyway, look forward to making more posts in future. Nice to meet everyone so far.
My thing with acrylic is that it pills in massive amounts compared to some of the nicer yarns. AFter spending several hours on a nice scarf, I can’t stand to look at the huge pills of the acrylic shedding and making my scarf look less than perfect.
Welcome, Beldaraan!
There are some novelty yarns that are acrylic, that I like, including the one I think you’re talking about. But the average, el-cheapo “grandmother’s afghan” acrylic just isn’t my thing. I’ve made a few things with it, including an afghan (couldn’t afford anything else–at least the colors are nice and bright), and a few kid’s sweaters (it does wash well). But I’ve just seen so many cheesy things made from cheap acrylic yarn, that I associate it with cheesy patterns. You never see store-bought things made with that yarn. Plus, I tend to avoid synthetic fibers. For environmental reasons, and the fact that they don’t breath as well.
Also, I just prefer wool, in general. It’s much warmer than acrylic, and warm is what you want, when making a hat, or sweater, etc. Also, you can do a felted join with it, which is stronger and saves time. Also, it’s natural and environmentally friendly. Plus, they now have all sorts of really soft merino blends, as well as machine washable wools. I know they’re more expensive, but I tend to knit smaller projects anyway, so I never have to pay much, and I just love them, they’re such a pleasure to work with!
Amy
i guess what i was getting at with the post is a good source for finding yarn that is typically expensive. i just made myself a cardigan with some extremely cheap acrylic (like $10 for the whole sweaters worth!!) in brighter-than-baby blue. i love it! but that was the look i was going for -sort of vintage/retro, so it worked.
http://www.smileysyarns.com has the cheapest online pricing ever for non-snobby yarn — I highly recommend it! 
Beldaraan - are you feeling okay? How could this be a first post and I know I’ve written to you??? Were you not on this site and just on the Mark KAL???
Just worried about you…hehe… or me…
Jouf
lol it was her first post on January 4th! She’s blabbermouthed a LOT sine then!!! Roxy bumped the topic with her non-snobby yarn… which was great BTW!
Ya know, it doesn’t take a lot to confuse me. But I knew one of us was losing it.
Jouf
beldie may be losing it… you know how those canadians are.
I’m glad that this thread was bumped up. I’m less than 20 miles from Northampton! At least now I know of a great local spot to get yarns.
omg, I turn away from my comp for a few minutes to knit a couple rows on my sock and this is the mischief that happens…
Jouf, Hilde is right. This was my first post from a long time ago. I didn’t just post it.
As to Hilde, I took a look at the top 10 posters and you’re not very far behind me…
As for the Canadian jab, I emailed you some interesting “info.”
Ta ta!!
i KNOW i am feverishly trying to catch up to you!!! Your posts are allways very informative though, i just blab (you win i guess).