I just bought a pattern for a gorgeous jumper, only to find that the yarn needed was discontinued 7 years ago! Does anyone have any tips as to where I might find discontinued yarns, or somewhere I can advertise that I need this certain wool? I bet some people somewhere will have odd leftover balls! I can’t find a similar enough yarn to just buy another one - not one with the same colours in - and I’m wondering if I can somehow create it myself using different colours but I doubt it to be honest! I have the plain burgundy wool for the heart, but not the main colour - Stylecraft Carnival Chunky. Any ideas anyone?!
Pattern but no yarn!|631x694
Hello
Yarn sub is helpful, here are the results for your yarn, you can research each result to see what colours are available
https://yarnsub.com/yarns/stylecraft/carnival_chunky
Or find a self striping or gradient yarn that you like with the same gauge even if the fibre content I different. People sometimes do this anyway because they don’t want animal fibres, or they do want animal fibres or for budget reasons etc. Using the gauge as a guide to find the same chunky weight, then a bit of maths to make sure you buy enough in length rather than in number of balls (balls come in different lengths, 8 balls of one yarn might mpbe 12 of another).
Ravelry has lists of members with yarn in stash which they may be willing to sell, but personally I wouldn’t buy a ball here and there as they will likely be from different dye lots and could be tricky to work together to look cohesive. One person with the right amount in stash would be more like have the same dye lot although no guarantee.
Maybe something like this?
https://www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/yarn/james-c-brett-marble-chunky-egyptian-gold-mc37-200g
Or this
https://www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/yarn/king-cole-hedgerow-chunky-oakwood-5843-200g
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Hi, thanks for replying. Funnily enough I just came across the Yarn Sub site which is good, but I couldn’t find one I liked as much. I love how it’s mainly burgundy but has pale blue and black in it. The King Cole one looks nice in the ball, but it just knits up stripey.
I’ll keep looking but thanks so much for responding! 
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Yes, I was going to say it’s worth looking at patterns made in a possible sub yarn to see how they knit up, if they are more variegated or more stripey.
Others on the forum might have some ideas for you. I hope you find something you like.
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Contact an indie dyer and make a special order?
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Yeah I’ll do that after I’ve won the lottery! 
Think it’d be rather expensive!
Have you looked on Ravelry? I didn’t look closely so don’t know if there’s any stashed. I understand not for sale is the default and often someone who doesn’t show yarn being for sale will at least consider it.
https://www.ravelry.com/yarns/search#sort=best&query=%20Carnival%20Chunky
Good luck in your quest.
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Ooh thanks, never visited Ravelry! So I’ve found the page with lots of people (I presume) claiming that they have some of the Carnival shade I’m after, but they all say “not for sale” (as you suggested) so what’s that about? What do I do now - keep checking and hope one comes up with some for sale? Sorry, not sure how it works! Can’t see anywhere you can put a plea in or anything. I don’t get the point of it. I’ll have to have a play around I guess! Thanks for the pointer. :o)
Edit - seems it’s just a place where you can say what you have in your wool stash, just to show off maybe?!
“Not for sale” is the default and often Ravelers don’t bother to change that setting when they list their stash. It’s worth sending a message to some of the posters who have large enough quantities for your needs. Someone may indeed be interested in selling and at worst you’ll get a “no.”
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There should be a way to message the Ravelry member who has the stash. I think (don’t know, mind) that if you click on the user name you should find it…eventually. Whenever I need to do something like this I have reinvent the wheel, so to speak.
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Many people use it for their own reference. They find a pattern, and can check on their Ravelry page to see if they have enough yarn, without physically digging into their stash. I find it tedious to keep up with listing my yarn, my books, what needles I have…so I don’t do it.
There’s probably a group somewhere on there where you could ask “does anyone have this yarn to sell or trade?”
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