YARN SNOB HERE!! Refuse to spend my time or money on acrylic. I can appreciate that there are folks that cannot use wool but I’m a natural fiber person to the core.
To me knitting about more than the finished object and using natural fibers makes me feel good.
I don’t have unlimited resources so I watch the internet sales, use coupons and ebay ebay ebay.
I feel a similar way to the last two posters. If I’m going to take hours and hours (often weeks and weeks) to knit something, I want it to be of high quality. Sure I could make a sweater out of low quality yarn, but why spend so much time on something that I won’t be happy with, won’t feel good, won’t block properly, won’t hold up over time?
I’m a college student on a fairly tight budget, but you can often find really good deals on ebay, sometimes etsy, and various ways like that. Trying to find little discounts any way you can is often the best bet.
NON YARN SNOB HERE!!! Yes, I use acrylics and am proud of it.
I, too, want the things I make to be nice, but I also want them to be practical and used. What good is knitting someone a beautiful blanket, sweater, scarf, hat, etc. if they either can’t wear it due to irritation from the yarn, or won’t wear it because it takes too much effort to care for it?
I wear acrylic, snuggle under afghans made of acrylic, and will only wear cotton (can’t tolerate wool at all) if it is going to be machine washable and dryable without a giant amount of shrinking (generally the only cottons I wear are commercially made sweaters and shirts, as for some reason they tend to be better on the non-shrinkage thing than handknits).
Yes, I work as hard on my projects as any yarn snob…but practicality is more important to me than the fact that I can say “I only use natural fibers, acrylics are so icky”. Does the fact that the people I knit for want stuff they can throw in the washer and dryer make them any less important? Not to me.
God bless acrylics!!!
My sentiments exactly! I wasn’t looking for recs for inexpensive yarn, I was just lamenting my love/snobbishness for naturals. 
I think we knit within our means don’t we…I can’t wear wool it makes me itch and I am not keen on Acrylic either. I have to fondle the yarn and put it near my face if it feels good then I usually buy it. I love Alpaca and Cashmerino I have to admit.
Kniting is my only vice…I work very hard I’m a nurse on night duty so I think I deserve to treat myself to nice soft yarn! If I couldn’t afford to buy the yarn I like then I wouldn’t hesitate to buy Acrylic as I just couldn’t imagine not knitting x
I think also there is a big difference between what I’ve always called drugstore yarn and higher quality. I have made clothing from some amazing acrylics and manmade fibers. The cost can be as high or higher than wool on some acrylic yarns. I’m currently finishing up a top made with Sirdar Cloud 9 Sunseeker. 30 years ago it was selling for 4.50 a 50g skein locally. It feels like terry cloth knit up and is amazingly soft and machine washable.
I too am somewhat of a yarn snob and could afford to be thanks to my dear hubby, but I found a lot of manmade fibers that are wonderful. I have also seen some really nasty wool yarns, but the price was cheap also.
I currently find more use for summer weight knit clothing and the manmade fibers are cooler to wear.
I wouldn’t make clothing from a lot of drugstore yarn, but do find most of it works well for afghans and other objects that will take a beating.
Couldn’t have said it any better myself!
I’m a wanna be yarn snob… meaning, I’d like to be but can’t really afford to be. I do use acrylics sometimes… it depends on the project… but only if they feel nice to me.
But, to satisify the yarn snob in me, I’ve recently started recycling thrift store sweaters for the yarn. I can usually get a sweater’s worth of nice wool, cashmere, angora, or various blends for under $3 each. Yes, it’s more work, but it’s the only way I can afford to knit with some of those nicer yarns right now. And I like the fact that I’m taking something fuggly and rebirthing it as something (hopefully) nice and useful.
Plus, sometimes the cheap turns out to be more expensive than you anticipated!
I bought some craft store yarn this month at Joanns. It is called Debbie Mumm Traditions. It was on an “end display”…and the colorways were GORGEOUS, and the yarn was super soft and beautiful looking. I bought 4 skeins to make a capelet for a young girl at my church.
ACK. The yarn was a nightmare! Take a look at the photos below!
The yarn had a solid black core around which the pretty colors were spun.
My entire commentary about this yarn in in Whatcha Knitting, called FO: Kira’s Capelet!
Looks nice, huh? See the photos below!
The colorful hairs bunched up about every 8 stitches, and the black core pokes out! I had to keep smoothing the red hairs down in order to keep knitting! What a nightmare.
The cheap turns out expensive (in time!)
