Need Advice On Yarn

General Knitting
1

First post here on KnittingHelp.com. After months of searching for a comprehensive site on knitting info, video demonstrations, and a community of helpful knitters – I found the proverbial gold-mine here at KnittingHelp.com. I’ve been watching the videos over the last few years off and on along with the ebb and flow of my knitting, but have only recently decided to make use of the forum.

So here are my questions:

  1. Where do you buy your yarn (Joann Fabrics, Michael’s, joann.com, etc)

  2. What brands/styles of yarn do you love? (RedHeart, Caron Simply Soft, etc)

  3. Is good yarn ALWAYs going to break my wallet, or are there soft, non-itchy yarns out there for a reasonable price?

All recommendations and comments welcome… Have fun with this one. Also - any other male knitters in the house? Show some love… As I always say: “Knitting is manly because I make it manly.”

2

I buy most of my yarn at Michael’s, WalMart, or Joann Fabrics. I’ve really enjoyed working with Simply Soft for knitting. Have only tried a little of it for crochet and it was so so…maybe I was just getting tired of working with the bright pink color. Am currently crocheting with Red Heart Soft yarn which seems o.k., but wants to split a lot with a crochet hook. I have some light grey Bernat softee chunky that I made a pair of slippers with (crocheted) and the stitch definition was a little difficult to see - not terrible, but not as easy as with regular worsted weight. I have some Paton’s that I haven’t worked with yet, but it feels great. Hoping to use it for a sweater for GD.

3

Welcome! We have several active Manly knitters around, one of whom happily knits at truck stops. :thumbsup:

Personally, I buy my yarns online since I’ve become such a yarn snob :teehee::shrug:, but I’m sure there are soft ones available at the craft stores.

Anything merino is usually wonderful.

4

Welcome! I’m the knucklehead that knits in truckstops :mrgreen:

I’m a fan of Caron Simply Soft. I buy most of my yarn at a Hobby Lobby that is close to my trucking terminal, but plan to order some from KnitPicks as they have a good selection of yarns.

Whether or not ‘good yarns’ will make your wallet cry just depends on how you define ‘good yarn’. I recently bought a few skeins of I Love This Yarn and while it’s not quite as soft as Caron SS, it’s much better than the Red Heart stuff. I paid less than two bucks a 355 yard skein for it at Hobby Lobby.

5

Wow! Talk about fast responses! You guys are right on target… A truck stop knitter, that’s what I’m talking about… Awesome!

Thank you for posting your responses and I’ll look up some of the stores you mentioned…

Ingrid, you had said “[you] buy all [your] yarns online”… Do you have any recommendations on specific sites, or do you just find them on craigslist.com or ebay.com, etc?

Knitting_Guy: What kinds of things does a truck-stop knitter knit? Mudflaps? :mrgreen:

6

I buy yarn from my LYS. I prefer working with wool to any other fiber I’ve tried. I’ve found some extremely nice blends that don’t itch, but I’m not the expert.

While I’m currently working on a shawl with Caron Simply Soft, I don’t actually like that yarn, it was really just convenient and cheap.

Good yarn isn’t always going to break the bank. There are several online stores that sell good yarn at reasonable prices. Additionally, keep an eye out at your LYS. I’ve found some lovely wool for cheap at one store, and another store has a scrap bin that sometimes has nearly full skeins. Anything in the scrap bin is for grabs, and I’ve completed a few smaller projects with yarn from there.

My favorite fiber ever is wool. I can wear even some of the coarser threads against skin without being bothered. Likely, that’s because I grew up wearing it.

I’m female, unfortunately. I tried teaching my guy friends to knit, but they were so afraid of the yarn that the whole skein was a knot in 30 seconds. We gave up that idea.

Welcome to the world of yarn obsessions.

7

Hmmm, haven’t tried mud flaps yet. :rofl:

Just the usual hats, scarves, socks, etc.

8

Do you recall anything about the blends? Was it a wool/acrylic? wool/cotton?

Do you have them bookmarked or can you recall the site names? I’d love to check them out!

9

It also depends on what you’re knitting. A XXL sweater made of ‘the good stuff’ is out of my budget at the moment. But nice sock yarn gives me great pleasure and since I’m going to be re-knitting the first sock of the pair I’m currently working on, I’m certainly getting my money’s worth out of it. :roll:

10

here’s a current thread on this same topic

http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/forum/showthread.php?t=67206

11

There are several threads on which on-line shops are people’s favorites. My favorites involve ‘sale’ and ‘clearance.’

www.yarn.com (Webs) and
www.littleknits.com are my current favorites.

Oh, and www.elann.com and www.yarnware.com and www.kyarns.com . . .

12

Currently, the best out of all of these sites appears to be KnitPicks. This may change in the future.

This list is being updated and will eventually include more information about each site as well as retail stores where you can purchase yarn (and their locations). My usage of “skein” typically means “per 50g” or “per 100yds”, etc… Since there isn’t really a standard method of distribution. Here’s what I have so far:

Websites:
:star: Knit Picks
$3.00/skein - “Traveling the world to bring you affordable knitting.” Free shipping on orders over $45.

Herrschners
$5.00/skein - (Several different discounted prices)

Joann Fabrics
$5.00/skein

Kaleidescope Yarns
$5.50/skein

Wool Girl
$6.00/skein - “Exceptional hand-painted yarns and knitting accessories”.

The Knitting Zone
$6.00/skein - (lowest price: $1.00/skein) - Closeout section with deals such as $1/skein.

Yarn Market
$6.50/skein - $6.50 flat rate shipping, free shipping for orders over $100.

The Loopy Ewe
$6.75/skein - “Your online source for sock yarns, patterns and fun accessories”. $6 flat rate shipping for orders under $75. Free shipping on orders $75+.

Bartlett Yarns, Inc.
$7.00/skein - Various custom yarns.

Yarnware
$7.00/skein - “We will be having a BIG SALE beginning Thursday October 11th. All items in stock will be on sale”.

Halcyon Yarn
$7.00/skein

CottageYarnInc
$7.00/skein

Sarah’s Yarns
$7.50/skein ($3.85/2-oz ball) - Mainly a wholesale dealer (wholesale pricing for orders of 4+ cones).

yarn.com
$9.00/skein - “America’s Yarn Store” Certain styles as low as $3.00/skein (e.g. Jo Sharp “Soho Summer DK” in Java)

Full Thread Ahead
$9.00/skein - Several products backordered, long wait times for shipping. $5 shipping flat rate.

Schoolhouse Press
$9.00/skein - 100% wool, several rarer yarns like “Un-Spun Icelandic: …long-fibered fleece unique to Icelandic sheep produce the warmest wool we know of…”

Elann
VARIOUS - “Captivating yarns… Irresistable prices”, “Bargain” section has “Full Bag Blowout” sales (1,000yds+) for $25 (and other varying prices).

Etsy
VARIOUS - “Your place to buy & sell all things handmade”, handspun yarn varying from $4.00-$9.00/skein. You can sell your projects here as well buy other people’s.

Little Knits
VARIOUS - Variety of brands/styles, all discounted off retail pricing (avg discount: 40% off retail)

No longer active:
www.discountbrandnameyarn.com

Retail Stores:
Joann Fabrics, Michael’s, LYS … (more coming)

13

You may want to check out this site, too: http://www.bartlettyarns.com/index.cfm

I’ve never ordered from them, but their prices seem very reasonable.

14

[B]Sound of Emotion,

I like to get my Bernat Bamboo at Jo Ann’s . VERY SOFT!!!( 4.99 )

TLC is O.K.

I love Beleezza by JoAnn’s

Cascade Fixation is very strechy!

Malabrigo on E-Bay. ( I’ll have to hunt for teh name. It’s something fibers. )

Cashmere from Mcfarland ( Kates Cashmere ) on E- Bay

Susan[/B]

15

Keep the links coming and let me know if you know of one that’s not on the list. If you think my pricing is off, or know of a better way to qualify them, let me know. :cheering:

16

I have shopped at Jimmy Beans and was amazed at how fast the stuff came. I bought sock yarn but they have lots of selections and great sales!
http://www.jimmybeanswool.com

17

And bars! :lol:

I buy my yarn at Hancock’s, Hobby Lobby and sometimes Walmart. That’s all I’ve got here. There is a small LYS, but I’m cheap and can’t see that Brown Sheep, Noro (ugh), Cascade and other `name’ yarns are worth the price. I want washable yarn too, and so buy Caron’s Simply Soft, Lion’s WoolEase, Bernat and other soft acrylics, though I have some Paton’s SWS (soy wool blend) that I got at Michaels when I was out of state at my mother’s. Along with some Sugar and Cream cotton yarn.

I have also purchased quite a bit of nicer' yarns at knitpicks.com. They do have very good yarn at reasonable prices, though the skeins are tiny when you compare them to the 200-300 yd acrylic ones. Those are my splurge’ yarns when I want to treat myself. I’ve also found really good yarns at the Salvation Army, but they got cleaned out a while ago and nobody’s donated anything else, darnit.

Plain wool is too itchy - rougher than Red Heart Super Saver - but merino wool is nice and soft. As read alpaca silk, or cashmere blends. Once you know your yarns, you can get some good deals on name brands on ebay, but be careful, many of the prices are more than sale or 40% off coupon prices at Joann’s or Michaels.

18

I have had luck :stuck_out_tongue: finding yarn I like in all kinds of stores. I have yarn from upscale yarn shops as well as from Michael’s and Joann’s. I suggest you buy what you like. I have enjoyed working with Lion Brand Microspun, TLC Baby, and Caron Simply Soft from Michael’s–all of which are quite affordable.

KnitPickshas lots of reasonably priced yarn. I have some yarn from there, but haven’t used it yet.