Hi. I was browsing through yarns on Etsy and I came across some that say the weight is “aran to bulky”. I really like some of the colors, but I was just wondering what you could knit with it. Is it actually a practical yarn? Also some say lots of beehives. What is that? I can tell that the yarn is very thick in some spots and thin in others. It’s also plied with thread. Is that a good or bad thing. Thanks for the help.
One more question, is that price considered a good price? I understand the work that goes into handspun yarn, so I totally don’t mind, I was just wondering if there was any sort of average. Sorry, but up til now my source for yarn has been Walmart. I’m feeling a bit more confident and trying to branch out and just don’t know much past that.
Pretty, but.
Price first: You’re only getting 40 yards of yarn for $25 or 55.5 yards for $38. That strikes me as a mite high; I think you’re paying something for the handspun factor. A larger problem is that the seller only has one skein of each color available. You’re very limited as to what you can do with 40 yards of yarn, even in a very bulky weight. The seller says she “doesn’t have the attention span” to spin many skeins of the same yarn. Fine, but not very practical for a customer who actually wants to use it for a sweater, vest or bag.
As to what you [U]could[/U] make with it, here’s a cowl knitted with one skein of Colinette Point 5, a somewhat similar thick-and-thin commercial yarn.
(One skein of Point 5 is 50 meters, or about 55 yards. I think it’s been discontinued, but there are still some quantities available online for prices ranging from $19.00 to $25.00.)
You could probably get a beanie out of one skein of the Guttersnipe yarn. Or wrist warmers. If you love the look and don’t mind the price, you could have something small but unique.
If you want to graduate from Walmart yarn and get some idea of what good (but not necessarily spectacular) yarn costs, look at knitpicks.com. for basics, or try elann.com, which has deep discounts on great yarn.
Thank you very much for the reply. That’s just what I needed to know!
I hadn’t put much thought into how much there was. I also hadn’t noticed that there was only one skein of each. Thanks for breaking it down for me.
I did get my first yarn from Knit Picks, it was one of the sampler packs with 1 skein of a few types of yarn. I was really enjoying it, which is what made me decide I needed to move on from just acrylics.
I think Knitasha gave you a great advice. Also one more thing - the thick-and-thin yarns are very unique in their appearance when knitted up. You can look on Ravelry for FO’s and see what I mean. It can look gorgeous in a skein, but you might dislike the look of the finished project. Another place to look at great yarns is WEBS (www.yarn.com), they have a great variety and price range. There is always Susan from littleknits.com, she has some great yarns for unbeatable prices. I wouldn’t jump from Walmart to handspun yarn that expensive on Etsy, because there’s so much in between to try and knit:thumbsup:
Thanks, I kind of wondered about that, which was part of the reason I asked. I wasn’t sure it was actually very practical to knit with. I think after looking at the link Knitasha gave me and some of the ravelry Fos that I wouldn’t like it much once knit up, and I don’t want to spend that much just to look at the skein and go oooh how pretty! :teehee:
Thank you both for the advice and links. I will try some of them for now!
