Fave ways to save money!

[donnalynn2]

I'm wondering what everyone here does to save money on their supplies and yarn?

 

My fave things to do are to clip coupons from the Michael's and Rag Shop Ads. I also subscribe to Jo-Ann's newsletter so I get the coupons for that. I subscribe on-line for the Rag Shop and they always send me coupons which you can use every day!

 

Michael's does accept comp coupons, but they can't be e-mail coupons, they have to be the ones out of the paper.

 

I really like the 30% off entire purchase coupons they sometimes have at Rag Shop. Sometimes I'll buy several colors that are common that I don't need (like white, black, blue, red, etc.) and if Wal-Mart has a color I need, I'll exchange one of those at Wal-Mart for the right color. I know it's a little sneaky, but I don't think it's illegal or anything!

 

I love to go through the clearance bins. I've noticed that the Jo-Ann's in my town has the worst clearance bins. "Clearance" does not mean $1 off the price. It's ridiculous how much they want for their "Clearance" merchandise! Once in awhile I can get something really cheap, but most of the time I avoid it all together.

 

Michaels has a pretty good clearance area and if something is there for awhile, it'll keep getting marked down. I noticed by working there after Christmas this last year that 25% of the Christmas stuff was still there in the beg of Feb. By then they marked it 95% off! I got 5 BIG bags of stuff for $3.00!!!

 

Would love to hear how everyone avoids paying full price for the already over-priced craft stuff?

 

[kusine]

I enjoy recycling thrift store sweaters. It fun and cheap, and I can usually find some sweaters in yarn I wouldn't otherwaise be able to afford!

 

Some links for recycling sweaters:

 

http://www.az.com/~andrade/knit/thrifty.html

http://www.neauveau.com/recycledyarn.html

[donnalynn2]

I enjoy recycling thrift store sweaters. It fun and cheap, and I can usually find some sweaters in yarn I wouldn't otherwaise be able to afford!

 

Some links for recycling sweaters:

 

http://www.az.com/~andrade/knit/thrifty.html

http://www.neauveau.com/recycledyarn.html

 

Wow! I never would have thought of such a thing before! Heck, sometimes you can find things for such a bargain at thrift stores. It never would have occured to me to use that yarn for other projects. I'm sure there's a method for "unraveling the yarn" but I can't imagine what it is! (Ooops, after checking out the 2nd link it tells you exactly how to do it! THANKS!) I think I'll be stopping by Goodwill tonite after work!!!

[lovingmommy]

ok, help!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i just read the tutorial on the wrapping of the yarn here.

now can someone please tell me ... once that pretty yarn is all wrapped up... what do i do??? how do i start my new project??? where is the begining???? how do i start???? where do i fing the beg of the yarn??? do i just pull it all apart????

 

also, if the yarn is recycled... do i wash the sweater first??? or do i wash the yarn after??? if after... do i just throw it all in the washer??? or do i put it in a bag??? hand wash???? arrrggg sooo easy to figure out but completly out of my grasp.... lol. help me understand!!!!

[butterfly_girl]

I haven't recycled a sweater yet..........planning on it though! I think you would wash it first.....just my thought.......

[jenuine226]

ok, help!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i just read the tutorial on the wrapping of the yarn here.

now can someone please tell me ... once that pretty yarn is all wrapped up... what do i do??? how do i start my new project??? where is the begining???? how do i start???? where do i fing the beg of the yarn??? do i just pull it all apart????

 

also, if the yarn is recycled... do i wash the sweater first??? or do i wash the yarn after??? if after... do i just throw it all in the washer??? or do i put it in a bag??? hand wash???? arrrggg sooo easy to figure out but completly out of my grasp.... lol. help me understand!!!!

 

I thought yarn when it is wrapped like that (in the tutorial link) is called a "hank"? I was also under the impression that you have to undo hanks and wind them into balls? (center pull balls, mostly) Have I been doing this wrong the whole time? I can't imagine how to use yarn straight out of a hank without winding.

 

Oh, and I agree, I would wash the sweater first, then unravel it.

[carrieanne]

Theres a few things I do to save a bit. I love garage sales, rummage sales and thrift stores. I actually get pretty lucky with yarn, especailly at the thrift store. Being a single mom, I dont have lots of money to buy new yarn, but at the thrift, sometimes these is a whole bag for a few bucks. Once I got a bag with all these cool differnt yarns, like fun fur, wool, fluffy stuff. I was in HEAVEN!

[lovingmommy]

what is the point of

this then???? i don't get it, why whould i spend all this time on doing this if i still have to end up making balls of yarn anyway????

[natalie058]

Wrapping yarn in a skein is useful for selling it, because it displays the fibers better. It's also good for measuring yarn, since each wrap is one yard, and for dying, because you can hang parts of the loop in different dye colors.

 

But no - it's NOT good for working out of, and yes, you would want to wind a hank into a center pull ball. Don't bother winding your yarn into a hank if you'll be working with it directly, just go straight into a ball.

[jenuine226]

what is the point of

this then???? i don't get it, why whould i spend all this time on doing this if i still have to end up making balls of yarn anyway????

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was thinking the tutorial was more for people who spin their own yarn? (I, for one, wish all yarns came in center pull balls. Hanks drive me crazy! I'm not too careful sometimes with winding the yarn into a ball, and then everything ends up as one big tangled mess! )

[goldi316]

I was thinking the tutorial was more for people who spin their own yarn? (I, for one, wish all yarns came in center pull balls. Hanks drive me crazy! I'm not too careful sometimes with winding the yarn into a ball, and then everything ends up as one big tangled mess! )

 

Natalie explained the reasoning behind winding the yarn into a hank well. For recycled sweater yarn, you may find it best to wait to wash it until after you've unravelled it first, which will help to unkink it too. If you do, the best way to handle it is to wind it into hanks for the washing and then into a center-pull ball after it's dry. Or you could leave it in hank form for storing in your stash until you're ready to actually use it, then wind it into a ball.

 

If your balls are tangling, it could be because you are wrapping too tightly. Try using an empty toilet paper roll to wrap the yarn around (make a slit at one end to hold the end of your yarn, which will become the pull strand), and try to wrap the yarn as evenly as you can around the roll, without pulling it too tightly. Once done (or when ready to use), remove the tp roll, making sure to hang onto that strand. The roll will collapse somewhat onto itself, but still be loose enough in the middle to allow you to pull your yarn through from there without tangling.

 

Best yet for winding yarn into balls is a yarn winder - they are worth their weight in gold, believe me! They can be picked up fairly cheaply on ebay I've heard, though I got mine (by using a 40% off coupon and the gift card I received for my birthday) at Joanns online, with shipping included it ran to about $36, the best investment I ever made. Yarn wound onto one of these magical tools comes out more like a "cake" form rather than a ball, which is actually preferable as it will sit still better than a round ball. No battling the cats for your yarn from under the table, lol!

 

One word of caution though - thread and laceweight yarns can NOT be dispensed from a center pull ball. You have to work with them from the outside of the ball inward, or they WILL tangle - guaranteed! I had to learn that one the hard way.

[Janie]

I like to shop the clearance bins at my local AC Moore.

 

Also, they sometimes have some really nice mill ends. I've gotten 1 lb bags for a little over $3. Although I'm not really good at identifying yarns without the label, I can usually compare it to the labeled stuff and figure out what it is. I've gotten some really nice Caron baby yarn, some Jiffy, and even Homespun. It's such fun getting a good deal!! And even more fun making something fabulous for so little investment of cash! :hook

[kazily]

I'm a thrift store junkie. I find yarn at thrifts, goodwill, yard sales, flea mkts...most of my Susan Bates hooks came from the flea mkt. Probably half of my stash is cheap finds at those places. Some of it was new yarn like $2 balls of fun fur someone was selling a box full of at the flea mkt or skeins bought yrs ago but never used....some is not labeled partial skeins but was cheap cheap yarn. I recently read that you can tell acrylic yarn from wool by cutting a small pc of it & putting in bleach for sev hrs. Wool will disintegrate, acrylic won't. I haven't tried it yet but I have some balls that feel more like wool--so I need to try it. We recently got a hobby lobby so I am also buying new yarn--but I love finding cheap yarn.

[yarnyviolet]

I like Ebay. I am not a bidding freak though. I put in low bids and hope to get it for cheap. I combine a few strands of the thinner yarns on a yarn winder to make different colour combinations. I live in Germany so the yarn is usually thinner in the stores than what you'd get back home in Canada. I found this site in the UK but haven't tried it out yet: wools.co.uk. I heard about it on a cloth nappy site for people wanting to make wool nappy/diaper covers.

 

Rachel