Do the yarn people think we are all rich? (Warning, rant ahead!)

[sjkmaurice]

You don't have to be a yarn snob to be able to purchase yarns other than acrylic. I raided the local thrift shop yesterday and came out with six sweaters. Three are 100% cotton, one is an acrylic/wool blend, one doesn't have a tag and the last one is definitly acrylic but I bought it because it's chenille. All six cost me two dollars. I've started cutting the seams of one and I already found the end to frog. Get creative about acquiring yarn.

[origami]

Nope Donna you are not alone.

Another thing that bugs me is when you buy a crochet hard back book and the patterns use a brand of yarn that is not easily availabe in regular stores that carry yarn. Like how are we to know what ply the yarn is??

 

Try this website: http://www.yarndex.com/

 

Type in the name of a yarn and it will tell you brand, distributor, yardage, weight, content, gauge, needle size, availability, and colors. It doesn't have every yarn but it has a lot of them. Hope this helps!

[threeolivemartini]

You don't have to be a yarn snob to be able to purchase yarns other than acrylic.

 

 

you also dont have to be rich to be a yarn snob.. yarn snob doesnt equate with rich person .. you can be a yarn snob and still be frugal ..

[dhaunae]

Being a yarn snob does not at all equal being a rich person. To me, being a yarn snob means wanting to get the best yarn possible within reason -- I love the look of Noro but I don't see myself buying any unless I find a money tree in my back yard. However, I've gotten all sorts of fabulous wool and natural fiber yarns off eBay and in my local thrift shop and actually paid LESS for them than I would have for RH. Just takes keeping your eyes open and taking advantage of it when you find it. Plus, check out Knitpicks and their Wool of the Andes. $1.79 per skein? Baby alpaca for $3.79? An alpaca/silk blend for $4.29? You can TOTALLY be a yarn snob without being rich, and I see nothing wrong with that at all

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

Donna I bought some of that tickertape and made some belts with I just looked up stitches in my stitch bible and found a nice stitch and made belts.I really try not to buy yarn unless I have a use for it because I just end up letting it sit or I don't have enough of it to do anything with then again it's lovely yarn just sittin in my stash

[kazily]

I'm a cheapo I guess lol! I have a budget & I'm limited to how much I can spend on yarn. It is not that a poncho or shawl isn't *worth* spending $30 or $40 on or that I place a low value on what I want to make. I just can't afford to buy 8-10 balls of a yarn that costs $5 & up.

 

So---I rarely use the yarns that patterns call for. Usually they list a little info such as WW, or 4 ply, 3 ply etc & I look to my stash or go shopping for a comparitive yarn that I CAN afford. There are many projects I would love to make until I see that they require 10-12 balls of yarn lol! Even buying cheap yarn, like SS, that is out of my budget for one project. It does not mean that the cardigan is not worth $30 to me...it is that I can't spend $30 on one project unless I plan to not do any crocheting for a couple of months except that one project. Which is why I usually stick to smaller projects. I am about to begin a bolero but this pattern I'm going to use less than $10 in yarn.

 

I'm sad to see crochet getting to be more & more expensive & a little too "chic" for my tastes but there are ways to be frugal as mentioned like saving for yarn, frogging thrift store sweaters, buying cheaper yarns etc. And when you do buy 1 skein of a trendy yarn...you can use it for a small project unless you manage to get enough on clearance for a larger project. I think a ticker tape yarn would make a great belt!

[karin4christ]

I wanted to share with you all what I do to save money on yarn. I don't know that this will help anyone but here goes. I use a Joann Fabric's Visa credit card. I earn $10.00 gift cards to Joann's with it. Now it only makes sense to do that if you pay your credit card balance every month. When I use my gift card I always use a 40 to 50% off coupon with it so the real value of my gift card is more like $14.00 to me. Does that make sense? I'm in the Scripture afghan CAL and have bought a total of 8 skeins of yarn for it over the last few weeks and my out of pocket cost has been zero. Like I said I hope that helps someone.

[sharoninseattle]

I think everyone on CV should go on strike and not buy yarn for a month. I'm sure the yarn companies would notice a drop in their pocketbook. These companies are making a killing off of us. First they decrease the amount of yarn they are putting in the skeins and keep the same price on it and then they hike up the prices on the novelty yarns.

 

I protest, we should do something about this, Donna, don't you think.

[donnalynn2]

I think everyone on CV should go on strike and not buy yarn for a month. I'm sure the yarn companies would notice a drop in their pocketbook. These companies are making a killing off of us. First they decrease the amount of yarn they are putting in the skeins and keep the same price on it and then they hike up the prices on the novelty yarns.

 

 

I protest, we should do something about this, Donna, don't you think.

 

You know, if I thought it would make a difference I would. Lets think about this. It makes about as much sense as protesting high gas prices by not buying gas one day of the year. It doesn't work because in the end we all will end up buying the next day. Unfortunately unless the amount of money they make over a long period of time goes down and unique complaints from many many people go up, I don't think things will change. IMO there really isn't much we can do about it. It's a shame as I'm still waiting for the day that the Caron One Pounders will be less than a pound (as I know it's bound to happen) but there isn't much we can do.

[Mel]

The cost of yarn does annoy me- but not because I don't think its always worth it- just that I can't afford to buy the more expensive stuff usually. I always used standard acrylic until my crocheting skills improved and now I treat myself to better quality yarn when I can afford. I bought 3 skeins of noro silk garden to make my mum a shrug for xmas and wow that yarn is beautiful.

 

Despite there not being the range of yarn in the UK that you find in the US I am lucky in that my LYS always has many baskets of bargain yarn outside (the balls are all usually 50pence each). Sure a lot of what they have in these baskets is cheap yarn but they also usually have balls of pure wool and other nice stuff.

 

I tend to still use acrylic for bigger projects- simply because I can't afford to spend that much on my projects, but also because I don't have the time for a lot of handwash only garments. If I see a more expensive yarn that I just have to have I go for a project that doesn't require a lot of yarn. I don't think I would buy these yarns unless I knew what project I was going to make and how much yarn it needed (but I suppose there's always the impulse sale buys)

 

Having said all this I do think that some brands charge too much and I'd never pay those prices-mainly because I don't think some of the yarns are actually that nice.