New Yarn

Panda Cotton, bamboo, cotton and elastic.

Cascade Fixation, cotton and elastic.
Sockina Cotton, Cotton, acrylic and nylon.

I could stop right there at the pictures, but you know me, always something to talk about.

My sister commented yesterday about looking for yarn. She has asked me to make an afghan for her. She wants to choose the yarns, and patterns, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with. Since she is where I was some months ago, I will tell her what I have learned about the modern world of yarn shopping.

There are some great places online, though there is an ever improving stock of really nice yarns at places like Micheal's, and there are seriously fine yarns at local LYS where you live.

For your project, wool is going to be best overall. Superwash wool (it will always say if it is) will be even better. Worsted or aran weight yarns are your best choices.

There are dozens of great brands. Knitpicks has some really great prices, like Wool of the Andes 1.99 for 110 yards in all sorts of colours. Webs, the store yesterdays purchases were from, has a bigger range than anybody else I know of. Valley Yarns has an all wool yarn, called Northhampton, 247 yds for 4.99. Patons Classic Wool is available at Micheals for about 7.00 and at Ram Wool for 5.99 (with a discount if you buy 5)for 223 yds on a skein. Your local yarn store has Cascade 220 or something very like it, for about 8.00 for 220 yds in a skein.

Check out weavers yarns, and see what they have to offer. Webs Weavers line includes Harrisville Designs Highland yarn. The cones are half pound cones, 450 yds to a cone for 16 dollars. GD who is waaaaaaaaay better at math than I am, will already see that the cone will cost about the same as most of the above yarns. Halcyon Yarns is another really great place with a wonderful selection. (I've looked but not shopped)

Some places will have a house brand and a stock of many other kinds of yarns. Some will carry only their house brands . Some online places are niche places, Like Red Bird Knits , which is largely fingering and lighter weights or Simply Socks, which, well you know.

No matter what you work on you usually do consider cost. There just are not a lot of times, where price is no option. There have only been two times in my life where cost was not considered, one was for the shawl in fuzzy brown yarn, which cost about 75 dollars and that linen I spoke of above. 7 or 8 yards of beautiful linen at 30 dollars a yard, 25% off, in about 1990. For every other purchase, I have considered, sometimes wrongly, but mostly right the cost into the decision to buy.

Best cost may not always be the cheapest. While basic acrylic from a big box store like Walmart may be cheap, for a big bed sized afghan it will cost you about 35 dollars. You size that afghan a little smaller, (and more reasonably - you know some of the behemoths I have made) and you can easily look at wools, lovely scrumptious wools. Wools in the same price range as all but the lowest grade acrylics, with a thousand times better feel and wear are possible.

Cost is not always tangible. Best cost often is supporting your local yarn store. Tell the owner what you are making, feel the yarn, and look over her offerings. You may pay a little more, but what she can tell you about the yarn you desire, is often worth it. She can suggest the right substitions of yarn from her stock for project you are planning.

For most of us, and certainly those of us who are just wandering into this world of yarn, and the vast numbers of kinds and sorts and properties of the various yarns fibres, yarn blends, yarn qualities, a good LYS is a must. Check out her stock, price it out and do consider the full value of what your LYS is really selling you.

If you are a crocheter, and the LYS you walked into makes you feel crochet is an art for people too stupid to knit? You turn right out and move along to the next yarn shop. This is not a good LYS. A good LYS will just want to lead you into the wild world of yarn, and possibilites. A good LYS will always have time for anyone interested in yarn purchasing. I am of the strong opinion that while they personally may only knit (uni- craftual, - like uniligual only sadder), they will glady enable your trip to the world of modern yarn even if all you are doing is making cans wound in yarn as a kindergarden project for an art class.

Cause let me tell you, a good LYS owner knows as absolutely as I do (having been recently introduced to Misti Alpaca at River City Yarns), a person who has once felt a bulky alpaca yarn, is going to find a reason to have some. And some more after that.

Now if my dear sister, should you be interested in purchasing Misti Alpaca which costs 11-14 dollars for a hundred metres, and which for an afghan is way pricey, but would be heaven to sit under, well, I'd work it.

Of course, I'd be sending you to the looney bin for spending that on a blankie, but at least you'd have some Misti with you.