I don’t own a lot of yarn, and I suppose in a way that’s a good thing. I guess it would also depend on your notion of ‘a lot’. The majority of my yarn comes from generic stores like Michaels which is all that I could find in my area, but I’ve started to branch out a bit and explore what ‘good’ yarn actually is. Price is always a factor but I’ve heard that buying good yarn is important, and I want to learn more about fiber. Right now when I look at yarn it’s hard for me to decide if it’s ‘good’ or not. The more different types of yarn I use, the more I’m able to decide what I personally like to use. Some yarn is a lot more coarse than other types. Some splits very easily and makes it difficult to knit with. Those types of things begin a long list in my learning process.
With my lack of knowledge it’s no real surprise that my first purchases were mostly acrylic worsted weight yarns. I picked up some sock yarn as well, this is also called ‘sport’ yarn, or it’s shown by the number 2 on the package indicating the weight. Very light.
One of my first ‘real’ yarn purchases (which I haven’t used yet) was ‘Hawthorne Sport Multi Yarn‘ by KnitPicks. It’s a combination of wool and nylon, which should make fantastic socks. Unfortunately I don’t actually know how to knit socks quite yet, so I haven’t had a reason to use the yarn, but I’m looking forward to it when I do (remember socks are my dream goal to complete one day). I also purchased a bunch of ‘Mighty Stitch’ worsted yarn. This is acrylic, and while it IS incredibly soft, it also splits very easily which made it difficult to work with. I bought 8 skeins total of the Mighty Stitch and I’ve already completed a baby blanket as well as two dishcloths. I’d like to complete another baby blanket (my cousins are both expecting and I want to send one to each of them) and I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with the rest. We’ll see I suppose.
Last week I added two new yarn types to my collection. One was 10 skeins of Brava Bulky in ‘Fairy Tale’ that I haven’t quite decided what to do with yet. I was thinking I might make a blanket for myself since I don’t actually have one that I’ve made, or I might make it into a sort of shawl that I can wear around the house draped like I would a blanket. The yarn has some pretty negative reviews but I liked the price and decided to give it a try anyway. Another example of where you pay for what you get.
The second type came free with my purchase for September, and it’s Brava Sport and I got five skeins of that. There’s a lot of complaints about this acrylic yarn but since it was free who am I to turn down yarn! I have no idea what I’ll knit up with it yet. I used to really like darker colours for knitting but the more I work with it the more I prefer light colours. They seem to show off patterns better.
What are your favourite yarns to work with? Do you have a particular store online where you like to purchase from? So far I’m only familiar with Knitpicks, but I’m always open to suggestions so if there are others out there with good pricing and especially shipping to Canada I would be all ears!
For now, the large bin in the living room is holding all of my yarn neatly. How big is your yarn stash?