Buying Yarn

As a long-time knitter, I have a large stash of yarn that I have collected over the years. There are generally four ways that I have added to my stash.

1. People give me things from their stashes. Some of these are kind of funky, and not really my style. As my stash has grown, it has gotten easier to say no to things that are really out there. But it was useful as a beginning knitter when I was still finding my style (and I didn't have much of a budget, since I was in high school).

2. I have a particular project in mind and I go buy some yarn that will fit it. I rarely do this anymore, because I have so many projects lined up with the yarn I do have. Even if I do have a project in mind, I can usually find something in my stash already that I can use. A couple summers ago, however, I decided to make a Jayne Hat as a birthday gift, and didn't have any of the necessary brick red, so I went out to buy some.

My husband wearing his birthday Jayne Hat

3. I go to a store or festival and see some yarn I would like. I carefully think about a project that I could use it for, and try to buy enough yarn for that project. If I can't think of a project, I don't buy the yarn. Of course, I rarely actually buy enough for the project I am thinking of, and then halfway through the project I have to scramble to find more, hopefully from the same dye lot. But at least there is a plan, even if it takes me awhile to get to it. This is the buying method I aspire to.

4. I see some yarn that is on sale or really nice, and I buy it, with no particular project in mind. Beware if you do this too much, it is a great way to grow an unmanageable stash. If the yarn is particularly funky, or an odd material, this is especially hazardous. I still have some bamboo yarn that I bought on sale in 2010 and haven't managed to make anything out of - and of course it is discontinued, so I have no way of getting more if I decide to make something larger.

Of course, this introduction is just to say that I was a bad girl this week and employed method number 4 quite liberally. A local yarn shop (that I had never been to before) was going out of business. Everything was half off. We arrived late in the day, and it was pretty picked over. Something about the nearly empty shelves, the short time frame,  and the cheap yarn made me forget all of my usual yarn-buying cautions.

I got a bit of something with nothing that will match it, so it will only be good for very small projects.

Just over 100 yards of Baby Alpaca Chunky, from Cascade Yarns

I got a bunch of cotton, in three colors, with no plan for it. I always manage to forget how few projects are written for three colors, even though that is my preferred color-palate strategy.

Three colors of Tahki Yarns Cotton Classic

I also got three different sets of yarn in one of my favorite color combinations: blue and black/dark brown. One is merino, one is superwash wool, one is a mix of acrylic and wool (no idea now why I bought that, I usually hate working with acrylic).

Merino wool: Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted

A close up of the colors: chocolate and indigo

Superwash wool:  Rowan Pure Wool, in azure and clove

Acrylic: Plymouth Yarns Encore Chunky, in light blue and black

It is not as bad as it could have been, though, I didn't get anything that I will never use (hopefully). And I also got some neat non-yarn things: another book on different types of wool (In Sheep's Clothing), a recent issue of spin-off magazine, a shawl pin, another needle gauge, and a frame for blocking socks.

Shawl pin, yarn gauge, sock blocker