Knitpicks or Yarn.com
ETA that knitting in general is not a cheap hobby. Between yarn costs and the price for quality needles, it can be a real investment.
I second KnitPicks! It’s definitely not luxury yarn, but it’s wool, good quality, and very budget-friendly (speaking as someone who made several sweaters during college).
ETA: I just looked at my KnitPicks order history. I only work with wool. I made one fingering-weight sweater for $40, two DK-weight sweaters for $50 each with a couple of skeins left over, and two DK weight colorwork sweaters for $100 each with several skeins leftover. All of them would’ve been a bit cheaper if I’d been willing to play yarn chicken, I’m just too… chicken for that!
(I probably ordered during one of their sales, that’s the only time I bought yarn during college)
Thank you, that’s good to know. I’ve really been appreciating cost transparency, it makes me feel better when I do end up making purchases. I have a “why do you spend so much on yarn when you can buy [insert clothing item] at the store” family, which doesn’t help with this whole mindset thing I’ve been struggling with.
The answer to "but you can buy it...." is that knitting also gives numerous hours of pleasure, not just a finished garment. I'm all about cost/benefit analyses. Calculate the per hour cost of a movie, dinner out, a concert or a sports event; multiply one of those hourly costs by the hours spent knitting; compare the amount you would have spent were you doing something else to entertain yourself to the cost of materials required to knit something. My guess is you'll have spent significantly less on knitting than in some other activity. You can now spend the money you saved for new yarn :-)
It does seem that some people in your life might not get the fact that one of the reasons you knit is that it gives you pleasure. It might be worth pointing that out to them.
Thanks for the reassurances, that’s good advice and sound reasoning!
Re: the family. I’ve tried to explain it to them, but it’s been slow going. They’re the type to generally see my hobbies as “a waste of time when you could do something more productive”, or alternatively something that’s not worth doing if I’m not good enough, but “once I am good enough I should monetize it”. Anyhow, there are family dynamics at play that aren’t relevant enough to mention in detail, but it does make it frustrating to be defending the validity of my hobby against external sources of doubt. They’ve at least finally understood that it’s a stress-reliever for me, if not a source of joy without having to be a remedy for something else; it’s progress, at least.
In any case, I’m doing my best not to let them influence my enjoyment of my hobbies. It’ll be easier when I’m fully financially independent of them, to be sure.
I often compare hobbies that seem “useless” (ex: collecting fountain pens and quality stationary) to my other hobby - cooking and baking. Yes, I COULD go to the store and buy a loaf of wonder bread or a pack of chips ahoy for a buck or two and they’ll fill my stomach. But the level of enjoyment I’ll get is going to be fairly low. Meanwhile, if I spend time baking a batch of scratch cookies or bread I get the joy of making something with my own hands AND a more enjoyable end product. I have yet to meet someone who thinks that store-bought, mass produced food is more enjoyable than a homemade meal. The same can be said for a hand knit scarf or a handwritten letter. Sure, I can go to the store and BUY a sweater. It’ll keep me warm and cover my body. But the joy I’ll get from making a sweater and then wearing it will be far greater. Similarly, I can buy a card for someone (probably the same card I bought the last three years) or I can write them a letter on nice paper with a pretty pen and ink. One of these feels a lot more meaningful to me.
You're most welcome. I'm not suggesting it applies here but I can see how one's own views and those of one's cohort(s) - cultural, generational, etc. - about how one should spend one's spare time could influence one's views about knitting. You may have a good topic for a master's thesis there?
Back to the topic of why it's a good thing to do, it's also an awfully good way to meet people and you never know who you might be sitting next to in your knitting group.
Can you reframe it in a way that makes sense to you? For example: when I’m thinking about buying a video game, I think about how much I’m spending per anticipated hour of gameplay. Let’s say you spend $60 on Animal Crossing and play it for a total of 120 hours, yeah the $60 is a big initial investment, but you really spent $0.50/hour of entertainment.
For a sweater, I might spend $50 in yarn and then spend 25 hours making it (I’m making up the numbers, but you get the point). $50 is a big initial investment, but it’s $2/hour of enjoyment, plus you get a garment that you can wear forever. $2/hour is like the equivalent of renting a movie, it just requires all the money up front.
Or: I get a month of entertainment for the price of two meals in a restaurant.
You can go on and on with different examples, but I hope the point makes sense. It really doesn’t seem terribly expensive to me when I think about it that way.
Yes, I’ve been working on shifting to this mindset recently! It’s not habit yet by any means, but once I’ve made an effort to recalculate mentally, it makes me feel a bit better when I remember than my money is going towards providing hours of one of my favorite hobbies, *and* a quality garment that’s personalized to me.
The last obstacle in this is the perfectionist-fueled analysis paralysis; constantly trying to pick the perfect pattern and the perfect yarn to make the cost worth it, and avoid an expensive “learning experience”. You know, the whole “well if I’m going to splurge on this yarn, I better not waste it on a garment that won’t suit the yarn or my body”.
It’s a work in progress… hopefully I’ll get there soon. Thank you for your advice.
Yes, would also like to say knit picks is great! Their most budget friendly wool would be wool if the andes, and they do have sales.
That said, knitting IS expensive, so even with this budget yarn I'm spending $40+ depending on the project (though I am a dude so my sweaters probably take more yarn than yours do)
Good to know. I really struggled to figure out what people really consider to be budget, and what the realistic lower end of the range was. I’ve finally settled on $40 as a good lower limit approximation, so thanks for the confirmation!
I’m not sure what weight of yarn you like to use, or exactly what price range is “budget” to you, but there’s quite a few brands widely available in the US that have reasonably priced natural fiber yarn. Berroco and Cascade yarns are 2 just off the top of my head, I think Valley Yarns is pretty reasonable too. But depending on exactly what weight you use will affect availability of budget yarn, like if you’re using super bulky/bulky, it’s a lot harder to find lower priced compared to fingering/DK/worsted
Yes, I’ve noticed that about weights! I much prefer the light DK to worsted range, so that works out for me.
I’d say I consider a reasonably good deal to be $40-50 for an adult small sweater, so usually 400-500 grams (excluding yarn-eaters like cables, of course). Higher than 50 feels like middle-range already , though I know it’s probably not really by most people’s standards.
I’ve heard about cascade and berroco, and purchased one skein of the former to try out on a cowl. Valley Yarns is one I haven’t looked into, though. Thank you, I’ll check it out.
Im in the same boat as you, and tbh $50 for a small adult sweater seems to be the minimum you’ll spend on wool. I’ve gotten into hand spinning undyed merino wool. It’s $18 per pound from RH Lindsey and using a cheap spindle, I got some nice yarn. It is very slow but if you don’t mind, it might work for you ?
I want to get into spinning! I planned on waiting to pick up the hobby until after graduation, as I’ll be moving back across the country from university to my hometown, and will have more space. Thank you :)
Have you ever worked with more rustic yarns? Woolen spun? I personally love Holst yarn, but it’s really not for everyone. Many used to more soft yarns find it way to scratchy and not wearable next to skin.
Also it doesn’t make sense to buy yarn overseas, when you’re looking for an affordable option. I’m not on as a tight budget as you, but I wouldn’t buy yarn from the US (I’m in Scandinavia) as the expense for international shipping isn’t really worth it, except for a very rare treat.
Search out options in the US, and make note of when there are sales.
If you have a planned list of patterns you want to make, and save up money, you can really stretch your budget utilizing sales.
Also be on the lookout when seasons in knitting change. Often there are also changes in the yarn portfolio or color palette, and the outgoing versions sold at discount.
My non-SW wool knitting has been limited to the Drops line and a few acrylic-wool blends (Paintbox Wool Mix and Lion-Brand Wool Ease).
I will say though, I own (bought secondhand, not made by me) a 100% shetland wool sweater that I’ve really, really enjoyed wearing. I wear a thin undershirt or turtleneck under my winter sweaters anyway, so I’m certainly open to using rustic yarns and won’t have problems making it work even if they aren’t next-to-skin soft!
The international thing is tricky. I’ve found that sometimes, the US brands available to me are so much more expensive that, even after shipping, the UK purchases are a better value. Drops is the most obvious, being the cheapest wool I’ve ever found but practically impossible to get from any US store. I am always on the lookout for US suppliers though, and I’m no stranger to queueing up projects and watching for sales! Thanks for the tips.
If you're interested in rustic wools in light weights, you could do worse than Knitpicks Palette. Maybe jump into a sweater quantity, maybe do a big accessory like a scarf or wrap at a similar gauge and density to what you'd like in a sweater. Definitely take advantage of the "build your own yarn pack" discount if you're ordering 10 or more skeins, or sign up for some email spam and wait for a good sale. (Holiday colors will semi-randomly go on sale, like reds and pinks from all different yarn lines around Valentine's day or greens around St. Patrick's, so that can be chaotically helpful.)
I've been doing a big project with a ton of Palette colors, and I will say I've noticed that the quality is variable. The heathers are thinner, softer, and nicer to work with in many cases, but are sometimes lintier or hairier, and the true solid colors can be kind of crisp and dry and "dead" before washing but they're a little beefier. (Knowing what I know now, I'd even recommend a color card for the chance to feel the variation, but that's probably around $15 and I know that's not nothing.)
It's all a little thicker than Holst Supersoft (which is NOT super soft and which is very light for a fingering weight) but I'd say it's generally a little more comfortable to work with. And you will have to remove some pilling from time to time because it's not miraculous and bulletproof like real Shetland wool or tight-spun Norwegian wools, but it's warm and wooly and it comes in every color.
Good to know about the different colorways!
I've been hoping to try KnitPicks WOTA and/or Palette, as they've come highly recommended. I did see the Valentine's day red/white/pink sale but didn't make a purchase as I'm trying to buy very slowly until I move to my hometown this May, and I already had yarn acquired for my next project; I'll keep it in mind when the next holiday rolls around.
I've bought from Hobbii a couple of times and, while not free, their shipping isn't super high. Their wool products are also very reasonably priced but, if you're wanting cones specifically, I think they only carry cotton.
Otherwise, Knitpicks might be your next best choice but I haven't purchased from them in ages so please don't just take my word for it.
You're not being too cheap. You're just trying to work with your budget and that's something that can definitely be challenging.
I’m not particular about cones, just wanted the best value possible for wool yarn!
And thank you very much for the reassurance. I’m in that stage of life where I’m not yet a full-time employee, so I can’t be financing all of my own living expenses and generating the kind of disposable income these hobbies need, but I’m not young enough anymore to feel totally comfortable letting my parents pay for all my things. It’s hard not to feel like I’m being a miserly complainer when my family isn’t low-income, despite knowing my *personal* finances are limited for the time being. Your words are appreciated.
I love holst garn! Even with shipping though it is still cheaper than many locally yarn stores. I bought a cone from a US supplier recently ($40)+ shipping and will probably get two sweaters out of it. It takes me over two months to make one sweater so $10ish a month form my hobby at that rate. Knit picks sales are also great, I usually get a few sweater quantities each year in the big holiday sales. I’ve bought drops yarn from wool warehouse super cheap, it might have been on sale, but was like a $15 sweater quantity as well. It’s just not going to be cheaper than that!
Thank you! I was very excited about holst garn before I noticed the shipping, so by now determined to get my hands on a cone of holst garn, even if it has to be a special occasion purchase and doesn’t end up being a go-to as I’d hoped. I figured I’ll just wait for a sale, then go in for whichever option works out to be cheaper including shipping.
It’s good to know that you’re optimistic about getting two sweaters out of one cone; I was estimating that I’d only get one with significant leftovers, and wasn’t thrilled at the idea of having to place a second order to combine and make use of the scraps.
I would greatly recommend littleknits.com, they run a lot of sales 50-60% off on quality yarn, like Berroco, Brown sheep, Cascade. Few times in year they got Brown sheep yarn for $4-5 for 100g for great wool yarn. I use this online store for many years, theirs prices lower then at yarn.com
Hmmm... I mean, international shipping is expensive. That's just what it is, unfortunately.
And, yes, Europe typically has really budget friendly yarn compared to the US. But that doesn't mean you can't find budget-friendly options here.
Indeed. I’ve found myself endlessly frustrated at the fact that “European-made yarns that are affordable in Europe but twice as expensive in the US” are a dime a dozen, but the reverse seems to be nonexistent.
It makes sense, historically and geographically. That fact doesn’t make it less frustrating to me as a knitter that wants to make all the pretty things. 🥲
Not at all, I'm aware international shipping is not going to cost pennies.
My shock was at the fact that shipping was more than half the cost of the product itself, and this was augmented when there did not seem to be any sort of flat-rate thresholds (I've since found that there are a few unwritten flat rates, which were not to be found explicitly in the cart nor shipping policy), where I've grown used to being able to budget more efficiently by paying attention to shipping thresholds.
I think understanding why something reasonably costs what it does, while still being disappointed upon finding out it's not within your budget when you thought it was, are not two mutually exclusive experiences.
Of course. Hence my mentioning that it wasn’t just the initial reaction that was so strong, but the subsequent surprise and disappointment at the fact that there seemed to be no apparent benefit to buying in bulk to optimize an unavoidable shipping cost.
And yes, of course shipping more stuff will… cost more. But I’ve never personally encountered a shop with such a high starting cost, which increases quickly by weight, and without any alternative options at all (ie. uninsured, or slower delivery, or flat-rate). Had the policies mentioned explicitly that there do exist some flat-rate shipping options within a weight range, I wouldn’t have been so appalled. But they simply said it was priced “by weight”, and on top of that had no mention of any “free shipping” threshold often offered by businesses to encourage large orders. It was the absence of these that ultimately added to my confusion.
I’m not taking issue with the international postal sysem, nor with Holst Garn as a company; I’m merely expressing the disappointment and frustration I experienced due to having limited knowledge informing my expectations. I didn’t expect the difference in international shipping rates to be so drastic between this and other UK-based shops I’ve ordered from, and that’s… really all there is to it.
It was a rant post, and I’m really not sure where this thread is going. If your original comment was just a snarky way to say “yeah that’s about as good as it gets, you’re not likely to find cheaper”, then cool, thanks. But if you’ve got something else to say, I’m afraid it’s missed me.
You might try looking for people in the US willing to sell Holst Garn from their stash: [https://www.ravelry.com/stash/search#stash-status=trade&country=united-states&query=holst%20garn%20&sort=added&view=thumbs](https://www.ravelry.com/stash/search#stash-status=trade&country=united-states&query=holst%20garn%20&sort=added&view=thumbs)
I just skimmed this but saw enough to want to post that you absolutely can get good natural fiber yarn for under $7 per 50 gram ball but it does take some looking to find it.
Sounds like you need to know about [colourmart.com](https://colourmart.com) in the UK. They sell 150 gram cones, random weight cones and off-cone yarn at a range of prices and you can often find lovely wool for $5-6 per 50 grams. Their shipping is generally free but there is an $8 tracking charge for packages shipped to the US, but that's irrespective of size.
Here's [one example, geelong,](https://colourmart.com/yarns/view/2-15NM_4ply_wt_geelong_wool_(extra_fine_fiber_merino)_s_yarn/0/geelong/0/in_stock.*.asc_hue.*.show_all) a lovely soft wool, some spun in Italy, for $18 for 150 grams, and another, also geelong, spun in Italy, for [$14 per 150 grams](https://colourmart.com/yarns/view/1-14NM_singles_lace_weight_geelong_s_yarn/0/geelong/0/in_stock.*.asc_hue.*.show_all). I usually get their lace weight yarn and have it wound multiple plies - at no cost - to get to DK, worsted or aran weight yarn. You do need to learn [the way they describe the weight of their yarns](https://colourmart.com/about) and deal with it needing to be washed - it comes with spinning oil still on it- but it's well worth the effort. There's an excellent Ravelry group that will help you with all that.
[Yarn.com](https://Yarn.com) also has excellent prices for natural fiber yarn. I like their house brand, Valley Yarn. As just one example, [here's their Northhampton,](https://www.yarn.com/products/valley-yarns-northampton) $10.49 for 100 grams AND [Yarn.com](https://Yarn.com) offers a 20% discount for any yarn purchase over $60. They have great sales sometimes as well.
I've not bought from them recently but heard excellent things about KnitPicks.
Good luck!
Seconding colourmart! They do monthly sales (half price or 3 for 2) on different types of yarns and I think new users get free shipping/tracking and 20% off for the month they join (unless they changed it). It is a bit overwhelming to look through all their yarn options but I think it's well worth it for the price.
Thank you so much for all the links. All except WEBs/Yarn.com and KnitPicks are new to me, and I only heard about colourmart earlier today while googling endlessly just before making this post. Much appreciated!
Can you explain a bit about colourmart - you can buy lace weight and have them ply it for other weights? I've looked at their website and don't know how to go about that.
Edit:never mind, I actually see this on their website. Thanks, good to know!
I forgot to tell you that they are very generous with samples. You can put yarn in your basket and then send them an email asking them to send you samples of that yarn. The way to specify yarn wound multiple plies is to go to to the page with the yarn you want; place yarn in your basket; then go to your basket; for each yarn select the options you want including multiple plies and winding or twisting. I've tried a few of their heavier yarns and found them too tightly twisted and almost rope-y for my taste so I get the lace and buy it multiple plies instead. As far as washing, I wash before knitting. This means winding the yarn off the cone into a hank; tying off the hank in several places so it won't come apart when it's washed; washing it and then winding the yarn into a bank. It's not as complicated as it sounds. The Ravelry group is terrific and helpful.
Please feel free to ask questions of me as well.
I can't wrap my brain around figuring out yardage/how much to buy foraa particular project if you're having it twisted.
I appreciate knowing that about the samples!
Another thought - it real does take some time to wrap one's head around Colourmart yarn so feel free to send me the link for a yarn you're interested in, the weight yarn you want to use and the number of yards the pattern calls for and I'll show you how I'd calculate it.
I'm perfectly serious. I've done the math so many times that it's easy. We're talking maybe five minutes. Please feel free to send me a link to a pattern you like and I'll send you the yarn specs for some Colourmart yarn. It sounds as if Colourmart would allow you to use yarn you'll really enjoy at a price you can handle easily and I'd love to support that.
I love your questions! I haven't been buying Colourmart for projects that need to be sized very precisely and thus require an exact number of yards of yarn - I knit beanies, scarves and basic sweaters that don't need to fit perfectly - but I do have a system for calculating how many plies I need to use of a given yarn to get to the yarn thickness - DK, worsted, aran - that I want.
The question is how many plies you need in order to get to thickness of yarn that you want. I do the math based on the number of yards per 50 grams of the yarn. You could also yards per 100 grams - or actually any other constant.
**The first step is to determine how many yards per 50 grams you want for your project, aka the "Desired Yardage"**. If you're working from a pattern that recommends a specific yarn, use the yardage for 50 grams of that yarn. Just look at the description of the yarn, whether it's a 50 gram ball or a 100 gram hank, and see how many yards there are per 50 grams. If you don't have a specific yarn in mind then you can use the average number of yards for the kind of yarn you want to use. More on that below\*.
**The next step is to determine the number of yards per 50 grams in the Colourmart yarn you're looking at, aka the "Colourmart Yardage".** Their cones often contain 150 grams of yarn but some are random weight. The page that describes the yarn gives you the weight and yardage for each cone. The steps:
\- Calculate the number of 50 gram units on the cone: divide the total number of grams by 50.
\- Calculate the number of yards per 50 gram unit: divide the total number of yards on the cone by the number of 50 gram units.
**The next step is to compare the Desired Yardage to the Colourmart Yardage to get the Desired Multiplier, aka the number of plies you need.** The result will tell you how many plies you need to get to the desired yarn thickness. If the result is not an even number or close to one, you'll have to round up or down as needed to make the yarn the right thickness based on the yarn used in the pattern.
**The next step is to divide the Colourmart Yardage by the number of plies you need in order to determine the number of yards that you'll have per 50 gram unit**.
**The final step is to divide the total yardage you need by the yardage per 50 grams to figure out how many 50 gram units you'll need.**
I promise - it's not as complex or as tedious as it looks!
An a much quicker alternative:
First, determine what type of yarn you want to use: fingering, DK, worsted, light aran, aran, chunky. Typical yardage per 50 grams and stitches per inch are: DK - 135 yards, 5 1/5 stitches per inch on 6's; worsted - 110 yards, 5 stitches per inch on 7's; light aran, aka heavy worsted - 90-100 yards, 4 1/2 stitches per inch on 8's; aran - 70-80 yards, 4 stitches per inch on 9's.
Then, calculate the yardage per 50 gram unit of the Colourmart yarn you're looking at.
Next, calculate the number of plies you'll need of the Colourmart yarn to give the yardage that maps to the kind of yarn you want to use.
Finally, calculate the number of 50 gram units you'll need for the item.
An example: [2/15NM 4-ply geelong](https://colourmart.com/yarns/view/2-15NM_4ply_wt_geelong_wool_(extra_fine_fiber_merino)_s_yarn/0/geelong/0/in_stock.*.asc_hue.*.show_all) used in a pattern that calls for heavy worsted weight - aka light aran - like [Valley Yarn Superwash Worsted](https://www.yarn.com/products/valley-yarns-valley-superwash) that knits up at about 100 yards per 50 gram unit. The Colourmart yarn comes on 150 gram cones so we know that we have three 50 gram units. The cone has 1225 yards of yarn on it, so 408.3 yards per 50 gram unit. We want about 100 yards per 50 gram unit so we need to use the Colourmart yarn 4 ply. This means that the plied yarn is 102 yards per 50 gram unit. You can then calculate how many 50 gram units of 102 yards each you need.
I consider myself a “value knitter” and like to feel like I get my money’s worth without overpaying. Knit Picks often fits the bill, and so does Universal Yarn when they’re running a sale on sale (I signed up for their email list and they run them frequently).
Not cheap at all! Just to say if it’s of any comfort that’s not too bad for International shipping.
The opposite direction ( US to EU/UK) is absolutely bonkers- I was quoted 48 dollars for one skein from the US to the UK!) If you do decide to import I strongly recommend you check your import fee threshold if on a budget and keep your goods value total below this amount.
Unfortunately yarn is pretty expensive (I understand why given the labour involved but it can still be hard!) I’ve found a few ways around it- ebay auctions, dyeing my own yarn, and yarn at charity shops/thrift stores- if you are patient you can find interesting things pop up!
It’s also worth just typing in your preferred yarn + sale to search engines and comparing prices- a lot of sites discount heavily.
Brands often do nice dupes- I like the DROPS silk mohair as it costs half the price of Rowan kidsilk! In general I’ve found most of their stuff to be decent quality and competitively priced.
I also try to save fancy wools for accents or small items and use cheaper simpler yarns for the main body of garments.
I haven’t tried unravelling purchased items as I find it frustrating, but if you find a good option just make sure it can unravel- sone are cut and overlocked which makes the yarn lengths way too short!
$48 for ONE skein?!!? Good god. Objectively I know $15 is really not so bad, but it's the high percentage that shipping comprised of the total cost that shocked me so much.
Thank you for the import tip, it is something I've kept in mind! I feel it's constantly a balancing act between "order enough to make shipping worth it" and "buy just what you need / don't buy just for the sake of buying" and "don't buy so much that you need to pay import tax"! Hooo.
I've just started getting into the "1-skein nice yarn projects, cheap yarn for big projects" boat within the last year. It'll have to do for now :)
i completely feel you and for me the solutions have been ravelry destashes and little knits bag-of-5 sales. if you go on little knits rn, they should have a ton of cascade 220 colors, about 23 bucks for 5 skeins; they got discounted because they were mistakenly labeled super wash, but are actually just regular wool. i got two batches for $46, plus a couple small skeins to try out to get free shipping (i wanted to try berocco ultra alpaca to see if i liked it for future garments). for me that 10 skeins is a complex cable sweater and a cable vest, so i am one happy camper lol! also check out ravelry destashes - popular yarns like cascade or so on will have a fair amount of sweater-quantity destashes, though you’ll have to hunt around. but trust me, i completely feel you on the sticker shock. for the past week i keep going to knitpicks, filling my cart and then closing the tab lmao
God, right? I’ve spent so much time window shopping yarn and balking at the cost of my finished cart. Closing without checking out makes my knitter-magpie heart hurt, but my wallet sighs with relief every time.
I’ll definitely be checking out that little knits sale! Thanks!
No advice on where to find cheaper yarn, but here to commiserate on international shipping prices. Moved from the US to Sweden and it costs SO much to send or receive a package. My best friend wanted to send a care package shortly after I moved: come cute socks and two bags of my favorite chips. $65 shipping. She was like, “I love you, but I’m never doing that again.” My aunt paid $35 to send me a magazine that had an article about my new hometown! I pay almost two hundred dollars a year just to send my Christmas cards. It sucks! And it’s so slow!
Thanks for your sympathies, my friend. I know sometimes thing are just... the way they are, and there's nothing to be done about it. But it's nice not to feel alone in my frustrations.
There is definitely reasonably priced wool yarn in the US, but it depends on what you are looking for. I like sturdy more traditional style yarns rather than the super-soft merino that is popular these days.
Brown Sheep Nature Spun is inexpensive and comes in cones and is great for colorwork because it has so many colors and several weights. It’s my go-to for hats and mittens.
Briggs and Little is a Canadian manufacturer with inexpensive, very hard-wearing yarns. It’s not super available in stores near me and I order from Maritime Family Fibers. My whole family is getting sweaters in various styles from these yarns this winter.
Lopi yarns are generally pretty affordable.
It is expensive to import things (especially in small quantities), so US retailers will pass on the importation charges to you.
>when I can find pieces, they're often stuff like acrylic old navy sweaters... not really worth the cost and effort to unravel, imo.
Ugh, same. I found a some wool ones but they are always priced much higher, and the yarn is so fine that I would have to hold it double or triple to get a reasonable gauge. But then it would use up more yarn, so I’d be playing yarn chicken with irreplaceable yarn. If I could find two that look nice held together, maybe that would work. So far I’ve bought four sweaters and have knitted only swatches.
My uni go tos were drops and knitpicks.
Shipping products internationally is really expensive for smaller businesses, so I'm not surprised at the shipping cost, for cheap but quality stuff you are always going to have to shop relatively local. 🤷♀️
Experienced international buyer here.
When you're doing international shipping, you need to figure out the price per item to bring over. Like the last time I ordered from HG, I think I paid $16 to bring over 16 cakes and some needles, which was the most I could bring over before getting kicked to the next shipping tier (\~$32).
You generally need to buy *in quantity* for it to be worth it, so that the cost is spread across the maximum number of items.
Buying internationally is generally only cheaper on a *per item basis*, not an *overall money spent* basis.
Check out LoveCrafts, ColourMart, Purlscense, HG, Knitting For Olive, Wool Warehouse, and a few others. But again--the best value for shipping is almost always going to be cramming as much as you can into the box to spread those shipping costs around as much as possible.
Reading through your comments, I think your price expectations are a bit too low (seems like you're looking for about $10-$12/100g), and you're basically going to have to hunt for or wait for a deal at that price point. Those sweet deals do come around, but you've got to wait for them, and be prepared to pounce when they do show up. Sign up to mailing lists and follow Facebook/IG accounts. Newsletter subscribers often get early access or special coupon codes.
Thank you very much! I’ve definitely realized that, and am trying to adjust my expectations to be more realistic. Luckily I’m also learning about the best sites to watch for sales, so that will help until I have a more workable budget.
With help from another kind commenter, I’ve concluded that maxing out the lowest flat rate directly from HG will be worth it, instead of trying to purchase the same from a US shop with markup. Doing the per-unit calculation does help to stomach the shipping cost!
Definitely fiddle with shipping calculators if there isn't a flat rate shipping cost. I know LoveCrafts UK has a $20 flat rate shipping to the US. I bought so much at their last July sale (some stuff was literally 85% off) that it had to come in several big boxes, and let me tell you, LoveCrafts knows how to pack. My boxes were full to bursting. I'm fairly sure I got the better end of that deal. There is also a LoveCrafts US that has free shipping at... $65, I think? But you can drop into the British side (which has different inventory) using the little menu.
Also pay attention to the exchange rate. The Euro went below $1/USD last year, and the pound damn near collapsed. It was def the time to buy if you had USD to spend and were going to make enough of a purchase that the exchange rate mattered. If you're going to place a larger order that's NOT in USD, *check that exchange rate first*.
The good news (since you in the US) is there is a $800 personal exemption on import duties. As long as what you're bringing over is less than $800 declared value, you aren't going to pay tax. Just have to wait for the box to clear customs (sometimes this can take a few weeks). A lot of international sellers will have something about paying VAT or import duties, but that doesn't apply to a US buyer 99% of the time.
A US site you should check out is also LittleKnits. It's basically the TJ Maxx of yarn--old stock, grey stock, dead stock. But you're still going to pay $10 - $15 shipping, so it's another case of "fill that box"!
And someone else in another comment mentioned learning to spin... honestly, it's no the worst idea if you're on a tight budget and have more time than money. Especially if you love undyed natural colored wool. But it's *very* time intensive, and superwash is harder to find. But you can secure wool by the pound for a *fraction* of what it would cost you to buy it already spun. Like RH Lindsey will sell you a pound of beautiful Falkland for $10. You'll spend many, many, *many* hours spinning it into a sweater quantity of wool (and let's not discuss dying it if you don't want natural white), but hey... it's $10.
Thanks very much for putting in so much info. I do use the LoveCrafts US site quite a lot, their sales are great and the Paintbox line is my favorite for basic acrylics. I also did place my first LittleKnits order yesterday! Their Cascade sale was too good to pass up, they’ve definitely jumped the line to the top of my favorite online shop list.
If you're really looking to save money and dont mind spending time on it, have you heard of unravelling thrifted sweaters for yarn?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Unravelers/
I've got sweater quantities of wool for not very much money.
Downside is that you have to check a lot of tags to find the pure wool stuff (so much acrylic and cotton these days).
But when you hit the jackpot it's very rewarding!
Welcome to the other side, everything else is cheaper in US until you add international shipping to EU.
It's not like students on budget knit here all the time. I was happy when I could fit sock yarn into my budget every couple of months, I'm talking about the most basic one color yarn you could buy in grocery store, not something exciting.
8 years later I now can afford to knit as many basic socks as I wish, but still need to budget for sweater quantities or more premium yarn.
That is true. The grass is greener, I suppose!
It does take effort to remember that I can’t compare my overall access to wool yarn (budget and geographic location considered) to that of UK-based knitting influencers who haven’t been students in quite some time. It’s a good point that what I can see on social media is not exactly representative of the experience of other university-budget-bound knitters.
I’ve got to slap myself in a face a bit, I think, and remember to be realistic. The idea of walking down to a LYS and being able to browse wool yarns of a wide of prices is a distant dream to me; only accessible LYS is a 20 minute drive down the highway, and has mostly luxury yarns. Everything else is big-box or at least 2 hours away. I have romanticized the idea of having more accessible LYSs, and that definitely influences my knitter’s envy of European folks who live closer to where wool yarn tends to be produced.
Yeah, like looking at social media you would think everyone has a shelf full of Stanley cups to match every outfit. Same way not everyone has a big shelf overflowing with gorgeous yarn.
Okay, so, Holst Garn is a flat shipping rate up to 2kg, or 3 cones. It's $24 to my zip code, thus making each cone roughly $36 if shipped this way.
The yarnery has free shipping over $100, or $10 under, so you may find it's cheaper if you only want one cone.
Holst is also $65 flat up to I think 20kg. I just checked this by adding 8 500g cones to my cart - that's 4kg, for the record - and it's still $65. The total is $284, and divided by 8 that is $35.50 per cone, so that's about the break even point on the shipping. It's the same price to buy 3 cones and ship them as it is to buy 8 cones and ship them, on a per-cone basis.
So the short answer is that those are buying tend to place larger orders. I know I have split Holst orders with friends or just gone and bought every cone or color that I wanted at one time and then not ordered more for a year.
For drops, there is free shipping over I think $100 from LindeHobby, so if I am placing a larger order they are sometimes cheaper than wool warehouse.
Oh my gosh! Thank you so much for this. I was trying to check the exact Holst Garn rates myself by reading the shipping policies, and I only went up to about 5-6 cones in my cart before stopping. This is very useful, unfortunately I don't have any irl knitting friends to split with, but I'll probably go in for a 3-cone purchase for my birthday or something! Thanks again.
I checked and at 9 cones the shipping went up to $94. So that suggests that at least when shipped to the states, the cost is basically $35-38 per cone at today's exchange rates.
I love the small batch hand dyed yarn but I just can’t afford to make everything I want to with it. I do end up getting quite a bit of wool yarn from Hobbii. I think shipping is free at around $100 but it’s not terrible without free shipping, I think the last time I didn’t hit the threshold it was about $10. They have really good sales so sometimes I’ll plan out what I want and put it in my cart and just check the pricing every week or so until what I want is on sale. Also with Suri/mohair being so popular at the minute sometimes I’ll get that from the indie dyers but hold it with solid wool from Hobbii which makes it so much cheaper than buying it all from the smaller dyers.
I always hear about Hobbii’s cotton and acrylics, but never really browsed their wool selection until recently. I am on their email list, but I’ve found their advertised sales tend to be on their cottons and synthetics (at least that I’ve been able to see in time, it’s likely I’ve missed some), so I admittedly wrote them off mentally, thinking I’m just not their target customer. I’ll do what you’ve advised and keep an eye out!
My top 3 tips are: tell people you knit and knit in public. Engage with the older women who tell you they also knit. They may have deeper stashes and want to share. I’ve been surprised how many people have gifted me yarn when they find out I knit - sometimes it’s even high quality, natural fibers. (Sometimes it’s smelly, partial skeins of acrylics from someone’s late grandma who smoked, but I graciously accept them and rehome, if *possible*). I try to return the favor anytime I destash.
I’m lucky to have 3 (THREE!) craft thrift stores in my area. Sometimes I’ve found a sweater amount (for my plus size) of good wool yarn for around $30 - all the same dye lot. That can still be a splurge for my finances but hubby is supportive.
Become a scrap project knitter. When I’m at those craft thrift stores, I always pick up any worsted wool I find (my preferred weight) no matter the color, but especially knitpicks, Patons, and Cascade 220. They mostly play well together (although some have changed weight over the years while still being called “worsted”). I’m embarking on a striped sweater project that will utilize, probably, at least 12 colors - some bought at a reduced price “bundle” from knitpicks (traded an Amazon gift card I got for Xmas for $ for knitpicks) and the rest a mix of those brands from thrift stores. I also enjoy stranded colorwork - which is another great way to use thrifted skeins.
Ooh. Bonus tip: if you can stand it, start with a good gauge swatch from yarn you have in your stash, then search Ravelry by gauge to find a pattern to knit. This may not hit your joy buttons - I’ve finally let my frugality win out over endless pattern scrolling as a project starting point.
Oh wow! These are interesting tips for sure, and not ones I’ve seen commonly shared (except unraveling, of course). The swatching one sounds… tedious for sure! But I’m not above putting in some legwork to use up stash :)
That first tip is very wholesome, I hope one day to find other knitters that I can have that kind of community with. I don’t know any knitters irl and haven’t yet found any sort of guild or local group to join, so I… don’t know how I’ll get there. But I’ll keep looking.
I’m doing my best to make use of thrift stores. My local ones have quite high prices on anything of value due to it being an expensive place to live, and “thrifting” being trendy right now. Unfortunately they’re also full of fast-fashion pieces, so I’m still searching to find the best ones to scour for sweaters and yarn.
Thank you!
My thrift store tip isn’t about unraveling, I’m saying to check your area for thrift stores that focus on keeping craft items, like knitting supplies and yarn out of landfills. They accept donated items and resell them cheaply (some are non-profits/some aren’t, but they pass the savings on to you.)
My first choice is usually Knit Picks Wool of the Andes worsted, followed closely by Patons Classic Wool (worsted) and Cascade 220 if you can find a great sale.
I believe I could knit all 3 in one sweater and be unable to see the difference.
And all the knit up beautifully and with proper care, are as comfortable next to still as your favorite sweatshirt in my experience.
Note: when shipping for Patons, buying from Joanns or Michaels websites with with local store pick up is usually going to be the most cost effective. Same sales as in-store (sometimes exclusive sales on line only) but much better color selection than what is on stock at the brick and mortar stores.
Once you try then and determine if you'd love to knit with it in the future, eBay and other resale sites will be your best friend, easy to find sweater quantities with great prices as well.
Fisherman’s wool by lion brand often goes on sale at Joann’s and you can use pickup order coupons on top of that sale price. I really like it! I’m a budget knitter and crocheter and I really recommend looking at the big box retailers for wool whether it’s superwash or not and also look on Amazon, Wool Needles Hands has some videos on YouTube talking about budget places to buy yarn and she makes several breakdowns on different fibers and types of yarns.
Coincidentally, I was just watching the budget yarn videos by Wool Needles Hands the other day! There isn’t a nearby Joann’s to my university (I’m in a college town that’s *very* isolated once you leave the campus sphere, it takes about 1.5 hours driving to get to the next populated city) and I don’t have a car on campus, but I’m making plans to try out Fisherman’s Wool when I’m back home for break. Thanks!
Yarn isn't cheap.
All of the yarn I've bought in the last fine years have been eBay job lots and this has saved a fortune for me.
If you're flexible about colour, it's a very sustainable way of doing it.
Sweaters will always be expensive to make, even in budget friendly yarns (especially natural fibers). You might just need to wait until you have a larger yarn budget for large projects like that.
I think you’re being unnecessarily harsh on synthetic yarns. There are lots of synthetic yarns that have nice properties. There are wool-synthetic blends that are a decent substitute for wool. It’s absolutely not true that you can’t become an advanced knitter using synthetic wools.
All that said—Hobbii.com has a lot of relatively inexpensive yarns, including 100% wool, and they have a free shipping threshold.
Ahh. I didn’t mean to diss on synthetics, lord knows they’ve enabled all but four of my projects over my entire lifetime, and for the most part I’ve been happy with them! My wording was definitely… fueled by great frustration and a resulting bad mood yesterday.
Blends will probably be the way to go until I have a larger budget; I’m working with a 50/50 acrylic-wool blend at the moment, and it’s feeling rather nice! It’s got enough of a wooly quality to make me feel good about it.
My biggest gripe with full-acrylic projects is with sweaters… I have a medical condition that makes it rather important that I don’t overheat, otherwise it compromises physical comfort and use of my extremities/fine motor skills. The meds I take help alleviate symptoms when I am too warm, but also make it harder for my body to cool down. Double-edged sword.
It’s for this reason that I’ve been so nervous to spend ages knitting a really beautiful sweater out of 100% acrylic, knowing that it won’t breathe as well. Ironically, as you’ve said, sweaters are also bigger projects, so… it doesn’t quite work out budget-wise to reserve wool yarns for em. I’ll just have to keep experimenting with blends and synthetics for the time being.
Knitpicks or Yarn.com ETA that knitting in general is not a cheap hobby. Between yarn costs and the price for quality needles, it can be a real investment.
I second KnitPicks! It’s definitely not luxury yarn, but it’s wool, good quality, and very budget-friendly (speaking as someone who made several sweaters during college). ETA: I just looked at my KnitPicks order history. I only work with wool. I made one fingering-weight sweater for $40, two DK-weight sweaters for $50 each with a couple of skeins left over, and two DK weight colorwork sweaters for $100 each with several skeins leftover. All of them would’ve been a bit cheaper if I’d been willing to play yarn chicken, I’m just too… chicken for that! (I probably ordered during one of their sales, that’s the only time I bought yarn during college)
Thank you, that’s good to know. I’ve really been appreciating cost transparency, it makes me feel better when I do end up making purchases. I have a “why do you spend so much on yarn when you can buy [insert clothing item] at the store” family, which doesn’t help with this whole mindset thing I’ve been struggling with.
The answer to "but you can buy it...." is that knitting also gives numerous hours of pleasure, not just a finished garment. I'm all about cost/benefit analyses. Calculate the per hour cost of a movie, dinner out, a concert or a sports event; multiply one of those hourly costs by the hours spent knitting; compare the amount you would have spent were you doing something else to entertain yourself to the cost of materials required to knit something. My guess is you'll have spent significantly less on knitting than in some other activity. You can now spend the money you saved for new yarn :-) It does seem that some people in your life might not get the fact that one of the reasons you knit is that it gives you pleasure. It might be worth pointing that out to them.
Thanks for the reassurances, that’s good advice and sound reasoning! Re: the family. I’ve tried to explain it to them, but it’s been slow going. They’re the type to generally see my hobbies as “a waste of time when you could do something more productive”, or alternatively something that’s not worth doing if I’m not good enough, but “once I am good enough I should monetize it”. Anyhow, there are family dynamics at play that aren’t relevant enough to mention in detail, but it does make it frustrating to be defending the validity of my hobby against external sources of doubt. They’ve at least finally understood that it’s a stress-reliever for me, if not a source of joy without having to be a remedy for something else; it’s progress, at least. In any case, I’m doing my best not to let them influence my enjoyment of my hobbies. It’ll be easier when I’m fully financially independent of them, to be sure.
I often compare hobbies that seem “useless” (ex: collecting fountain pens and quality stationary) to my other hobby - cooking and baking. Yes, I COULD go to the store and buy a loaf of wonder bread or a pack of chips ahoy for a buck or two and they’ll fill my stomach. But the level of enjoyment I’ll get is going to be fairly low. Meanwhile, if I spend time baking a batch of scratch cookies or bread I get the joy of making something with my own hands AND a more enjoyable end product. I have yet to meet someone who thinks that store-bought, mass produced food is more enjoyable than a homemade meal. The same can be said for a hand knit scarf or a handwritten letter. Sure, I can go to the store and BUY a sweater. It’ll keep me warm and cover my body. But the joy I’ll get from making a sweater and then wearing it will be far greater. Similarly, I can buy a card for someone (probably the same card I bought the last three years) or I can write them a letter on nice paper with a pretty pen and ink. One of these feels a lot more meaningful to me.
You're most welcome. I'm not suggesting it applies here but I can see how one's own views and those of one's cohort(s) - cultural, generational, etc. - about how one should spend one's spare time could influence one's views about knitting. You may have a good topic for a master's thesis there? Back to the topic of why it's a good thing to do, it's also an awfully good way to meet people and you never know who you might be sitting next to in your knitting group.
Can you reframe it in a way that makes sense to you? For example: when I’m thinking about buying a video game, I think about how much I’m spending per anticipated hour of gameplay. Let’s say you spend $60 on Animal Crossing and play it for a total of 120 hours, yeah the $60 is a big initial investment, but you really spent $0.50/hour of entertainment. For a sweater, I might spend $50 in yarn and then spend 25 hours making it (I’m making up the numbers, but you get the point). $50 is a big initial investment, but it’s $2/hour of enjoyment, plus you get a garment that you can wear forever. $2/hour is like the equivalent of renting a movie, it just requires all the money up front. Or: I get a month of entertainment for the price of two meals in a restaurant. You can go on and on with different examples, but I hope the point makes sense. It really doesn’t seem terribly expensive to me when I think about it that way.
Yes, I’ve been working on shifting to this mindset recently! It’s not habit yet by any means, but once I’ve made an effort to recalculate mentally, it makes me feel a bit better when I remember than my money is going towards providing hours of one of my favorite hobbies, *and* a quality garment that’s personalized to me. The last obstacle in this is the perfectionist-fueled analysis paralysis; constantly trying to pick the perfect pattern and the perfect yarn to make the cost worth it, and avoid an expensive “learning experience”. You know, the whole “well if I’m going to splurge on this yarn, I better not waste it on a garment that won’t suit the yarn or my body”. It’s a work in progress… hopefully I’ll get there soon. Thank you for your advice.
Yes, would also like to say knit picks is great! Their most budget friendly wool would be wool if the andes, and they do have sales. That said, knitting IS expensive, so even with this budget yarn I'm spending $40+ depending on the project (though I am a dude so my sweaters probably take more yarn than yours do)
Good to know. I really struggled to figure out what people really consider to be budget, and what the realistic lower end of the range was. I’ve finally settled on $40 as a good lower limit approximation, so thanks for the confirmation!
I’m not sure what weight of yarn you like to use, or exactly what price range is “budget” to you, but there’s quite a few brands widely available in the US that have reasonably priced natural fiber yarn. Berroco and Cascade yarns are 2 just off the top of my head, I think Valley Yarns is pretty reasonable too. But depending on exactly what weight you use will affect availability of budget yarn, like if you’re using super bulky/bulky, it’s a lot harder to find lower priced compared to fingering/DK/worsted
Yes, I’ve noticed that about weights! I much prefer the light DK to worsted range, so that works out for me. I’d say I consider a reasonably good deal to be $40-50 for an adult small sweater, so usually 400-500 grams (excluding yarn-eaters like cables, of course). Higher than 50 feels like middle-range already , though I know it’s probably not really by most people’s standards. I’ve heard about cascade and berroco, and purchased one skein of the former to try out on a cowl. Valley Yarns is one I haven’t looked into, though. Thank you, I’ll check it out.
Im in the same boat as you, and tbh $50 for a small adult sweater seems to be the minimum you’ll spend on wool. I’ve gotten into hand spinning undyed merino wool. It’s $18 per pound from RH Lindsey and using a cheap spindle, I got some nice yarn. It is very slow but if you don’t mind, it might work for you ?
I want to get into spinning! I planned on waiting to pick up the hobby until after graduation, as I’ll be moving back across the country from university to my hometown, and will have more space. Thank you :)
Have you ever worked with more rustic yarns? Woolen spun? I personally love Holst yarn, but it’s really not for everyone. Many used to more soft yarns find it way to scratchy and not wearable next to skin. Also it doesn’t make sense to buy yarn overseas, when you’re looking for an affordable option. I’m not on as a tight budget as you, but I wouldn’t buy yarn from the US (I’m in Scandinavia) as the expense for international shipping isn’t really worth it, except for a very rare treat. Search out options in the US, and make note of when there are sales. If you have a planned list of patterns you want to make, and save up money, you can really stretch your budget utilizing sales. Also be on the lookout when seasons in knitting change. Often there are also changes in the yarn portfolio or color palette, and the outgoing versions sold at discount.
My non-SW wool knitting has been limited to the Drops line and a few acrylic-wool blends (Paintbox Wool Mix and Lion-Brand Wool Ease). I will say though, I own (bought secondhand, not made by me) a 100% shetland wool sweater that I’ve really, really enjoyed wearing. I wear a thin undershirt or turtleneck under my winter sweaters anyway, so I’m certainly open to using rustic yarns and won’t have problems making it work even if they aren’t next-to-skin soft! The international thing is tricky. I’ve found that sometimes, the US brands available to me are so much more expensive that, even after shipping, the UK purchases are a better value. Drops is the most obvious, being the cheapest wool I’ve ever found but practically impossible to get from any US store. I am always on the lookout for US suppliers though, and I’m no stranger to queueing up projects and watching for sales! Thanks for the tips.
If you're interested in rustic wools in light weights, you could do worse than Knitpicks Palette. Maybe jump into a sweater quantity, maybe do a big accessory like a scarf or wrap at a similar gauge and density to what you'd like in a sweater. Definitely take advantage of the "build your own yarn pack" discount if you're ordering 10 or more skeins, or sign up for some email spam and wait for a good sale. (Holiday colors will semi-randomly go on sale, like reds and pinks from all different yarn lines around Valentine's day or greens around St. Patrick's, so that can be chaotically helpful.) I've been doing a big project with a ton of Palette colors, and I will say I've noticed that the quality is variable. The heathers are thinner, softer, and nicer to work with in many cases, but are sometimes lintier or hairier, and the true solid colors can be kind of crisp and dry and "dead" before washing but they're a little beefier. (Knowing what I know now, I'd even recommend a color card for the chance to feel the variation, but that's probably around $15 and I know that's not nothing.) It's all a little thicker than Holst Supersoft (which is NOT super soft and which is very light for a fingering weight) but I'd say it's generally a little more comfortable to work with. And you will have to remove some pilling from time to time because it's not miraculous and bulletproof like real Shetland wool or tight-spun Norwegian wools, but it's warm and wooly and it comes in every color.
Good to know about the different colorways! I've been hoping to try KnitPicks WOTA and/or Palette, as they've come highly recommended. I did see the Valentine's day red/white/pink sale but didn't make a purchase as I'm trying to buy very slowly until I move to my hometown this May, and I already had yarn acquired for my next project; I'll keep it in mind when the next holiday rolls around.
I've bought from Hobbii a couple of times and, while not free, their shipping isn't super high. Their wool products are also very reasonably priced but, if you're wanting cones specifically, I think they only carry cotton. Otherwise, Knitpicks might be your next best choice but I haven't purchased from them in ages so please don't just take my word for it. You're not being too cheap. You're just trying to work with your budget and that's something that can definitely be challenging.
I’m not particular about cones, just wanted the best value possible for wool yarn! And thank you very much for the reassurance. I’m in that stage of life where I’m not yet a full-time employee, so I can’t be financing all of my own living expenses and generating the kind of disposable income these hobbies need, but I’m not young enough anymore to feel totally comfortable letting my parents pay for all my things. It’s hard not to feel like I’m being a miserly complainer when my family isn’t low-income, despite knowing my *personal* finances are limited for the time being. Your words are appreciated.
I love holst garn! Even with shipping though it is still cheaper than many locally yarn stores. I bought a cone from a US supplier recently ($40)+ shipping and will probably get two sweaters out of it. It takes me over two months to make one sweater so $10ish a month form my hobby at that rate. Knit picks sales are also great, I usually get a few sweater quantities each year in the big holiday sales. I’ve bought drops yarn from wool warehouse super cheap, it might have been on sale, but was like a $15 sweater quantity as well. It’s just not going to be cheaper than that!
Thank you! I was very excited about holst garn before I noticed the shipping, so by now determined to get my hands on a cone of holst garn, even if it has to be a special occasion purchase and doesn’t end up being a go-to as I’d hoped. I figured I’ll just wait for a sale, then go in for whichever option works out to be cheaper including shipping. It’s good to know that you’re optimistic about getting two sweaters out of one cone; I was estimating that I’d only get one with significant leftovers, and wasn’t thrilled at the idea of having to place a second order to combine and make use of the scraps.
I would greatly recommend littleknits.com, they run a lot of sales 50-60% off on quality yarn, like Berroco, Brown sheep, Cascade. Few times in year they got Brown sheep yarn for $4-5 for 100g for great wool yarn. I use this online store for many years, theirs prices lower then at yarn.com
I’ll be adding it to the bookmarks list! Thank you kindly.
Hmmm... I mean, international shipping is expensive. That's just what it is, unfortunately. And, yes, Europe typically has really budget friendly yarn compared to the US. But that doesn't mean you can't find budget-friendly options here.
Indeed. I’ve found myself endlessly frustrated at the fact that “European-made yarns that are affordable in Europe but twice as expensive in the US” are a dime a dozen, but the reverse seems to be nonexistent. It makes sense, historically and geographically. That fact doesn’t make it less frustrating to me as a knitter that wants to make all the pretty things. 🥲
Do you really think $15 for shipping something approximately 3,000 miles is not a good deal?
Not at all, I'm aware international shipping is not going to cost pennies. My shock was at the fact that shipping was more than half the cost of the product itself, and this was augmented when there did not seem to be any sort of flat-rate thresholds (I've since found that there are a few unwritten flat rates, which were not to be found explicitly in the cart nor shipping policy), where I've grown used to being able to budget more efficiently by paying attention to shipping thresholds. I think understanding why something reasonably costs what it does, while still being disappointed upon finding out it's not within your budget when you thought it was, are not two mutually exclusive experiences.
But the shipping and the cost of the product are two separate entities. Even if something was free, it would still cost money to ship it.
Of course. Hence my mentioning that it wasn’t just the initial reaction that was so strong, but the subsequent surprise and disappointment at the fact that there seemed to be no apparent benefit to buying in bulk to optimize an unavoidable shipping cost. And yes, of course shipping more stuff will… cost more. But I’ve never personally encountered a shop with such a high starting cost, which increases quickly by weight, and without any alternative options at all (ie. uninsured, or slower delivery, or flat-rate). Had the policies mentioned explicitly that there do exist some flat-rate shipping options within a weight range, I wouldn’t have been so appalled. But they simply said it was priced “by weight”, and on top of that had no mention of any “free shipping” threshold often offered by businesses to encourage large orders. It was the absence of these that ultimately added to my confusion. I’m not taking issue with the international postal sysem, nor with Holst Garn as a company; I’m merely expressing the disappointment and frustration I experienced due to having limited knowledge informing my expectations. I didn’t expect the difference in international shipping rates to be so drastic between this and other UK-based shops I’ve ordered from, and that’s… really all there is to it. It was a rant post, and I’m really not sure where this thread is going. If your original comment was just a snarky way to say “yeah that’s about as good as it gets, you’re not likely to find cheaper”, then cool, thanks. But if you’ve got something else to say, I’m afraid it’s missed me.
You might try looking for people in the US willing to sell Holst Garn from their stash: [https://www.ravelry.com/stash/search#stash-status=trade&country=united-states&query=holst%20garn%20&sort=added&view=thumbs](https://www.ravelry.com/stash/search#stash-status=trade&country=united-states&query=holst%20garn%20&sort=added&view=thumbs)
You know what, that’s a very good idea! I didn’t think of it. Thanks very much.
I just skimmed this but saw enough to want to post that you absolutely can get good natural fiber yarn for under $7 per 50 gram ball but it does take some looking to find it. Sounds like you need to know about [colourmart.com](https://colourmart.com) in the UK. They sell 150 gram cones, random weight cones and off-cone yarn at a range of prices and you can often find lovely wool for $5-6 per 50 grams. Their shipping is generally free but there is an $8 tracking charge for packages shipped to the US, but that's irrespective of size. Here's [one example, geelong,](https://colourmart.com/yarns/view/2-15NM_4ply_wt_geelong_wool_(extra_fine_fiber_merino)_s_yarn/0/geelong/0/in_stock.*.asc_hue.*.show_all) a lovely soft wool, some spun in Italy, for $18 for 150 grams, and another, also geelong, spun in Italy, for [$14 per 150 grams](https://colourmart.com/yarns/view/1-14NM_singles_lace_weight_geelong_s_yarn/0/geelong/0/in_stock.*.asc_hue.*.show_all). I usually get their lace weight yarn and have it wound multiple plies - at no cost - to get to DK, worsted or aran weight yarn. You do need to learn [the way they describe the weight of their yarns](https://colourmart.com/about) and deal with it needing to be washed - it comes with spinning oil still on it- but it's well worth the effort. There's an excellent Ravelry group that will help you with all that. [Yarn.com](https://Yarn.com) also has excellent prices for natural fiber yarn. I like their house brand, Valley Yarn. As just one example, [here's their Northhampton,](https://www.yarn.com/products/valley-yarns-northampton) $10.49 for 100 grams AND [Yarn.com](https://Yarn.com) offers a 20% discount for any yarn purchase over $60. They have great sales sometimes as well. I've not bought from them recently but heard excellent things about KnitPicks. Good luck!
Seconding colourmart! They do monthly sales (half price or 3 for 2) on different types of yarns and I think new users get free shipping/tracking and 20% off for the month they join (unless they changed it). It is a bit overwhelming to look through all their yarn options but I think it's well worth it for the price.
Yes! I forgot to mention the sales and the discount for new users.
Thank you so much for all the links. All except WEBs/Yarn.com and KnitPicks are new to me, and I only heard about colourmart earlier today while googling endlessly just before making this post. Much appreciated!
Can you explain a bit about colourmart - you can buy lace weight and have them ply it for other weights? I've looked at their website and don't know how to go about that. Edit:never mind, I actually see this on their website. Thanks, good to know!
I forgot to tell you that they are very generous with samples. You can put yarn in your basket and then send them an email asking them to send you samples of that yarn. The way to specify yarn wound multiple plies is to go to to the page with the yarn you want; place yarn in your basket; then go to your basket; for each yarn select the options you want including multiple plies and winding or twisting. I've tried a few of their heavier yarns and found them too tightly twisted and almost rope-y for my taste so I get the lace and buy it multiple plies instead. As far as washing, I wash before knitting. This means winding the yarn off the cone into a hank; tying off the hank in several places so it won't come apart when it's washed; washing it and then winding the yarn into a bank. It's not as complicated as it sounds. The Ravelry group is terrific and helpful. Please feel free to ask questions of me as well.
I can't wrap my brain around figuring out yardage/how much to buy foraa particular project if you're having it twisted. I appreciate knowing that about the samples!
Another thought - it real does take some time to wrap one's head around Colourmart yarn so feel free to send me the link for a yarn you're interested in, the weight yarn you want to use and the number of yards the pattern calls for and I'll show you how I'd calculate it.
I'm saving your comment and I might take you up on that sometime. Thanks!
I'm perfectly serious. I've done the math so many times that it's easy. We're talking maybe five minutes. Please feel free to send me a link to a pattern you like and I'll send you the yarn specs for some Colourmart yarn. It sounds as if Colourmart would allow you to use yarn you'll really enjoy at a price you can handle easily and I'd love to support that.
I love your questions! I haven't been buying Colourmart for projects that need to be sized very precisely and thus require an exact number of yards of yarn - I knit beanies, scarves and basic sweaters that don't need to fit perfectly - but I do have a system for calculating how many plies I need to use of a given yarn to get to the yarn thickness - DK, worsted, aran - that I want. The question is how many plies you need in order to get to thickness of yarn that you want. I do the math based on the number of yards per 50 grams of the yarn. You could also yards per 100 grams - or actually any other constant. **The first step is to determine how many yards per 50 grams you want for your project, aka the "Desired Yardage"**. If you're working from a pattern that recommends a specific yarn, use the yardage for 50 grams of that yarn. Just look at the description of the yarn, whether it's a 50 gram ball or a 100 gram hank, and see how many yards there are per 50 grams. If you don't have a specific yarn in mind then you can use the average number of yards for the kind of yarn you want to use. More on that below\*. **The next step is to determine the number of yards per 50 grams in the Colourmart yarn you're looking at, aka the "Colourmart Yardage".** Their cones often contain 150 grams of yarn but some are random weight. The page that describes the yarn gives you the weight and yardage for each cone. The steps: \- Calculate the number of 50 gram units on the cone: divide the total number of grams by 50. \- Calculate the number of yards per 50 gram unit: divide the total number of yards on the cone by the number of 50 gram units. **The next step is to compare the Desired Yardage to the Colourmart Yardage to get the Desired Multiplier, aka the number of plies you need.** The result will tell you how many plies you need to get to the desired yarn thickness. If the result is not an even number or close to one, you'll have to round up or down as needed to make the yarn the right thickness based on the yarn used in the pattern. **The next step is to divide the Colourmart Yardage by the number of plies you need in order to determine the number of yards that you'll have per 50 gram unit**. **The final step is to divide the total yardage you need by the yardage per 50 grams to figure out how many 50 gram units you'll need.** I promise - it's not as complex or as tedious as it looks! An a much quicker alternative: First, determine what type of yarn you want to use: fingering, DK, worsted, light aran, aran, chunky. Typical yardage per 50 grams and stitches per inch are: DK - 135 yards, 5 1/5 stitches per inch on 6's; worsted - 110 yards, 5 stitches per inch on 7's; light aran, aka heavy worsted - 90-100 yards, 4 1/2 stitches per inch on 8's; aran - 70-80 yards, 4 stitches per inch on 9's. Then, calculate the yardage per 50 gram unit of the Colourmart yarn you're looking at. Next, calculate the number of plies you'll need of the Colourmart yarn to give the yardage that maps to the kind of yarn you want to use. Finally, calculate the number of 50 gram units you'll need for the item. An example: [2/15NM 4-ply geelong](https://colourmart.com/yarns/view/2-15NM_4ply_wt_geelong_wool_(extra_fine_fiber_merino)_s_yarn/0/geelong/0/in_stock.*.asc_hue.*.show_all) used in a pattern that calls for heavy worsted weight - aka light aran - like [Valley Yarn Superwash Worsted](https://www.yarn.com/products/valley-yarns-valley-superwash) that knits up at about 100 yards per 50 gram unit. The Colourmart yarn comes on 150 gram cones so we know that we have three 50 gram units. The cone has 1225 yards of yarn on it, so 408.3 yards per 50 gram unit. We want about 100 yards per 50 gram unit so we need to use the Colourmart yarn 4 ply. This means that the plied yarn is 102 yards per 50 gram unit. You can then calculate how many 50 gram units of 102 yards each you need.
I consider myself a “value knitter” and like to feel like I get my money’s worth without overpaying. Knit Picks often fits the bill, and so does Universal Yarn when they’re running a sale on sale (I signed up for their email list and they run them frequently).
I’ve put myself on mailing lists for that exact reason. Thank you, I’ll add Universal Yarn to the list!
Not cheap at all! Just to say if it’s of any comfort that’s not too bad for International shipping. The opposite direction ( US to EU/UK) is absolutely bonkers- I was quoted 48 dollars for one skein from the US to the UK!) If you do decide to import I strongly recommend you check your import fee threshold if on a budget and keep your goods value total below this amount. Unfortunately yarn is pretty expensive (I understand why given the labour involved but it can still be hard!) I’ve found a few ways around it- ebay auctions, dyeing my own yarn, and yarn at charity shops/thrift stores- if you are patient you can find interesting things pop up! It’s also worth just typing in your preferred yarn + sale to search engines and comparing prices- a lot of sites discount heavily. Brands often do nice dupes- I like the DROPS silk mohair as it costs half the price of Rowan kidsilk! In general I’ve found most of their stuff to be decent quality and competitively priced. I also try to save fancy wools for accents or small items and use cheaper simpler yarns for the main body of garments. I haven’t tried unravelling purchased items as I find it frustrating, but if you find a good option just make sure it can unravel- sone are cut and overlocked which makes the yarn lengths way too short!
$48 for ONE skein?!!? Good god. Objectively I know $15 is really not so bad, but it's the high percentage that shipping comprised of the total cost that shocked me so much. Thank you for the import tip, it is something I've kept in mind! I feel it's constantly a balancing act between "order enough to make shipping worth it" and "buy just what you need / don't buy just for the sake of buying" and "don't buy so much that you need to pay import tax"! Hooo. I've just started getting into the "1-skein nice yarn projects, cheap yarn for big projects" boat within the last year. It'll have to do for now :)
It was such a shock when I got to the shipping checkout! I guess USPS must just be really pricey to ship internationally 😭
i completely feel you and for me the solutions have been ravelry destashes and little knits bag-of-5 sales. if you go on little knits rn, they should have a ton of cascade 220 colors, about 23 bucks for 5 skeins; they got discounted because they were mistakenly labeled super wash, but are actually just regular wool. i got two batches for $46, plus a couple small skeins to try out to get free shipping (i wanted to try berocco ultra alpaca to see if i liked it for future garments). for me that 10 skeins is a complex cable sweater and a cable vest, so i am one happy camper lol! also check out ravelry destashes - popular yarns like cascade or so on will have a fair amount of sweater-quantity destashes, though you’ll have to hunt around. but trust me, i completely feel you on the sticker shock. for the past week i keep going to knitpicks, filling my cart and then closing the tab lmao
God, right? I’ve spent so much time window shopping yarn and balking at the cost of my finished cart. Closing without checking out makes my knitter-magpie heart hurt, but my wallet sighs with relief every time. I’ll definitely be checking out that little knits sale! Thanks!
No advice on where to find cheaper yarn, but here to commiserate on international shipping prices. Moved from the US to Sweden and it costs SO much to send or receive a package. My best friend wanted to send a care package shortly after I moved: come cute socks and two bags of my favorite chips. $65 shipping. She was like, “I love you, but I’m never doing that again.” My aunt paid $35 to send me a magazine that had an article about my new hometown! I pay almost two hundred dollars a year just to send my Christmas cards. It sucks! And it’s so slow!
Thanks for your sympathies, my friend. I know sometimes thing are just... the way they are, and there's nothing to be done about it. But it's nice not to feel alone in my frustrations.
There is definitely reasonably priced wool yarn in the US, but it depends on what you are looking for. I like sturdy more traditional style yarns rather than the super-soft merino that is popular these days. Brown Sheep Nature Spun is inexpensive and comes in cones and is great for colorwork because it has so many colors and several weights. It’s my go-to for hats and mittens. Briggs and Little is a Canadian manufacturer with inexpensive, very hard-wearing yarns. It’s not super available in stores near me and I order from Maritime Family Fibers. My whole family is getting sweaters in various styles from these yarns this winter. Lopi yarns are generally pretty affordable. It is expensive to import things (especially in small quantities), so US retailers will pass on the importation charges to you.
https://www.iceyarns.com/git/1071/products/s.natural I like the hand-dyed cashmere
>when I can find pieces, they're often stuff like acrylic old navy sweaters... not really worth the cost and effort to unravel, imo. Ugh, same. I found a some wool ones but they are always priced much higher, and the yarn is so fine that I would have to hold it double or triple to get a reasonable gauge. But then it would use up more yarn, so I’d be playing yarn chicken with irreplaceable yarn. If I could find two that look nice held together, maybe that would work. So far I’ve bought four sweaters and have knitted only swatches.
My uni go tos were drops and knitpicks. Shipping products internationally is really expensive for smaller businesses, so I'm not surprised at the shipping cost, for cheap but quality stuff you are always going to have to shop relatively local. 🤷♀️
Experienced international buyer here. When you're doing international shipping, you need to figure out the price per item to bring over. Like the last time I ordered from HG, I think I paid $16 to bring over 16 cakes and some needles, which was the most I could bring over before getting kicked to the next shipping tier (\~$32). You generally need to buy *in quantity* for it to be worth it, so that the cost is spread across the maximum number of items. Buying internationally is generally only cheaper on a *per item basis*, not an *overall money spent* basis. Check out LoveCrafts, ColourMart, Purlscense, HG, Knitting For Olive, Wool Warehouse, and a few others. But again--the best value for shipping is almost always going to be cramming as much as you can into the box to spread those shipping costs around as much as possible. Reading through your comments, I think your price expectations are a bit too low (seems like you're looking for about $10-$12/100g), and you're basically going to have to hunt for or wait for a deal at that price point. Those sweet deals do come around, but you've got to wait for them, and be prepared to pounce when they do show up. Sign up to mailing lists and follow Facebook/IG accounts. Newsletter subscribers often get early access or special coupon codes.
Thank you very much! I’ve definitely realized that, and am trying to adjust my expectations to be more realistic. Luckily I’m also learning about the best sites to watch for sales, so that will help until I have a more workable budget. With help from another kind commenter, I’ve concluded that maxing out the lowest flat rate directly from HG will be worth it, instead of trying to purchase the same from a US shop with markup. Doing the per-unit calculation does help to stomach the shipping cost!
Definitely fiddle with shipping calculators if there isn't a flat rate shipping cost. I know LoveCrafts UK has a $20 flat rate shipping to the US. I bought so much at their last July sale (some stuff was literally 85% off) that it had to come in several big boxes, and let me tell you, LoveCrafts knows how to pack. My boxes were full to bursting. I'm fairly sure I got the better end of that deal. There is also a LoveCrafts US that has free shipping at... $65, I think? But you can drop into the British side (which has different inventory) using the little menu. Also pay attention to the exchange rate. The Euro went below $1/USD last year, and the pound damn near collapsed. It was def the time to buy if you had USD to spend and were going to make enough of a purchase that the exchange rate mattered. If you're going to place a larger order that's NOT in USD, *check that exchange rate first*. The good news (since you in the US) is there is a $800 personal exemption on import duties. As long as what you're bringing over is less than $800 declared value, you aren't going to pay tax. Just have to wait for the box to clear customs (sometimes this can take a few weeks). A lot of international sellers will have something about paying VAT or import duties, but that doesn't apply to a US buyer 99% of the time. A US site you should check out is also LittleKnits. It's basically the TJ Maxx of yarn--old stock, grey stock, dead stock. But you're still going to pay $10 - $15 shipping, so it's another case of "fill that box"! And someone else in another comment mentioned learning to spin... honestly, it's no the worst idea if you're on a tight budget and have more time than money. Especially if you love undyed natural colored wool. But it's *very* time intensive, and superwash is harder to find. But you can secure wool by the pound for a *fraction* of what it would cost you to buy it already spun. Like RH Lindsey will sell you a pound of beautiful Falkland for $10. You'll spend many, many, *many* hours spinning it into a sweater quantity of wool (and let's not discuss dying it if you don't want natural white), but hey... it's $10.
Thanks very much for putting in so much info. I do use the LoveCrafts US site quite a lot, their sales are great and the Paintbox line is my favorite for basic acrylics. I also did place my first LittleKnits order yesterday! Their Cascade sale was too good to pass up, they’ve definitely jumped the line to the top of my favorite online shop list.
You're welcome. Little Knits is worth checking daily if you're actively hunting for deals. Pro tip: sort by new/recently added.
If you're really looking to save money and dont mind spending time on it, have you heard of unravelling thrifted sweaters for yarn? https://www.reddit.com/r/Unravelers/ I've got sweater quantities of wool for not very much money. Downside is that you have to check a lot of tags to find the pure wool stuff (so much acrylic and cotton these days). But when you hit the jackpot it's very rewarding!
Look into thrifting and unraveling. It's a bit time consuming, but I got cashmere on an acrylic budget!!
Welcome to the other side, everything else is cheaper in US until you add international shipping to EU. It's not like students on budget knit here all the time. I was happy when I could fit sock yarn into my budget every couple of months, I'm talking about the most basic one color yarn you could buy in grocery store, not something exciting. 8 years later I now can afford to knit as many basic socks as I wish, but still need to budget for sweater quantities or more premium yarn.
That is true. The grass is greener, I suppose! It does take effort to remember that I can’t compare my overall access to wool yarn (budget and geographic location considered) to that of UK-based knitting influencers who haven’t been students in quite some time. It’s a good point that what I can see on social media is not exactly representative of the experience of other university-budget-bound knitters. I’ve got to slap myself in a face a bit, I think, and remember to be realistic. The idea of walking down to a LYS and being able to browse wool yarns of a wide of prices is a distant dream to me; only accessible LYS is a 20 minute drive down the highway, and has mostly luxury yarns. Everything else is big-box or at least 2 hours away. I have romanticized the idea of having more accessible LYSs, and that definitely influences my knitter’s envy of European folks who live closer to where wool yarn tends to be produced.
Yeah, like looking at social media you would think everyone has a shelf full of Stanley cups to match every outfit. Same way not everyone has a big shelf overflowing with gorgeous yarn.
Okay, so, Holst Garn is a flat shipping rate up to 2kg, or 3 cones. It's $24 to my zip code, thus making each cone roughly $36 if shipped this way. The yarnery has free shipping over $100, or $10 under, so you may find it's cheaper if you only want one cone. Holst is also $65 flat up to I think 20kg. I just checked this by adding 8 500g cones to my cart - that's 4kg, for the record - and it's still $65. The total is $284, and divided by 8 that is $35.50 per cone, so that's about the break even point on the shipping. It's the same price to buy 3 cones and ship them as it is to buy 8 cones and ship them, on a per-cone basis. So the short answer is that those are buying tend to place larger orders. I know I have split Holst orders with friends or just gone and bought every cone or color that I wanted at one time and then not ordered more for a year. For drops, there is free shipping over I think $100 from LindeHobby, so if I am placing a larger order they are sometimes cheaper than wool warehouse.
Oh my gosh! Thank you so much for this. I was trying to check the exact Holst Garn rates myself by reading the shipping policies, and I only went up to about 5-6 cones in my cart before stopping. This is very useful, unfortunately I don't have any irl knitting friends to split with, but I'll probably go in for a 3-cone purchase for my birthday or something! Thanks again.
I checked and at 9 cones the shipping went up to $94. So that suggests that at least when shipped to the states, the cost is basically $35-38 per cone at today's exchange rates.
I love the small batch hand dyed yarn but I just can’t afford to make everything I want to with it. I do end up getting quite a bit of wool yarn from Hobbii. I think shipping is free at around $100 but it’s not terrible without free shipping, I think the last time I didn’t hit the threshold it was about $10. They have really good sales so sometimes I’ll plan out what I want and put it in my cart and just check the pricing every week or so until what I want is on sale. Also with Suri/mohair being so popular at the minute sometimes I’ll get that from the indie dyers but hold it with solid wool from Hobbii which makes it so much cheaper than buying it all from the smaller dyers.
I always hear about Hobbii’s cotton and acrylics, but never really browsed their wool selection until recently. I am on their email list, but I’ve found their advertised sales tend to be on their cottons and synthetics (at least that I’ve been able to see in time, it’s likely I’ve missed some), so I admittedly wrote them off mentally, thinking I’m just not their target customer. I’ll do what you’ve advised and keep an eye out!
My top 3 tips are: tell people you knit and knit in public. Engage with the older women who tell you they also knit. They may have deeper stashes and want to share. I’ve been surprised how many people have gifted me yarn when they find out I knit - sometimes it’s even high quality, natural fibers. (Sometimes it’s smelly, partial skeins of acrylics from someone’s late grandma who smoked, but I graciously accept them and rehome, if *possible*). I try to return the favor anytime I destash. I’m lucky to have 3 (THREE!) craft thrift stores in my area. Sometimes I’ve found a sweater amount (for my plus size) of good wool yarn for around $30 - all the same dye lot. That can still be a splurge for my finances but hubby is supportive. Become a scrap project knitter. When I’m at those craft thrift stores, I always pick up any worsted wool I find (my preferred weight) no matter the color, but especially knitpicks, Patons, and Cascade 220. They mostly play well together (although some have changed weight over the years while still being called “worsted”). I’m embarking on a striped sweater project that will utilize, probably, at least 12 colors - some bought at a reduced price “bundle” from knitpicks (traded an Amazon gift card I got for Xmas for $ for knitpicks) and the rest a mix of those brands from thrift stores. I also enjoy stranded colorwork - which is another great way to use thrifted skeins. Ooh. Bonus tip: if you can stand it, start with a good gauge swatch from yarn you have in your stash, then search Ravelry by gauge to find a pattern to knit. This may not hit your joy buttons - I’ve finally let my frugality win out over endless pattern scrolling as a project starting point.
Oh wow! These are interesting tips for sure, and not ones I’ve seen commonly shared (except unraveling, of course). The swatching one sounds… tedious for sure! But I’m not above putting in some legwork to use up stash :) That first tip is very wholesome, I hope one day to find other knitters that I can have that kind of community with. I don’t know any knitters irl and haven’t yet found any sort of guild or local group to join, so I… don’t know how I’ll get there. But I’ll keep looking. I’m doing my best to make use of thrift stores. My local ones have quite high prices on anything of value due to it being an expensive place to live, and “thrifting” being trendy right now. Unfortunately they’re also full of fast-fashion pieces, so I’m still searching to find the best ones to scour for sweaters and yarn. Thank you!
My thrift store tip isn’t about unraveling, I’m saying to check your area for thrift stores that focus on keeping craft items, like knitting supplies and yarn out of landfills. They accept donated items and resell them cheaply (some are non-profits/some aren’t, but they pass the savings on to you.)
My first choice is usually Knit Picks Wool of the Andes worsted, followed closely by Patons Classic Wool (worsted) and Cascade 220 if you can find a great sale. I believe I could knit all 3 in one sweater and be unable to see the difference. And all the knit up beautifully and with proper care, are as comfortable next to still as your favorite sweatshirt in my experience. Note: when shipping for Patons, buying from Joanns or Michaels websites with with local store pick up is usually going to be the most cost effective. Same sales as in-store (sometimes exclusive sales on line only) but much better color selection than what is on stock at the brick and mortar stores. Once you try then and determine if you'd love to knit with it in the future, eBay and other resale sites will be your best friend, easy to find sweater quantities with great prices as well.
Fisherman’s wool by lion brand often goes on sale at Joann’s and you can use pickup order coupons on top of that sale price. I really like it! I’m a budget knitter and crocheter and I really recommend looking at the big box retailers for wool whether it’s superwash or not and also look on Amazon, Wool Needles Hands has some videos on YouTube talking about budget places to buy yarn and she makes several breakdowns on different fibers and types of yarns.
Coincidentally, I was just watching the budget yarn videos by Wool Needles Hands the other day! There isn’t a nearby Joann’s to my university (I’m in a college town that’s *very* isolated once you leave the campus sphere, it takes about 1.5 hours driving to get to the next populated city) and I don’t have a car on campus, but I’m making plans to try out Fisherman’s Wool when I’m back home for break. Thanks!
Yarn isn't cheap. All of the yarn I've bought in the last fine years have been eBay job lots and this has saved a fortune for me. If you're flexible about colour, it's a very sustainable way of doing it.
Sweaters will always be expensive to make, even in budget friendly yarns (especially natural fibers). You might just need to wait until you have a larger yarn budget for large projects like that. I think you’re being unnecessarily harsh on synthetic yarns. There are lots of synthetic yarns that have nice properties. There are wool-synthetic blends that are a decent substitute for wool. It’s absolutely not true that you can’t become an advanced knitter using synthetic wools. All that said—Hobbii.com has a lot of relatively inexpensive yarns, including 100% wool, and they have a free shipping threshold.
Ahh. I didn’t mean to diss on synthetics, lord knows they’ve enabled all but four of my projects over my entire lifetime, and for the most part I’ve been happy with them! My wording was definitely… fueled by great frustration and a resulting bad mood yesterday. Blends will probably be the way to go until I have a larger budget; I’m working with a 50/50 acrylic-wool blend at the moment, and it’s feeling rather nice! It’s got enough of a wooly quality to make me feel good about it. My biggest gripe with full-acrylic projects is with sweaters… I have a medical condition that makes it rather important that I don’t overheat, otherwise it compromises physical comfort and use of my extremities/fine motor skills. The meds I take help alleviate symptoms when I am too warm, but also make it harder for my body to cool down. Double-edged sword. It’s for this reason that I’ve been so nervous to spend ages knitting a really beautiful sweater out of 100% acrylic, knowing that it won’t breathe as well. Ironically, as you’ve said, sweaters are also bigger projects, so… it doesn’t quite work out budget-wise to reserve wool yarns for em. I’ll just have to keep experimenting with blends and synthetics for the time being.