You see this is my source of yarn locally. My Only Source of Yarn. The only place I can physically see and squish the yarn. Are you feeling my pain? Are you crying tears of sympathy? You should be unless you are in the same situation in which case I feel your pain, I sympathise, I get you girl!
Stuck in a little shopping aisle bay between the tissues and tea towels in the local supermarket is a very bright array of ONE Brand in 100% acrylic 8ply (DK for those playing globally). Oh wait, right up the top there is some hideous ruffly stuff (I'm pretty sure that's been sitting there for about 3 years now) and if we look carefully right down the bottom there may be some wool blend. Out of picture to the left you will find a very small selection of Aero straight knitting needles, a cheap set of plastic crochet hooks, a selection of scissors and small sewing kits.
Two years ago before I was gently guided to online shopping this was my only source of yarn in a 150km radius. In the next town there is a wee craft shop which is lovely, IF you are into quilting and scrapbooking. They stock the same brand, in prettier shelves. Very occassionally and only during winter you might find something 'fancier' with a very hefty price tag. In their defence they do now stock Clover crochet hooks, which was at the time of finding them a hallelujah moment. A further 150km away you hit the city and that is just too far to go just for yarn.
I have been known, in the past, to go into the supermarket and buy every single ball on the shelf in the one colour that took my fancy and ask shop assistants if there was more in stock out in the store room. This one wee small selection caters to a very large community of elderly knitters and crocheters and is the only source of yarn in an area servicing 3 big towns and a few smaller ones.
Don't get me wrong, its a great yarn, Panda Magnum, its virtually indestructible. You can throw it in the washing machine, chuck it in the dryer, and it does soften with more washing. BUT..it feels like hessian to work with, it didn't at the time, I had no comparison but now? Needless to say that I don't have any of this in my stash, it's all been given away to friends learning to crochet or knit or to local charities. It's cheap, being in what I call the budget yarn of the brand and it does come in some very pretty bright solids.
I was talked into online shopping by some lovely ladies in a FB group. I was wary of online shopping, the horror stories of bank account being hacked chilled me as a Mum with a limited income. Then they started showing me pictures of their purchases and linking me to such places as Love Knitting, Deramores, Wool Warehouse and Bendigo Woollen Mills (you can find links to all of these stores in the side panel of this page on the right).
Packages started arriving, and my insatiable appetite for non hessian like yarn began..
and that is another story for another day..
Oh I totally relate. I live in a small village and there are two retirement communities plus lots of other older ladies who knit. There is a need for yarn. So you can buy it in the post office, and in 2 of the charity shops (our village is small with no through traffic so the shop units are mostly filled with charity shops who aren't subject to the same rates/taxes and are the only organisations who can afford them! We have more charity shops than anything else despite the area being affluent and full of commuters. ) Sadly they all sell very low quality acrylic, or those huge 500g balls of 'wool blend' scratchy yarn. The post office sells cotton too but only one brand in 4 colours *sigh*. It doesn't make economic sense to open a yarn shop here (or I would) but I would SO love the locals to experience some of the nicer brands, even for the inexpensive ranges. If they felt Colour Crafter and some of the new acrylics it would make their crafting so much nicer, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteSarah my friends see my stash and think I'm insane, until they touch and feel the yarns I have. I'd love to open a wee craft/coffee shop but finances barely see me able to afford my own yarn yet alone that sort of enterprise. However, anyone with the sense and finances to do something like that around here would make a small fortune as the area is so large with a need for more than we have.
DeleteOnline shopping is great. But I hate buying yarn that I haven't previously squished. Especially as I still have so much to learn about types of yarn. I also live in a smallish town but we have some chain stores that do yarn. So there is choice. They are maybe budget but mostly do the job :)
ReplyDeleteFiona there is such a small selection of yarns available to me, I tend to buy on gut instinct. Unless you're prepared to pay boutique prices there are very few yarn retailers here. We don't have a lot of international options. I know without doubt that I cant go wrong with Scheepjes and Stylecraft. One thing I try to do is buy shade cards when I can if they are available to give me a reference point, if only a small one. It's actually more economical for me to buy from the UK than it is to buy locally.
Delete