Yarn financial theory and the ills of shopping at Hobby Lobby
Posted in Crafts, Knitting on 12/10/2007 10:48 am by KatieCan you believe with my knitting obsession that today was the first day I looked yarn up on eBay?
I was googling the yarn I used for The Blue Mittens so I could post about it on Craftster and Ravelry, and they were selling some from the same brand on eBay. I clicked over. There goes my day.
I’m typically not interested (well…not yet…) in awesomely cool yarns made of awesomely cool stuff. I like plain ol’ worsted weight. The yarn I used for those mittens (Yarn Bee Mosaic Twist, incidentally), was on sale for 99¢ at Hobby Lobby when I went there looking for supplies for everyone’s Christmas presents. It was pretty, so I couldn’t pass it up. In fact, I went back and bought some more in a different colorway for someone else’s Christmas present. But if it had been its regular price of $6.64, I wouldn’t have given it a second glance. I am a poor college student, and I’m still getting used to how different yarns knit up, so there’s no real reason for me to go out on a limb and spend $30 on yarn for a scarf when I could make the same scarf for $5.
That being said, I do still have some cool furry yarn in bright red and ribbony-furry yarn in light blue in my stash. But I bought that a long time ago, that doesn’t count.
Just one little experiment at a time, that’s all. Anyway, when I have a good paying job and I can afford to buy expensive yarn, I’ll go to my local yarn shop and support the little people. But until then, much to my chagrin, Hobby Lobby gets my money. I die a little inside every time I walk in there. Especially when I need 5 size 0 double-pointed needles, and all they have is one package of 4. Bastards.
December 12th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
I’m the same way, I look at all these blogs where they talk about their huge expensive stashes, and my stash is all old Red Heart, stuff I usually don’t use… I get most of my yarn from Knitpicks.com, the prices are pretty reasonable and the yarn passes as expensive. But I only buy what I need, therefore, no fun stash to roll around in.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:52 am
It might help… You probably already know this. But, my partner saves TONS of money on knitting needles by making them out of dowel rods. Taking the small sizes and cutting them into sections then sanding them down into points. She doesn’t seem to have any problems with the whole process – it seems to work. And that way, your hard earned cash doesn’t go to Christian Craft Mart or hobby lobbyist.