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Knitting on a Budget: 5 Ways to Become an Economical Yarn Snob
by L'Tanya Durante

According to the National NeedleArts Association (TNNA), local yarn shops’ sales consisted of mainly one category – approximately 60% in yarn, threads, and fibers.¹ Statistics aside, visit a local yarn shop (LYS) or watch a knitting television show and it’s evident that knitting is big business. Knitting can also be stress-relieving, creative, fun, and expensive.

Visit a LYS and the choice of yarn can be an overwhelming shock to the senses. Yarn has a seductive way of getting you to buy it. Its color gets your attention and beckons to be touched, squeezed, and even smelled. The comfort of natural fibers stimulates your skin. Novelty yarn excites you without your having a clue how it can be used. Most knitters know that it’ll accent something and that’s a good enough reason to buy it. Inevitably, this kind of shopping spree results in knitters accumulating yarn-shop-sized inventory of yarn, called the stash in knitting lingo.

Though yarn-a-holics aren’t typically overly concerned about the cost of their purchases, there are benefits to saving money – you can buy more yarn. “Everyone loves to save money and if you could do it without sacrificing quality, there's no reason not to do so, especially if you can convert that savings into cash for more yarn,” explains Marie Stroughter, a self-professed yarn snob and moderator for the email group Fine Yarns. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FineYarns/

High-brow knitters would rather not buy if they have to sacrifice quality. However, frugality and quality do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Here are five simple ways you can become an economical yarn snob:

1. Get the kinks out. Yarn labels of some of the more novelty yarns can be fragile. As yarn is fondled, stocked and re-stocked, labels can become damaged and the yarn tangled. Shops may opt to sell the tangled yarn “as is” at a discount. If you have the patience, you may have a sale.

2. Save your scraps. Many knitting techniques are great for scrap yarn (yarn that you have leftover from other projects or yarn that is in short supply in your stash). Incorporating domino knitting, mitered or block knitting into a garment can use less yarn and is great for a one-skein project. Keep a separate container for your one-skeins and undetermined lengths of scrap yarn for this purpose.

3. Get paid in yarn. Teach someone to knit; contract out your services by knitting for someone; volunteer at a shop doing a technique clinic; or refer people to classes – and ask to be paid in yarn. Keep a wish list of your favorites readily available with items in different price ranges.

4. Register. Are the holidays approaching? Got a birthday coming up? Talk to your local yarn shop to see if you can register with a list of your favorites. Similar to a bridal or baby registry, a shop registry will keep a list of your wishes. Keep the guesswork out of what to buy. If the shops don’t have a registry, ask anyway. Maybe they’ll start one.

5. Remember your first time. Shop around for first-time buyer discounts. Many online and brick-and-mortar shops offer discounts for your first purchases in the hopes that you’ll become a loyal customer.

Frugal knitting may take a bit of planning, but the results are well worth the effort. Save more, buy more, and build a stash to be envied; one that reflects smart buying decisions. No one will ever know.

¹TNNA The State of the NeedleArts in the United States 2005 executive summary.

© 2008 L’Tanya Durante. Reprinting without permission is prohibited.
Send request for permission to:
Sonya – AT – black-purl-magazine.com.

L'Tanya is the Publisher/Editor of Black Purl Magazine.
She enjoys all things ethnic and crafty and juggles her time between
her two boys, husband, cat and her needlework.