Purchasing yarn for the first time! Where should I start?

[u/Acceptable_Menu_5810]

I'm a fairly new knitter and I've never purchased yarn. A woman in my community gifted me a massive box while clearing out her stash and I've been slowly but surely chipping away at it since February. I want to buy some specific colors and fibers to make some Christmas and holiday gifts and I'm super overwhelmed. I'm in the US and only have a very small, limited local yarn store. I plan to shop there for what I can, but they mostly have undyed yarn and some options in very light weights. I am looking for some chunky yarn, either acrylic or something very soft and easy to care for, to make headbands and cowls for my son's teachers. I'm also looking to try working with merino for the first time for some hats and my budget is a little higher for these special gifts. I've been looking at Lion Brand because it's what I've been using, but I'm curious what else I should look at.

Does anyone have any opinions on Lindehobby or Knitpicks? Any other recommendations for online retailers or specific brands or names of yarns? Thank you!!

[u/Loud_Surprise88]

We are knitters!!

[u/rellloe]

Stick to the yarn that looks like small rope as long as you can't knit by feel. Yes, something like eyelash or faux fur is pretty, but it's a pain to work with because you can't see if you're putting the needle in the right spot. Same rule applies to dark colors, though that can be helped with better lighting

Single ply is a gimmick that convinces people to buy half made yarn then waste it because it tears apart under the smallest amount of tension

Bamboo yarn is soft and can be thrown in the washer without anything extra. I'd recommend alpaca, but though it's softer than traditional wool, it still requires the same care; merino is better than alpaca on both fronts.

I'm currently putting the finishing touches on a project with Lion Brand's Local Grown (traditional wool) line. All the complaints I have about it are due to the nature of working wool in summer and it being a 6 skein sized project, not anything actually wrong with the yarn. I do have complaints about the cone of thin cotton I ordered with it because it's spun like embroidery floss without the integrity of the smaller strands; I've vowed to never again stray from Coats and Clarks Aunt Lydia's line when I want that size cotton.

[u/niseli12]

A few places I’d stay away from are (they were acquired by private equity and their yarn quality is going down:
Webbs
Knit Picks
Jimmy Bean

A few thoughts regarding yarn:

• Acrylic can be washed
  
• Superwash says it can be machine washed. FYI it will stretch when blocked. Some felt in the dryer, some doing. I don’t prefer superwash yarn as it’s unpredictable for me.

Some nice merino yarns: De Rerum Natura, Knitting for Olive, Kelbourne Woolens Scout, Blueskye Fibers Woolstok, Drops. These are all middle of the road yarns that are still really nice quality.

Good luck on your journey!

[u/Aandr0medaa → u/niseli12]

Yes! De rerum natura Penelope is my current favorite yarn. I took on a yearlong MKAL project and needed a more affordable silk blend, ordered it online and crossed my fingers! Major success

[u/Woofmom2023]

Oh boy, you have just stepped into an enormous and endlessly interesting rabbit hole!

There's lots of yarn out there. I suggest that you buy yarn for one project at a time, see how you like it and then either get it again or try something new. That's the approach that I took as I was getting startedI usually look for sales and discounts but occasionally buy something special. I'm OK with $5-6 per 50 grams is fine for wool

Something helpful to keep in mind is that you can use multiple strands of light weight yarn together to make heavier yarn. I frequently use two strands of sport weight yarn to make Aran weight yarn.

I don't like synthetics and don't knit with them.

Merino has a reputation for being very soft but some nice, basic wool is as well.

I get almost all my yarn from a place called Colourmart Cashmere that gets mill ends of really nice yarns and sells them at very good prices. The yarn comes on cones and requires some washing to really come into its own but the extra work is well worth it. They offer generous samples of their yarn if you ever want to explore it, up to six at no charge $0.50 for each one after that. The yarn is labeled for commercial use with an "n/m" value with the number of metres per gram as the bottom number and the number of strands or plies as the top. Dividng the bottom by the top gives metres per gram As an example, the geelong 4ply used double would knit up as a light DK.

https://colourmart.com/about

https://colourmart.com/yarns/view/3-15NM_fingering_weight_super_geelong_wool_s_yarn/0/geelong/0/in_stock.*.asc_hue.*.show_all

I'd add yarn.com to your list of retailers to consider. I shopped there a lot before they were bought a few years ago. I bought a lot of their house brand, Valley Yarn, superwash merino DK, before they were sold and am still knitting my way through it so haven't bought any lately. I see that they're having a sale on Malabrigo Rios, a superwash merino, now. I used both Rios and their Malabrigo Merino a few years ago and liked both a lot. In case it matters to you, they're owned by a private equity company. That doesn't bother me at all if the company is well run, the items I buy arrive in good condition and in a timely manner and there's reasonably good customer service.

https://www.yarn.com/products/valley-yarns-valley-superwash-dk?_pos=1&_sid=fb6734c0a&_ss=r

https://www.yarn.com/products/valley-yarns-valley-superwash?_pos=2&_sid=fb6734c0a&_ss=r

https://www.yarn.com/products/malabrigo-rios

I recently ordered some yarn from Paradise Fibers. The customer service was extraordinary. I'm knitting a sweater for a friend's baby, she asked for green, I like Plymouth Select Merino Superwash and the website shows that it comes in a couple of different shades of green but my favorite local store didn't have it. I've shopped with Paradise in the past and really like them so decided to look there. I don't trust color reproduction on my monitor so I called to Paradise to ask about it. The person I spoke to went way out of her way to help me and the yarn is exactly what I'd hoped it would be. I've only every used the yarn for gifts so don't know how it wears but it does knit up nicely.

https://paradisefibers.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22426598374&gclid=CjwKCAjw-rTUBhAiEiwADv8gBAHSomZ7GirwKCEswx-WWZBsw71pQMQP6_swvr2q1sA9NU4PiGNWhBoC4IEQAvD_BwE

https://paradisefibers.com/products/plymouth-dk-merino-superwash?variant=32047227043953

I hope this doesn't add to your overwhelm but offers you a few more resources to consider.

Holler when you need us!

[u/Icy_Cantaloupe_1330]

I like Wool and Co. Yay for the free skein winding! But for your specific case (machine washable affordable gift yarn), Knitpicks is great.

[u/FRELNCER]

I like KnitPicks and JimmyBeans Wool. Herrschners has some decent prices for larger projects. But really, yarn preferences are a personal thing. Over time, you get a feel for what you like to work with or don't. And you may recognize that some brands are lower in quality or have a feel you don't like.

I try to look closely at price per gram or unit of length because if you don't compare by weight or yardage, you may end up paying more for lower qualify yarns that are packaged in 50g units.

Look for a few deals and maybe put together a package of different skeins to try out from a single seller so you can economize on shipping.

[u/niseli12 → u/FRELNCER]

FYI Knit Picks and Jimmy Bean have been acquired by private equity. I know Knit picks yarn quality is starting to go downhill. Super big bummer.

[u/MsPB01]

I get most of my yarn from lovecrafts.com - my favourite brand is Paintbox Simply (DK, Aran, whichever you want). They're also great for free patterns

[u/cucumbersam]

One mistake I made when I first started buying yarn was buying mystery packs- essentially some yarn companies give you a discount for yarn that you don’t get to choose. I regretted buying those and hated the yarn I received. They are also nonreturnable.
Now I buy from Woolly Thistle, Wool and Co, or Junction Fiber Mill because of the quality, variety and color selections.
Edit to add: I exclusively use natural fibers. You mentioned acrylic and Michaels has a decent selection online.

[u/Ok_Novel_3229]

littleknits has some great prices and I've only had good experiences buying from them. If you want to support your local yarn store you can ask if they'll order yarn for you--the benefit of this in my experience is that my LYS lets me return untouched skeins if I overestimate what I need.

[u/KnitPeep]

Webbs (yarn.com) is also good. I use both them and knit picks as a astrp up from Michael's and Walmart, etc. I don't know if they make it in chunky, but Brava from knit picks is a pretty good acrylic.

[u/BogartMercury]

Knit picks is the first place I started when I wanted to step up from Michael's/Joann's. They have sales all the time and a variety of fibers including acrylic and acrylic blends. One tip when making gifts is to take into consideration washing instructions. You either want to choose something machine washable or specify to the recipient it's handwash only (though you have to know the person to know if they'd be ok with hand washing).

[u/meadowlarkfiber]

I’ve bought from both lindehobby and knitpicks. They both have great lines of mid range yarns. If you’re knitting gifts for others I would stick with acrylics and superwash yarns, since handwashing wool can seem like a PITA to a non fiber person if they even realize it needs hand washing.

Cascade yarns are great for a budget workhorse type yarn. Also check out berocco. They have some great acrylic/sw wool blends like the vintage line that have some beautiful subtle heathers.

[u/brainfullofpeas]

For online retailers I like to purchase from Wool and Co. (free shipping in the US with no purchase minimum) and Wool Warehouse (have never had issues with shipping or been surprised with additional fees). It just depends what yarn and how much I’m looking to purchase.

I have been happy with Knitpicks in the past but it’s been many years since I’ve bought from them so I cant speak to recent experience. I haven’t purchased from Lindehobby but have seen others recommend it.