Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Support Your Local Yarn Store, Wherever You Happen to Be

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good earth yarnA couple of weekends ago my husband and I went to Kansas City to celebrate our wedding anniversary. While in Overland Park visiting the Penzey’s store (aka, the happiest place on earth) we did a little wandering around the super-cute neighborhood its situated in and found a yarn store, among other really cool, really specialized shops.

My husband was kind enough to leave me alone with the yarn for a little while, and I came out with a few skeins of a linen-cotton blend (Good Earth from Fibra Natura, to be precise) in light purple to make something for my girl. Even though I hadn’t been planning any yarn shop visits for the weekend, I’m pretty much incapable of going into a yarn store and not buying something.

That’s not because I’m a huge yarn junkie, though I guess I am. I just know that yarn shops are small businesses that need our support. I want my local shop to stay around, and I’m sure the knitters and crocheters of Overland Park want their store, too. So it’s worth it to me to spend a little money on something I’m pretty sure I’ll use anyway. Someday.

I bring all this up because Sally Melville has a post on her blog about the same topic. More generally she’s talking about people who window shop in stores and then go buy the yarn online to save a few bucks. I buy a lot of yarn online, too, but I’m really trying to make an effort to buy local when I can (and, honestly, trying not to buy that much right now).

How about you? Do you have a local yarn shop? Do you mostly buy online? Do you buy yarn when you travel? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Comments

  1. I love my LYS. Sometimes online can be a little cheaper, but I love the personal service and the ability to fondle the yarn before I buy 🙂

  2. i thnk you are right on the money with this one…..and, my parents live in overland park. nice to know there is a shop there for the next time i go visit…..

  3. I am lucky enough to live across the river from Portland, Oregon where there are at least 19 LYS. I have only bought yarn on line once because I carefully watch for sale in the LYS. Now of course we all know about the wonderful yarns that aren’t on sale that we just have to have and we love the owner of the shop and just one or two skeins will fit in the stash.

  4. I’d like to buy online, but in Russia post cost is rather expensive to buy few gramms of yarn. So the most buy online only when they buy huge amounts, still I like my local store and some stores I can visit near my work.
    I do think helping small businesses is a good thing indeed!

  5. I think I know just the yarn shop you’re writing about…around the corner and halfway down a street from Penzey’s. Ah, KC, part of my beloved home state!

  6. Oh and I much prefer patronizing the LYS to buying online, because I can see color in person more truly than on a computer screen.

  7. Sadly, there’s only 1 LYS in my area and double sad,the owner is not knowledgeable or helpful. I doubt she’ll be in business very long.Anyone want to open one up in my area???

  8. As a yarn store owner, thank you if you shop your LYS. And remember, if you want somewhere to go sit and knit/crochet and ask for help, you need to buy at your LYS or it won’t be there for long.

  9. I map many of my road trips using an app on my smartphone (Yarn Places). Gives me the opportunity to visit yarn apps wherever I visit.

Have you read?

Pencil Knitting Patterns

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns! 

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil. 

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn. 

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point. 

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up. 

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.