6 posts tagged “yarn in 2008”

Honestly, if it weren't for my trip to California and my visits with the Guppy, I would have had my lowest money spent on yarn month next to the one where I didn't spend any at all.  However, the purpose of visits to yarn stores on road trips is to pick up yarn that you don't regularly see in your neck of the woods.

Number of yarn transactions: 5

Locations where yarn was purchased:
The Yarn Shoppe - Davenport, IA
Alamitos Bay Yarn Company - Long Beach, CA
A Mano Yarn Center - Los Angeles, CA

Number of skeins purchased: 35
Range of price per skein: $1.48 to $44.25
Range of total prices: $24.26 to $112.15
Total: $271.90
Average price per skein: $7.77

Yarn purchased:
Plymouth Yarns Suri Merino (burgundy) - For use with Crystal Palace Fling (in Berry) for a shawl.
Crystal Palace Fling (berry) - For use with Suri Merino for a shawl.
Crystal Palace Party (lacquer) - Have no clue what I'll use it for.  It's a bright red and it was on sale.  Plus, the only ball left.
Crystal Palace Party (lilac) - Additional ball for previously mentioned "Sam's Scarf"
Crystal Palace Glam (purple-silver) - See previous.
Crystal Palace Glam (lapis-violet) - No clue again.  Liked the color, on sale and only ball left.
Rowan Summer Tweed (spring green) - I think I'm going to do the Aileen Celtic Cable Purse (Ravel It) with it.
Stacy Charles Ritratto (red rainbow) - Picked a ball up to (kind of) match another ball in the same colorway I had bought last year.  Will probably do a lacy scarf with the two now.
Classic Elite Yarns Provence (pure peri) - No clue.  Loved the color.  All cotton.  Maybe a bag?
Lana Knits Hemp for Knitting (grass green) - Again no clue.  Liked the color and wanted to try some hemp.
Blue Heron Yarns Rayon Metallic (deep space) - No clue yet again. Loved the color name and the yardage was great considering the price.
Malabrigo Worsted (seleccion privada o) - I think I'm going to use this to make a shawl I saw at knit group last night.  Yardage should be about perfect. Plus, the colorway really caught my eye.
Kraemer Yarns Fountain Hills Brushed Mohair - No clue, but probably a shawl or afghan thanks to the yardage.  And man, was the yardage *abso-fabulous* for the price.
Kollage Yarns Cornucopia - (chorus) No clue.  Liked the color and the material (corn) was not something I'd seen much of before.

Ravelry contribution to date: $10.29 (This breaks the $10 minimum threshold I set for this year's Ravelry donation)

This was a fairly quiet month for me, yarn purchasing-wise.  Which was a good thing as I had the trip down to Alabama for my cousin's wedding.  Remember that near-insane amount of Crystal Palace Shimmer I bought to make a shawl? First, I made it too fricking wide and not long enough.  I had a feeling it was going to be wider than my 6 feet wingspan, but I didn't expect it to be TWELVE feet wide.  Twelve. I was giving some great thought as to steeking it in half and then grafting the two halves together, but decided it wouldn't be worth the effort and potential stress as I finished it a couple of days before the wedding and I don't own a sewing machine in which to sew safety lines up the sides of the steek point.  I was just going to double it up and let it cover what it would.  You know what I did? I left the stupid dress it matched in my apartment.  In. My. Apartment.  A two and one half hour drive away from my parents' in Chicago where I realized I had forgotten the dress.  I had even turned around 5 minutes into my drive and came back to the apartment because I had also forgotten my camera.  I walked right past the open closet where the dress was hanging.  Aaarrrrgggghhhh.  So, the amount of time I'd spent knitting the shawl was pretty much a bust on numerous levels.  Yeah, so that's my story for the month.  Probably the year, too.  I'm planning on staying out yarn shops this month with one potential exception.  When I head to L.A. for the American Library Association conference, the Guppy may be taking me on a field trip to her LYS.  I will need to find some way to restrain myself if that's the case ;)

Number of yarn transactions: 3

Locations where yarn was purchased:
The Yarn Shoppe - Davenport, IA
Home Ec Workshop - Iowa City, IA

Number of skeins purchased: 7
Range of price per skein: $7.95 to $9.50
Range of total prices: $7.95 to $47.50
Total: $63.40
Average price per skein: $9.06

Yarn purchased:
Cascade 220 Quatro - I got one skein each during two transactions.  The first skein is for use experimenting with Kitchen-Aid felting since my mom picked up a second bowl and flat beater for me at the Kitchen-Aid outlet.  I ended up agreeing to a trade with a friend where she's going to crochet me a shawl and I'll knit her a tea cozy, and her favorite colors are orange and green.  Well, the first skein I got is color #5019 which is a mix of lime greens, so I got a second skein of #5011 which is oranges.  So, I'm going to use the orange for the body of the Kureyon Kozy and the lime greens for the false bottom and I-cord.
Malabrigo Silky Merino - Do I need a plan for these skeins beyond petting? I think not. Three skeins in Indiecita (which has yellow I did not expect in it) and two skeins of Azul Azul. I'm glad I was able to get my hands on these finally as the Malabrigo factory suffered from a fire last week.  Good luck to them.

Ravelry contribution to date: $6.47

If I buy any more yarn this month, I need to go into a 12-step program.  Actually, most of the yarn I purchased this month was for a specific project, known here on out as the Big Ass Shawl.  I'm making it for myself to wear to my cousin's wedding which occurs in 4 weeks.  I'm just under halfway done and considering I cast on about 2 weeks ago, I'm in good shape.  I dug out my Denise interchangeable needle set so I could do continental knit and English purl.  The reason I needed the interchangeable needles, other than the extension cables, is that to keep my gauge because of switching up like that, I have to do the knitting on a needle two sizes smaller than the size I do the purling on because of the difference in my gauge.  As it is, it's a little off, but as this has turned into straight stockinette stitching, it really doesn't matter.  And why do I need to switch up how I do the knitting and purling?  Well, I'm a genius and cast on the called-for 420 stitches called for in the original pattern, which has now been so horribly disfigured by my alterations that I won't even bother telling you what the original pattern is.  Considering the original pattern called for a worsted weight yarn and the yarn I'm using is bulky, I'm afraid of what the final measurement of the width of the shawl will be.  If I'm lucky, not that much longer than my wingspan of six feet. Hence, the Big Ass Shawl.

In addition to needing much yarn to cover my very, very white skin (sleeveless dress), I also went yarn shopping in Chicago this past weekend with two of my SnB buddies.  I went to Loopy Yarns for the first time and I somehow managed to avoid OD'ing on the yarn fumes...at least compared to my friends.  They've got a ton of great yarns that I haven't seen elsewhere in my travels, and a few that I've only seen far afield from my usual stomping grounds, and I highly recommend them to anyone who's looking for yarn in the Chicago area, especially as they're on the southern edge of the Loop (you can see the Harold Washington Library from their front stoop).

Number of yarn transactions: 6

Locations where yarn was purchased:
The Yarn Shoppe - Davenport, IA
Nana's Knitting Shop - Oak Lawn, IL
Loopy Yarns - Chicago, IL

Number of skeins purchased: 30 + a remnant for 50¢
Range of price per skein: $4.00 to $43.50
Range of total prices: $4.95 to $110.05
Total: $252.40
Average price per skein: $8.41

Yarn purchased:
Crystal Palace Glam - 2 skeins plus aforementioned remnant.  I'm making a scarf for myself that I'm calling "Sam's Scarf" because the color combo reminds me of Sam from Danny Phantom.
Crystal Palace Party - 2 skeins. I've paired this with the Glam for Sam's Scarf.
Crystal Palace Shimmer - 15 skeins. This is for the Big Ass Shawl.  Colors are Jet Black, Soft White and Indigo to match my dress.  I'll be sure to take piccies at the wedding to show how it turned out.
King Tut - 5 skeins.  This is a cotton yarn that I bought in two different colors, 3 in royal blue and 2 in green.  Don't know what I'll make with it yet, but the colors were just so intense I couldn't pass them up.
Karabella Gossamer - 1 skein.  This is going to be a lacy scarf.  Gotta love garter stitch on size 13 needles.  Anyway, the color is a really neat mint green with silver and gold accents.
Ester Bitran Tabali - 2 skeins.  Again, no clue, but I liked the color combination of light olive, purple and gold.  This is a cotton/viscose yarn of around 81 yards per skein, so probably a summer scarf.
Mirasol Sulka - 2 skeins.  Probably a striped winter scarf as I got it in two different colors.  I can't wait to use it as it's 60/20/20 in merino/alpaca/silk.
Handmaiden Camelspin - 1 skein.  I'm drooling just thinking of this skein.  Like the Artyarns Silk Rhapsody Glitter I got back in January, I'm going to wait to find the perfect pattern for this.  It's a little over 300 yards in 70/30 silk/camel fiber and is a gorgeous variegated brown with purple undertones.  The colorway is called Mineral, and this is that $40+ skein.

Corrections from March (I had the formula set for the wrong amount of cells):
Total: $64.25
Average price per skein: $16.06

Ravelry contribution to date: $5.84

That unintentional yarn diet sure didn't last long.  However! I've only made one purchase without any real project/s in mind, and one of the purchases was to get one more ball of a previously purchased yarn.  I did easily stick to my limit during the field trip with my knitting group, *and* I purchased some fabric for one of my knit buddies to sew up some bags for me.

Number of yarn transactions: 4

Locations where yarn was purchased:
Nana's Knitting Shop - Oak Lawn, IL
Home Ec Workshop - Iowa City, IA (no website yet)
The Yarn Shoppe - Davenport, IA

Number of skeins purchased: 7
Range of price per skein: $7.25 to $11.00
Range of total prices: $7.25 to $31.50
Total: $42.50
Average price per skein: $10.63

Yarn purchased:
Malabrigo Merino Worsted - used to make 2 Calorimetries and I still have a nicely sized ball left over
Pear Tree 12-Ply Merino - no clue what I'd use it for, but I've not seen int carried elsewhere and I liked the colorway
Plymouth Yarns Royal Bamboo - made a fishnet scarf for my sister-in-law for her birthday, and my mom wanted one

Ravelry contribution to date: $3.31

This is an easy report. I didn't step foot into any yarn store this month.  It being a short month probably helped :)  Well, I did purchase one skein, but that was for work and with work money so it doesn't count. My knit group is taking a field trip to a new store in Iowa City two weeks from today, so I'll be buying some new yarn then, but I'm giving myself a very strict budget: 1 skein of $50 or less, or 3 skeins for $40 or less.  For now, though, I'm just focusing on using yarn from my stash.

Number of yarn transactions: 0

Locations where yarn was purchased: Nowhere

Number of skeins purchased: 0

Yarn purchased: None

Ravelry contribution to date: $2.67

I'm not planning on doing any massive 2007 wrap up posts, but over the next couple of weeks as I get back into the groove of things I'll post about some area specific goals for 2008.  And yes, I realize February starts at the end of the week, but for me the new year started two weeks ago with the end of my award committee appointment.

So, yarn in 2008.  I have no clue what I spent on yarn in 2007 because I stopped keeping meticulous track of my monetary spending about 1/3 of the way through the year.  Every year I try to be better about tracking my finances and every year I fall off the horse.  I was inspired to keep track of what I spent from an article in "This Week in Ravelry".  Guestimating, I'd say I was probably in the $500-999 range.  Tonight I set up spreadsheet to keep track of the yarn I buy.  The people surveyed for the article sometimes included fiber related expenses like needles, hooks, spinning wheels, notions, classes, travel, and food and drink consumed while gathering with other fiber freaks.  For the purposes of my personal survey, I'm only including yarn and only yarn I purchase with cash.  Bartered yarn and yarn I receive as "you purchased this amount so you get this much free" will not count towards this survey because I want to know how much money I spend.  I'll report back at the end of every month.  I'm not planning on going on a yarn diet, but I'm looking to cut down on the amount I purchase, at least during the first half of the year.  I'm also keeping track because I plan at the end of the year to donate 1% of my yarn purchases or $10 (whichever is greater) to Ravelry as suggested in the comments thread for the article. With all of that said, here are my January totals (because I know darn well I'm not going anywhere near a yarn store the rest of the week).

Number of yarn transactions: 4

Locations where yarn was purchased:
Rosie's Yarn Cellar - Philadelphia, PA
The Yarn Shoppe - Davenport, IA
My Sister's Knits - Chicago, IL
Michaels - Tinley Park, IL

Number of skeins purchased: 11
Range of price per skein: $2.00 to $44.00
Range of total prices: $4.00 to $179.00
Total: $267.20
Average price per skein: $24.29

Yarn purchased:
ArtYarns Silk Rhapsody Glitter - use: no idea, too pretty!
The Fibre Co. Road to China - use: probably a scarf, sooo soft and pretty!
Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere - use: maybe a hat?
Shokay Shambala Yak Down Worsted - use: one skein for Koolhaas and no idea for the other two skeins
Vanna's Choice - use: baby present

Ravelry contribution to date: $2.67