Yarn Shopping

Shopping in general should be a joyous occasion, something fun and maybe even a little challenging. Most people look forward to shopping trips; they make out lists, plan the order they'll visit stores in, warn the credit card company to expect excessive use on the account....but no where in this scenario are shoppers stressed about their spending sprees. This used to be the case for me as well until very recently when I discovered the awesomeness that is yarn shopping on the Internet.



I would prefer to walk into a local yarn shop and experience the yarn in person. I like to get my hands on the yarn to see if I like how it feels and smells (yes smells, you heard me right). You don't really get this on the Internet but what you do get is a mind-boggling selection of yarn. Enter the stress factor! Which one will work for my project? Which fiber is going to hold up the best? Where can I get the best color? Will the sweater look better in variegated or solid yarn? The list goes on and on. STRESS!


I'm going to start a project of knitting four winter hats for a friend's children; they live in a warm climate so wool is out of the question. We talked it over and decided on cotton; still warm but not overly so. I figured it would be no problem to find cotton yarn or a cotton blend in the colors she choose. Oh how wrong I was! Who knew there were so many different types of cotton yarn out there? Some are imported, some only come in variegated colors or in large 16 ounce cones. Some brands only had two or three of the colors I needed while others got close but not quite close enough. Stress, stress, stress I tell you. In the end I found and ordered what I needed but this got me wondering if a wool hat in Louisiana was such a bad idea after all just so I could use that go-to Cascade 220 that comes in any color one could ever imagine.



I suppose in the end I just have to look at yarn shopping as another great adventure!