Now, I know some of you are probably thinking, she is going to talk about acrylic yarns, or this sounds hard, I mean there are so many beautiful, colorful yarns that just speak to our crafty souls, how can we not give them a loving home? Well, number one, while I like using acrylic yarns for numerous projects, I shall not really be talking about them.
And number two, for me the answer of, no I should not purchase the yarn is quite simple. It all boils down to currently having no independent income. I speak truth here guys, I currently have no income. I don’t like to use the term unemployed because even though I don’t work “outside” , I am trying my hardest to make blogging my paying job. Being very, very honest, for the past four months I have made a total of $55.00 and that was from my etsy store. Now, your situation might be entirely different from my current one but I would still like to share how I craft on a budget.
- Work from Stash
- I was very lucky that due to my previous job of working as a Librarian and living at home, I was able to build a pretty decent stash. Now, if you like me, just have lonely skeins of yarns with no partners, you may not see how to make a big project with them. The solution, color coordinate! You may not have 3 hanks of the same yarn but you may have 3 hanks that you can coordinate. Do not be afraid of doing this, to even things out just wear a colorful sweater with some jeans or a neutral colored pant (this is what I do, I just love using neutrals and colors together. Or, if you are way adventurous you can take up Purely Patricia’s motto of “Nothing Matches and Everything Goes!”
- If however your stash is not substantial for what you wish to do, I say. // Sí su colección no tienen mucha variedad de lanas para una gama de proyectos diferentes no les entre la tristeza!
2. yarnsub.com
- It may be a bit of a challenge to work from stash with certain projects. But do not fear, you can always find a suitable substitute in yarnsub. Just keep in mind that you may have to double check the yardage to make sure that you actually have enough yarn.
3. Purchase Discontinued yarns // Compre hilos descontinuados
- This is how I actually built up a lot of my “commercial” yarn stash. I mean, who doesn’t love a bargain? The challenge with discontinued yarns is that you have to purchase a decent quantity to be able to account for your future project. I determine this based on the yarn blend. If you are not careful, you may over buy and exceed your budget. That is how I ended up with my large stash of Frog Tree Picaboo yarns, not that this was necessarily a bad thing, as I did end up with 2 blouses from this yarn.
4. Always, Always browse the clearance section of a website.
- Clearance and discontinued are sometimes closely associated because the company may be discontinuing some colors but not an entire range. But, usually clearance is used to promote off season yarns, say buying wool yarns in the summer and cotton yarns in the winter. Webs is a great website to follow for sales and bonus, they have two different yarn sale sections!
- Speaking of sales, Keep your ear on the ground! Companies usually have big sales once or twice a year which provides you with the perfect opportunity for stash building and bargain shopping!
5. Yarn gifts
- We all have gift receiving days, don’t we? Don’t be afraid to hint or ask for money as gifts on these days or if you have a specific yarn that you wish to cuddle with, ask for yarny gifts. Seriously guys, don’t be afraid to voice your gift wishes. I know of at least 10 family members who would much prefer it is I outright told them what to get me for Christmas, and my birthday.
6. Don’t shy away from “big yarn companies”
- Seriously, they make so much more than acrylic! Although acrylic does have many, many uses. Anyway, yarn companies like yarnspirations and lionbrand are releasing some lovely lovely yarns. Bernat Softee Baby Cotton (a cotton acrylic blend is in my stash waiting for a garment design and it feels lovely!) Lion brand has a yarn that I am just dying to try, its a cotton bamboo blend, one of my absolute faves! http://www.lionbrand.com/lb-collection-cotton-bamboo-yarn.html and umm can we talk about Knit Picks?! Seriously, a gorgeous yarn company with affordable and luxury yarns for everybody. THEY HAVE EVERYTHING!
- There are so many options and blends to choose from, just let your imaginations run wild.
7. Don’t shy away from free pattern // Gozen de los patrones gratuitos, no hay nada mejor para un diseñador que tejan sus patrones, el corazón hace BOOM!!!
- There are so many to choose from, so many bloggers put out great content. // Aquí una lista de blogs que producen patrones bellos y preciosos.
- sewrella
- megmadewithlove
- the hook nook life
- tlyarncrafts
- bobwilson123
- One Dog Woof
- Susimiu
- There are so many others! Seriously just google crochet blogs and you will not be dissapointed!
- Hay tantos blogs buenisímos, solo hagan una busqueda de google y les aparecerán una lista grandiosa.
Do you guys have any special tips and tricks for keeping your crochet in hand? Share them in the comments section below!
XOXOXO
Clarisabeth
