Help - knitting query

rubysmummy_2

Hi all you crafters my mother in law likes to knit bears, door stoppers etc and has asked for wool / yarn for christmas. Now she only does this as a hobby as she has - what the grandkids call - a very shakey head - and this is the only thing that seems to keep her head under control so she only uses the cheap wool / yarn she picks up from car boots, flea markets, pound shops etc. And she tends to have plain boring colours. Now i havent got a clue where to start looking but how much wool would i need - there is a job lot of smallish balls on ebay that i have seen which have a lovely variety of colours and i wondered whether this would be the right stuff because its listed for dolls clothes etc or would this not be enough?? Sorry if i sound dim but i have absolutely no idea what i need to be looking for.

Thanks in advance

rubysmummy_2

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/mixed-job-lot-of-30-small-balls-of-new-knitting-wool-yarn-great-for-crafts-/131049908264?pt=UK_Crafts_Knitting_Crochet_EH&hash=item1e832ee828#ht_199wt_962

This is the stuff i have seen x

LE3

it really does depend on what she knits ... cute teddies with different coloured "jumpers" & "trousers" , yes. Large teddies all in brown, or things that she uses a pattern for which need specific amounts of specific colours, probably not suitable.

rubysmummy_2

They kind of look a bit like this one - some she does are totally multicoloured but i cant remember if they are jumpers or clothes or not. can you only do one colour for the whole thing or can you break off and do one colour for the body and one colour for the arms and legs?

the_why_bird

I can't tell how big that teddy is, so it's difficult to say. It's easy enough to switch colours for arms and legs if she wanted to, but obviously it depends on how she wants it to look.

I think that pack on ebay might not work though. It's less than 300g for the whole thing, which means each ball is about 10g each - that's not very much of any one colour. It'd be ok if she knits a lot of tiny things like finger puppets or doll outfits, or if she wants it to sew on decorations.

For context, a 100g ball of double knit gives you about 200-300 yards of yarn which is about enough to knit a baby cardigan.

Do you have a poundstretcher near you? They were selling a lot of cheap DK yarn this week.

Little_Vics

Basically, you're looking for DK (double knit) wool, in balls of 50g or 100g. I can normally get a stuffed animal out of 100g of wool.

It may well be worth asking her for a specific list so you don't get the wrong thing, especially if you are buying from ebay. You can pick up some proper bargains there.

rubysmummy_2

Thanks guys - ill have another look and maybe give her a ring - i just needed the sizes really. i thought they were 290g each on that listing haha! So if i stick to 100g balls i think i should be ok x

glynisrose

99p shops have many colours of wool as so Lidl, and £1 shops.