The Knitters Thread

MrsCD

Good grief! £300! More money than sense as my mam would have said. 
I have never paid that much for a coat never mind a jumper. I suppose it's all relative though. I've always had to watch the pennies, so someone with more disposable income ,or if it was something special to save for, might think it's worth it. 

nursemaggie

No way would I spend more than £40. I've been substituting yarns forever. As I can't wear wool at all it's rare the recommended yarn is possible for me. I think on average I spend more like £20.

basketcase

MrsCD said:

Oh, I do feel for you, basketcase! At least you know it's right now. I would always know, even if no-one else knew, so I would have to put it right too.

That's exactly the way I feel MrsCD.  Even if it looks OK, I would still know!

basketcase

   £300?!  Crikey!  (I miss the little blue 'raised hair emoji...)  Unless it was a really special item I'd probably put a limit of £40 on the yarn too.

   If I use wool, I tend to make it baby wool.  Like Polly, I find most wool too itchy to bother with - as, in fact, do both DD and DS,  I've used cotton and may get adventurous and have a go with a silk/silk mix at some time.  Mostly, though (please don't drum me off the thread ) I'm OK with acrylic.  (Though it does give cats a nasty shock - literally )

   If I'm knitting things, it's often for other people, so it's out of the present fund.  If it's for me, it's from my clothing budget and soft furnishings etc will be from the household budget.  Anything I fancy that's 'crafty' comes from a small allowance I award myself, which rarely gets spent anyway - so there's enough to cover 'notions'. 

wondercollie

It's hard, my DIL's wedding stole cost around $80CDN.  I've kept it under $100 for bulky sweaters.

I can see how it happens in trendy, independent wool shops, where it's all limited edition, hand dyed virgin yak

CAFCGirl

oh is that the jumper/cardigan that Harry Styles wore, which was £800 and then the designer released the pattern for it?

CAFCGirl

As for budget, I don't really have a separate budget for yarn. I have a £30 'pocket money', that sometimes goes on yarn, or ebay clothes, or houseplants, or crystals and incense LOL I also don't knit 'main' clothing - just accessories really so mine would be a bit skewed. My mum knits a lot of jumpers and usually sticks to a £30/40 budget for an item, but isn't strict about buying the exact yarn for the pattern and subs quite a bit for her/recipient's own tastes

Savvy_Sue

I must admit, I'm often a bit 'eek' at wool prices, but I'm getting used to them. I remember being with mum once and she spent I think £16 on wool for a pair of socks for me (I think they have silk in them), and I was amazed she'd spend that much. Mind you she made up for it in other areas ... 

I don't think I've actually paid full price for wool: it's always been an end of line. But then, I've inherited enough mohair to fill the rest of the my life, should I choose to knit it, plus several more pairs of socks in 'normal' sock wool rather than that silk mix ... 

And I don't really budget for it. 

Now, where I might go for the 'right' wool would be if it was a particular design which I wouldn't feel confident to match the colours well otherwise. But I doubt I'd go for that kind of thing anyway. 

Buttons is another thing: finishing the mohair cardigan, I did not feel inclined to spend £1+ per button when I needed 12, and nothing at that price 'sang' to me. Was glad to find something which did sing to me for 10p each ... again, end of line, they only had 13 and of course I bought them all. 

PipneyJane

CAFCGirl said:

oh is that the jumper/cardigan that Harry Styles wore, which was £800 and then the designer released the pattern for it?

I have no idea.  I'm not on Instagram, so I just caught the tail end of the controversy.

When you consider how many hours it takes to make a pair of socks (average 16 hours) or knit a jumper (40-50 hours), using good materials is important.  It's an investment in your craft. But "good" doesn't have to equal massively expensive.  One of my favourite places to shop for yarn is Black Sheep Wools, who turn up to pretty much every major yarn show in the country and get mobbed.  They buy pallets of end-of-range yarns from Sublime and Sirdar and are always selling good yarn at heavily discounted prices.  Half my stash is from them and I've paid no more than £2.00 per 50g ball.   (The problem, of course, is because it's end of range, you have to buy a jumper's quantity when you find something you like, even if you have no idea which jumper you'll be making with it.)

- Pip

nursemaggie

I think I will have to try them, not that there is likely any yarn shows for some time. I don't think there will be anything on that gets such big crowds before next year at the earliest.