What do you think?
I have a question to you knitter folk:
Since I don't seem to be doing too horribly on the sweater front, my mind is currently buzzing with ideas of wardrobe items to make. The problem - I'm so broke that it's not even remotely funny. I can afford zilch yarn unless I make careful planning, saving, looking for deals and researching a lot. And here comes, like out of a dream - comes KnitPicks.
I've known about KnitPicks for a while and even bought yarn for a swap pal once, but I never got to knitting with anything they make yet. And now they have some cool new lines like Swish and Telemark with an amazing color selection and a lovely price tag. However... At the same time I keep hearing about problems with KnitPicks' products. Some yarns are said to be leaching dye, some shrink a whole row after washing (so is it the dryer's fault or not? Anyone?), some turn less soft and nice after washing - these are just the recent ones.
Now, I am broke, but I'm also patient (well, sometimes... I'm working on it). I want my future knitted items to last and be happily worn for a number of years, so really - I have no problem waiting and searching and saving to buy fancier, brand yarn. However, is KnitPicks' yarn really equal? We all know some brand yarn is overpriced (or some good people would be out of ebay-business), but is it really (as someone put it) "you get what you pay for" with KnitPicks?
Question is - what do you think? What would you do in my situation?
Thank you!
posted by Michal Wright-Ward @ 12:21 PM
2 Comments:
I love Knit Picks yarn. Of course, they haven't been around long enough to see if their yarn is going to stand the test of time, but I've had very few problems with it. And the problems I have had, I've had with expensive yarns too. Their Wool of the Andes seems comparable to any other worsted wool I've used. I wasn't a big fan of the Essentials sock yarn, but again, there are some expensive yarns out there that I don't think work up well. I think there is a certain "snob" thing going on - at least that's my personal opinion. I've never had trouble with the dyes (in fact, I ordered a couple of extra skeins for a sweater 6 months after the original order and got the same dye lot!). I think you've got to just try for yourself. Make some small items if you don't want to invest the time in larger ones. I don't have a large knitting budget either, so my stash is getting to be largely Knit Picks yarn. You can also check out Elann.com - they sell close outs and their own line is fairly reasonable too. Not free shipping, but they are FAST! Let me know your results!
dswaite@mac.com
I am just about to start a lace scarf project with Knitpicks yarn, so I've been winding it into balls and it is lovely. Of course I can't speak for all their lines, but this one is among the nicest yarns I've handled. I agree with Dorothy, I think people are overly suspicious about Knitpicks because they think "How is it possible that it's so cheap? There must be something wrong with it." But maybe *I'm* under-suspicious because I get really annoyed at overpricing and I think a lot of luxury yarns are WAY overpriced!
P.S. I totally owe you an email! Coming soon!
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