Monday, June 20, 2005

Cone yarn talk

I went on a wee vacation.


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The pictures are of the night sky last night. We were in the midst of a thunderstorm and the skyline was very pretty. I liked the purples. I took the pictures from the car window with flash which is why they looks so odd. But they turned out pretty well for having been taken at 35 MPH. But there is no framing just a quick snap and whatcha get is whatcha get.

My wee vacation took me to the beach which was wonderful. We went to see the Turtles at the aquarium. I highly recommend the Newport aquarium if you get down here. It is very very cool.

I also got to go to Woodland Woolworks. It was a blast there as well. I love there stash room.
But as you know I bought lots of cone yarn last weeks so mostly I got spinning fiber.

I like the yarn on cones for several reasons.

If I buy yarn by the pound it comes on a cone. It is more economically priced. I rarely spend more than 10$ a pound. Lots of times it is much less. The yarns I bought last week average out to about 6$ a pound including shipping. Without shipping it ends up being about 3$ a pound. So shipping sucks but I still saved money. I bought most of the yarns off ebay last week. I have a love hate thing with ebay. You can get really great stuff or crap. I am willing to find the great stuff. I also don't generally buy quite so much from a seller I don't know or haven't bought from before.

Yarn on a cone has less brakes. That is the greatest thing in the world. If I know I want to make something that is all one color a cone yarn does not have to be broken into 12 separate balls. I don't loose a cone of yarn. I can loose a ball of yarn. Generally it is the last one I have in that dye lot and I only need three feet from it.

The bad things about cones is you have to tote around a cone of yarn. Lots of time it is a guestimation as to how much yarn is on a cone. You could end up short without a way to get more. I generally go by what the sellers says than subtract a portion for miscalculation and add on a little more than I need for extra insurance. The more yards per pound the smaller the yarn on the cone the bigger the ypp the thicker the yarn is. Asking for WPI is really helpful if you are looking for something specific. I will buy yarn from about 3600 YPP to 800 Ypp. Yarns on a cone may not match your pattern. This can be annoying if you are trying to make some thing to a certain size (hahaha hahah ahah). You get to be creative here if you really really want to match gauge and use the yarns you picked. There are times when it just does not work. Then you get to go get new yarn.

Sometimes you have to figure out what the tag means inside the cone. I am really not so good at this but there are lots of websites on how to decipher your tag. Then there is the cone with no tag as to what the fiber is. If I like it and can think of what I would do with it if I get it. If not I leave it for another brave soul. I don't buy all yarn I find just the stuff I like and will use.

I don't have a knitting machine. I just like yarn. : )

In Portland I buy yarn on the cone at The Pendleton Woolen Mill Annex @ 8550 SE McLaughlin BlvdPortland OR 97222-6342. There wool is kindda rough but it washes and felts to a very very soft finished product. If you need proof I will show you a swatch. There cones also are for machine knitting so it has lanolin in it but it comes out on most of them pretty easy. The white white seems to have more than the other colors. The yarn is a two ply but in different weights. Some of it is 3$ a pound some of it is 10$ a pound. They are not all wool some are blends but nice blends in all sorts of fun colors. They have tons of wool fabric at unbelievable prices. The Pendleton blankets you see at the Made in Oregon store. The fabrics are sold here by the yard. They have all sorts of great things here. Watch out if you go when you are in a crafty mood.

So if I don't find it at the Woolen Mills or on the computer I find it at thrift stores and garage sales. Shetha listed some good places to check a couple weeks back for Oregon folks. I like yarn. I like yarn I can afford.

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