Cheaper Supplies

I love to loom knit, but sometimes I cannot afford to buy yarn at the craft or yarn stores because they tend to be anywhere from 3.99 (at craft stores) to sometimes up over 15 at yarn stores and specialty shops.  Believe me, I would love to spend a chunk of change on a beautiful specimen of yarn to create something luxurious, but for me I cannot justify spending A LOT of money on a skein of yarn.

Here is my list of great resources for much cheaper yarns from the quick and easy ideas to ones that take require more time and patience.


Coupons, Coupons, Coupons - This can be a little time-consuming if and only if you do it the way I do.  But the pay-off is worth it.  At Jo-Ann's, Michaels, and AC Moore most times you can only use one coupon per transaction if the sku numbers are the exact same number.  Jo-Ann's has gotten to know me very well, because I employ a trick that makes them laugh.  I will gather up the number of coupons I need for each skein - so if I'm buying 4 skeins for a particular project I get 4 coupons.  And then I will go buy one skein at a time.  Literally.  I bring one up to the counter and pay for it.  Then the next one, and the next one until I've used all 4 coupons.  My suggestions to getting the staff to allow you to do this?!  Get on a first name basis with as many employees and managers as possible and always frequent that store first.  When the staff sees that you are habitually shopping there, and are friendly, and include them in your project endeavors, they end up allowing you to use the coupons a bit more liberally.  There have been a few times that a new employee has tried to let me know about their policy and a manager has walked over and informed her to let me use them.  I will typically limit my frugality in this way to only certain things.  Usually the more expensive yarns because I rarely buy them.  I do this maybe 3 times out of the year.  And once in a blue moon I will do this with cuts of fabric.

Thrift Stores - You would not believe the amount of yarn that ends up at thrift stores!  I've bought bags of partially used skeins, full skeins and factory ends for a fraction of the cost.  In this sense you are limited to what you get.  Sometimes I get lucky and I end up with bags that have specialty yarns in them.  For instance, I found a bag with merino wool balls in it (4 white, 3 light purple, 1 dark purple, and 3 black) all for $6.98!!!!  Those skeins would have cost me triple that if I had tried to purchase them new.  The thrift stores are also especially good for crochet, and knitting needles, and possibly even knitting books and patterns - although you will have to do a lot of digging for these.  As well as fabric, and patterns.

Tee-shirt Yarn - Here comes the work.  There are some projects that I like to do just for the sake of learning a new technique or stitch but I don't want to use my good yarn when I'm experimenting.  For these projects I like to make placemats, dish cloths, drink coasters, or hot pads.  Items that are useful but I don't want to use good yarns when I make mistakes (yarn can fray or the plys separate and it then doesn't look as nice as it should) and have to frog out projects.  So instead I will take a tee-shirt or old polo that my husband has made holes in or are worn out and I will cut yarn from them.  This is a great way to not spend money at all!  Which there have been times where I really couldn't spend money but I wanted to try a drop stitch pattern for a hat.  I grabbed out some gray tarn (tee-shirt yarn) and stitched a new hat - and let me tell you it is nice and toasty warm (even with the drop stitch pattern).  There are many ways to create tarn.  Just search for "making tee-shirt yarn" on the internet and YouTube and there are a boatload of tutorials.  I've even made tarn from other kinds of fabrics, from silks to lace (great for evening clutches), and I've even created projects from my left-over scraps of ribbons.  These kinds of yarns can be used to make ornaments, hats, scarves, table linens, and rugs.

Plarn - This type is made from plastic bags.  I really don't like the idea of recycling plastic bags, because it releases the chemicals used in the process into the atmosphere when they are breaking the product down to make new ones, but I understand the need to do it.  Plastic bags can not only be used to make new plastic bags, but also composite wood board, benches, chairs, tables, etc.  So I'm glad that the manufacturers are trying to use what has already been made into other products rather than just making new stuff.  I wound up trying this because I wanted to make some market bags for when I grocery shop, and I found this idea on the internet.  The result was a SUPER STRETCHY plastic reusable bag, that could hold more produce than the normal plastic bag!  You might ask, well, why do that?  Instead of five or six plastic bags for my fruit, I was able to put all that food from five bags into 1. Realistically this is the only project I use plarn for.  However, I also use this type of knitted plastic bag for our beach toys and equipment because it doesn't biodegrade when it gets wet, so it makes for the perfect beach bag for all the sand covered toys and water shoes.

Reclaimed Yarn - This is where you frog out an existed knitted item to steam out the yarn and use it for a new project.  I had made my boys hat and scarf sets last year and now they are too small for them.  I still have the left over yarn in my stash and I want to use it for another project but I don't have enough of it.  So instead of going out and buying a new skein and hope the dye lots match, I'm going to frog the scarves and hats.  This can be done with old sweaters as well.  The trick is to figure out if it is hand-stitched or machined.  Most of the time if it is machined it cannot be salvaged as yarn, because these are machined in big knitted panels and the pieces are then cut from the "fabric" and then seamed.  Check YouTube for tutorials on how to do this.  This is extremely time-consuming.  But if you like to do things like this, you could get one sweater from the thrift store for a buck, frog it and end up with enough yarn for two or three skeins.  I find it much easier to frog an item that I made than frogging a purchased item.

COMING SOON - I am experimenting with how to create and build my own loom because I want a specific gauge for the pegs and a project - come back soon to read it when it gets posted.

Loom Knitting vs. Needle Knitting

When I was younger, my father's mom taught me how to French knit.  It was a little blue spool with nails on top that you would wrap the yarn around and knit off the nails. It was silly, and nowhere near being practical but always makes me smile.  Even to this day I still have fond memories of running around my grandmother's apartment being followed by my fifteen foot yarn snake! LOL. This began my need to learn how to knit, and I mean needle knit.  After years and years of frustration with tension and trying to get my projects to look decent and useable I gave up.  Needles did not work for me.  I wanted knitting to be something that would remind me of those past years with my grandmother, not be a source of frustration and stress.

Back in 2012 I had a desire to knit a mini blanket for my daughter that would be born in October of that year.  I figured - hey, it's a blanket, flat and simple.  Yeah, after a month of my tension being the same as I remember it, it looked like a dropped stitch, zigzaggy, lumpy sorry excuse for a blanket.  I frogged it out and decided to search my Michael's for my trusty French knitting tool.

Well, I wound up coming home with a French Knitter on STEROIDS!  The round Knifty Knitter looms went from about 3 inches across to 16 inches across, with up to 41 pegs!  I was esctatic!  Not only did I knit a blanket, but a pair of booties, and a hat to match.  My tension stayed consistent, never wound up with a dropped stitch, and I loved every minute that I was making the layette set.

I used only the stockinette stitch for my first projects, only because I had to refamilarize myself  with the tool.  I was in tears as I knitted along, because not only was this experience rewarding for my soon to be born daughter, but also because it brought back my wonderful memories of laughing hysterically with my brother and grandmother all those years ago.  Not only did this give me back memories long since lost in the recesses of my brain, but it also sent me on a hunt for the French Knitter that she had given me when I was ten.  I actually did locate it.  It is scuffed, the blue paint is dull and chipped, and there are tell-tell scrape marks from the needle pic.  ***sigh*** So special.

There are many traditional knitters out there that say loomers are not knitters.  That loom knitting is the easy way out and do not view this craft as the real McCoy.  I beg to differ.  Everyone's reason for their choices are different.  I wish I could needle knit.  It is a craft that I have extreme respect for.  I always marvel at the technique of it, the intricate work and designs that come from it, and it will always intrigue me.  I just hope that this insight to the choice I made as a loom knitter brings more knowledge to those that do not loom knit.