Need Yarn Suggestions

The one suggestion I'd make is to have enough to make a sweater.

We have a wonderful LYS, so I'm not sure why LNS decided to add yarn, because they certainly couldn't compete with the selection at the LYS. In order to have a variety in the small area available, they only had a couple skeins of each. Good if you're a beginning knitter and only know how to make a one-skein scarf, or if you want to make socks. But if you wanted to make a sweater for anyone larger than a toddler, there wasn't enough of any one color, and the colors they had didn't go together well enough for me to want to mix&match. Hence, I don't think I ever bought any yarn there, and neither did any other serious knitter.

I plan on devoting the room that will be made from half the stock room (about 12 x 12 ft, maybe a little more) to the "other needle arts" like having a tatting corner, the knitting and crochet supplies, yarns, etc. I also have a corner in the main part that I can put yarn in.

Shoot, for that matter I could suspend small net hammocks from the ceiling to put yarn in :) The sisters had Christmas wreaths hanging from the ceiling with ornaments hung on them. Great display idea, but I kept getting hit in the head but various dangling objects if I forgot to duck. At least yarn would be soft on the noggin.

Naomah

My dear departed LNS, which I miss terrible and which closed this summer after many years in the same location, carried some yarn. She had lots of yarns that would be used in baby sweaters or interesting things for little kids, plus gorgeous novelty yarns suitable for scarves and purses and other accessories. Not a whole lot of yarn for adult sweaters and very little of plain items. There were knitting books and needles and odds and ends. I think she did nicely with that.

Lion Brand and Patons were always available in the big stores like Michaels and they could charge less because of the volume, so I'm not sure if that would pay for you. But I'm far from an expert and I'm sure there are others here with more experience in retail than I have.

Lucille

Sharon (N.B.)

Oh, the Joys of Retail

Naomah

Plymouth Brand is a nice yarn too.

I think I qualify as a serious knitter (people pay $60-80 for my scarves) and I buy single skeins of yarn all the time. I'm always looking for something unusual to add to my stash. I wouldn't bother with Pattons, Caron, or Lion Brand, as I can get them anywhere. What I'd look for, if I were a tourist, is Great Adirondack, Prism, or some locally made hand-dyed yarn.

And don't forget the sock knitters. I don't knit socks, but most of my knitting friends do, so wonderfully colored sock yarns in skeins large enough to make one pair would probably sell well - just the kind of souvenir a knitter might like. I'd be far less likely, when travelling, to buy enough yarn for a sweater, because I'd have to carry it all and I'd be concerned about miscalculating my needs, and then what? Better to buy sweater yarn locally or on line.

Elizabeth

It's lovely, but also widely available. If you go with Plymouth, you'll want to pick some of their lesser seen yarns. Brands like Ironstone might be a nice bet, or ArtYarns. Again, if your customers are tourists, you'll want something they don't see everywhere. I have hand dyed skeins from Maine, Vermont, and New Orleans, all picked because they were produced on the spot or because I hadn't seen them elsewhere.

Elizabeth

I'd be looking for 'different' yarns, not your run of the mill stuff. If you are selling to tourists, they won't be able to run home to check their patterns, and so anything they're going to buy is going to be on impulse. So make it something they can be impulsive about. The other market amongst tourists is the group who forgot their needles at home and are looking for basic supplies. You might consider designer sweater kits. You don't have to carry a large stock, and it won't take up that much room. Dora

Brilliant!

Yeah! Definitely on vacation I'd be buying something I can't buy elsewhere.

OK, but in this town, we have an excellent LYS, which is where the really serious knitters go.

LNS didn't advertise to the world that they had yarn; only XSers/NPers were aware of it -- when LNS was closing, I mentioned to a group of knitters that they could grab yarn on clearance there and not a one of them even knew where the store was. And these are girls who know every store within 100 miles that has anything that can possibly be used for knitting. I know one of them went to the clearance sale, and bought nothing because even at clearance prices it didn't call to her.

I did see people wander over that way, but I never saw anyone with yarn actually in their basket, which says to me that what they stocked was not what the customers wanted to buy.

I don't make baby clothes or socks out of yarn labelled Dry Clean Only. Logic which had apparently escaped the person who ordered the yarn.

True if you're flying, but let's say you're passing through Naomah's town in Georgia as a first stop on a long road trip (or a month in Florida). One sweater is a lot easier to keep track of on the road than two dozen socks.

I might buy enough yarn for a baby afghan to crochet on the flight home, but there again, the quantities of any one color at my now-defunct LNS were not enough for that project, and the colors didn't go together well enough to want to mix&match.

Right, but Naomah was asking for advice for what to stock in the situation where there won't be an LYS. I thought it was important to mention that there are people who buy single skeins of really nice yarn.

Elizabeth

That's your preference, mine is different. I think a sweater gets too big to handle easily, so I save my sweaters to work on at home. When traveling, I prefer one or two skein projects that will fit in my handbag. And I still try not to buy yarn for a sweater when traveling because of issues with not having enough of the yarn once I get home.

Elizabeth

On 2/9/08 7:48 PM, in article snipped-for-privacy@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com, "Naomah" wrote: SNIP

One thing I really like is having something locally made - then it can "qualify" as a souvenir. Might take a little doing to find it, but might be well worth the effort to find it.

Naomah -- please remind me again of just *where* your shop will be. OH

-- and when will you be opening? I'll need to let me Needlework Group know about the shop so we can plan a road trip for a visit :-). CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

"Naomah" wrote:

As far as I know there is no locally made yarn. The town does have an Alpine theme though.