FYI: Discount yarn store link U B the judge.

[ginny2228]

Thanks Lynn E, I could spend hours on that site.

[Lynn E]

Thanks Lynn E, I could spend hours on that site.

Really? Me tooo! LOL! Val is right though, free shipping is a HUGE plus! (Yeah, I know, too many exclamation points but it's hard to convey excitement without them

[Lynn E]

I agree with everything you say, Heart...except for the singed chair. The dogs would lay (lie?) so close I thought they'd suddenly go up in flames!

[Val]

Did you get the electric heater from QVC that looks like a cast iron stove? It has a fake fire you can adjust. I got the black one. It cost a lot to ship, then I had to do some assembly,(and my son had to reassemble my assembly!) but I love the look. It makes me almost anxious for cold weather .... almost, so I can use it.

.................................................. .................................................. ......................

I got the bronze one..we had a old timer wood stove & it looks a little like it.

[barbless]

I do about 90% of my yarn buying online. I did check out this site and they have a very small selection of yarns. There is free shipping for orders over $100.00 which is not a very good deal. The sites I shop at usually have free shipping for $25.00 or $50.00. I do a lot of shopping at Amazon and some of their partners who sell yarn are really cheap but the shipping rates are ridiculous. I did email one of the sellers and they said it has something to do with the limitations of how they can calculate the shipping, but they would be happy to come to a reasonable agreement if I wanted to make a purchase. To tell you the truth, this all sounded to complicated to me at the time so I passed it by. I may revisit them when I am feeling more energetic.

In the last couple of weeks I placed 2 orders at Daily Deals on Crafting Supplies - Kits, Yarn, Fabric, Tools & More and got some high quality yarns at a really good price. They have daily sales on a few yarns and a few colors but wow! when you find one you love you can save some serious money. I bought some Rowan Savannah yarn and a bunch of Ironstone boucle. None of their sale yarns (so far) have been what I think of as normal yarn like Caron Simply Soft. Some of the yarns are hand dyed, hand spun, mohair, alpaca, silk, - those sorts of specialty yarns. This site is definitely worth adding to your favorites. The site also offers other projects, patterns, etc.

I also almost exclusively buy my "go to" yarn at Home : Shop | Joann.com

Ben Franklin seems to have very good prices and is a trustworthy site. Also try Herrschners - Quality Crafts Since 1899


Do NOT expect to get the exact color you see on your screen. You can get a slightly better idea by opening a couple of sites to compare the color of a particular yarn. I open up Caron's site and Joann's site, for example. It is the nature of the beast that color is affected by the site and by your browser and by your own screen. I have always saved the paper sleeve and a small sample of yarn in a notebook for future reference. I do go to the Joann store and see the colors but the store never has as big a selection as online sites.

Sign up for newsletters for all the brands of yarn you like to use. This way you are notified of sales and get coupons. All the yarn companies have these newsletters and free patterns. Just search for Bernat, Lion Brand, Caron, Joann, Wal-Mart or whoever and look around for the sign-up/register options.

And now a word about email accounts. I am one of those computer nerds. You should always have a couple of accounts with Yahoo or Google. These are online email accounts, independent of your Internet Service Provider. They don't care if you have more than one of their accounts. Use these accounts to safeguard your personal/business accounts from spam, advertisements and it helps to prevent getting buried with recipes and newsletters. I use one just for games, one for recipes.

I do apologize for babbling on, it's the way my mind works. I tend to leave out important stuff so I am happy to try to answer any questions anyone has. Buying online has opened up the market so much. I would hate for anyone to be stuck with just what their local shops offer. Of course this is a two edged sword, there are so many colors to choose from that it is easy to end up with a house full of yarn.

[Heart]

Saw bronze one and a red too. Black not first choice, but 'wait list' for prettier color. Black good too. Recall fake flame/no heat setting so may do now.

[Lynn E]

WOW! What a fabulous reply! Thank you so much for taking the time to provide so much info; I'm going to have to reread it a couple of times to digest all of it! Do you have a list of the sites where there are good deals? I'm sure all the beginners like me would appreciate it very much!

Being a computer nerd must be very nice except for knowing the evil people get up to just because they can. Your advice about more than one account is great but what if, like me, one account has been used for a long time? Seems as tho I'd be shutting the barn door after the horse was gone...

Thanks again, Barbless. Keep posting those great replies and have I mentioned posting pictures of projects? I'd really like to see how those yarns worked up.

Lynn

[BarbySue]

I appreciate your reply as well. I have been crocheting for many years but just bought the yarn available at my LYS. But now I'm expanding my horizons and want to experiment with different yarns, patterns etc. I would love to see your work and the types of yarn you use, that is if you don't mind sharing.

[barbless]

Thanks so much Lynn and BarbySue for your kind words. I must admit I have never taken a picture of anything I have ever crocheted. I will dig up a camera and start. I'm not sure photography had been invented when I started crocheting.

Lynn, if your email account is working well for you, then definitely stick with it. I've used a Yahoo account because they offer folders. I just copy a pattern I like and send it to myself in an email and file it in the appropriate folder. The advantage to having different accounts is that your email doesn't accumulate in one place. Right now I have about 500 emails in my account. It is easy to miss an email from your sister among all the ones from my craft and cooking emails. The advantage to storing your patterns in your email account is that you don't lose them when (and I do mean WHEN not IF) your hard drive fails. Now there are backup services, some free, that will back up your hard drive and store your information in one of those fluffy, virtual clouds. Storing stuff in an email account is just how I have done it for years.


I highly recommend that you sign up for newsletters or feeds. You will get notices of sales, coupons, patterns, new yarn news, tutorials. There is always a link to unsubscribe.


I’ve added a few links here, hope this is helpful.


For free patterns:

Bernat: Home

Berroco® Fashion Yarns for Knitting and Crochet

Knitting Crochet Sewing Crafts Patterns and Ideas! - the purl bee

Caron International Yarns and Latch Hook Kits

Red Heart Yarn | Yarn, Knitting Patterns, Crochet Patterns

Crochet Pattern Central - Directory of Free, Online Crochet Patterns by Category
This site is a directory of patterns. They will send you to the site that is hosting the pattern. Unfortunately, there are no pictures so it can be slow going.

Lion Brand Yarn


Free Crochet Patterns | Free Crochet Patterns


https://www.ravelry.com/account/login
You must register in order to enter their site. It has a large selection of patterns. I searched for “free” and came up with 31,000 entries.



These sites have good prices and frequent sales:

Herrschners - Quality Crafts Since 1899
Really good prices, they always have a sale going. It is a popular site so the sale yarn can go very quickly.

Home : Shop | Joann.com
Watch for weekly coupon in the Sunday paper. They also send them in their newsletter. You can sign up to receive their catalog.

Ben Franklin
This site has organized their yarn in a rather peculiar way. Each color has its own page. Open the yarn manufacturer's site to choose your colors and then search for them at BenFranklin's site. They offer a bulk discount on some colors. Read the free shipping policy carefully as there is a weight consideration besides the dollar amount. They also have a club you can join and save 10% and get free shipping but the monthly fee cancels these advantages unless you order a huge amount on a regular basis.

Welcome to Buy.Caron.com
Nicely organized with every color they offer. Sigh, I have to watch myself here because I want them all. Unless they have a sale, use this site to select the colors you want and then go hunting for the best price.

http://www.craftsy.com/
This is my latest favorite site. Patterns and deals on specific yarns (mostly high end type yarns).

[Patt]

the shipping costs of this store is $7.95 standard and all I need is Red Heart Banana Berry... that made it almost $12 for 1 skein of yarn! I'll just have to hope the store I bought this from has more of the color I needed... the pattern I'm doing way underestimated how much yarn I'd need and I ran out. So unless you're ordering a lot of yarn, this isn't so good a place to shop.