throwdown!

well, my friend lisa in seattle has just challenged vanna the acrylic yarn queen to a throwdown.

i forgot to remember that lisa is a big knitter, and she is NOT in favor of fakey fake acrylics to create her craft with. i'll copy her words below, but not before i put in my 2 cents worth too - ya know. cause it's MY blog and all :)

i know exactly where lisa is coming from. and to be truthful, there IS a nagging little part of me that knows i should be putting out for the good stuff when i make my crafts, yarn and otherwise. i admit i'm kind of a fabric snob, i know who heather and anna maria and amy and kaffe are, and still, quite often actually, i shop the bargain bins for that $1.00 fabric treasure that might be hidden there. i also clearly remember my grandma's stiff red heart afghans, probably over a hundred of them in her lifetime, and i am imagining that she never thought about using the good stuff. or maybe she did, but could not afford it.

then there is the whole "yarn shop" issue. see, i like buying yarn at wal mart. or hobby lobby. those are the places that vanna reigns supreme. once i go into a yarn shop and see all the ladies who knit their own clothes, i am overwhelmed. i feel small, and silly, and really really hate to mention that i CROCHET, which is clearly not as cool as knitting. although, i think that is changing somewhat as i can tell crocheters are doing some pretty cool things out here in blogland.

and, as my friend kristie says: "it's nice to be able to go to walmart in the middle of the night on sunday to get what you need to finish up your project."

so, buy whatever you want. here are lisa's recommendations for good quality, reasonably priced yarn made out of natural things instead of plastic. one good thing is that this post might have pushed her a little closer to starting her OWN blog :)

Cascade 220 is about 6-7$ for 220 yards and the selection of colors in huge. Lambs Pride, another great yarn with an enormous selection of colors, is 5.99 per skein and you don't have to wind it. WEBS on line, and Pattons both offer really inexpensive yarn. (BTW, if you ever want to splurge ETSY has many yarns that are beautiful, though a little spendy-you do get about 1800 yards per skein though)
I understand the temptation, truly I do. But, an afghan, which usually takes forever, should be made out of yarn that is a pleasure to work with. My passion for good yarn has been re-fueld by knitting some really cool projects.