Cheap Yarn is the Perfect Charity Alternative
Don't spend a fortune on charity knitting - cheap yarn is ideal!
Cheap yarn really IS 'a dime a dozen' when you're doing charity knitting - there's just no need to spend a lot of money on good quality yarn, when cheap yarn is available. After all, most of the recipients of the knitted products you'll donate don't care for cashmere - they just want to be WARM or DRY. So what IS cheap yarn, and where can you find it?
Cheap Yarn: What Is It?
First of all, yarn is graded according to various qualities. The 'natural' fibers - wool, alpaca, cashmere and silk, for example - are obviously the most expensive yarns. But it's possible, at various times and various places, to even buy these as cheap yarns!
Cheap Yarn: Where to Find It?
The first place to look for cheap yarn is 'dollar stores' or discount stores that specialize in buying close-out inventories or odd lots from distributors. You may not be able to find enough cheap yarn of any one dye lot to make an afghan, but you'll get enough for lots of small projects like scarves, for example.
The next place to check for cheap yarn - even of the expensive quality variety! - is garage and estate sales. Lots of times people are getting rid of huge amounts of good quality yarn, often brand new (but perhaps it's sat in Grandma's craft closet for a decade or two!), for various reasons.
Thrift stores are another likely source for cheap yarn, either in packages of still-labeled skeins (that folks have donated when they finished projects and had leftovers), or in the form of quality sweaters you can unravel and re-use.
Finally, you can often find cheap yarn alternatives online. You can regularly check out name brand yarn websites (like LionBrand, for example), or even favorite yarn shops, for their sales and seasonal clear-outs. There are also several well-known generic yarn websites that will have lots of choices of cheap yarn.
Some of them are wholesalers (direct from the importer or distributor), or they may just have clearance bargains to watch for cheap yarn. Look for Mary Maxim's website, and, in Canada, elann.com is a really popular choice. There's also eBay, too - many knitters have found good quality cheap yarn there in huge quantities.
Have fun in your search for cheap yarn for your charity projects!
