Buying Yarn Online vs. In Person

There are many divisive issues in the world of knitting--circulars or straights? metal or wood? English or continental? acrylic or wool?--but I don't expect many knitters would argue that the best way to buy yarn is in person. Being able to touch the yarn, feel how soft or how strong it is, how light or how dense, sticky or slippery, these are all important factors depending on what you want to do with the yarn. And no computer can tell you with 100% certainty what the color will look like to your eyes, or if those two colors will really go together. Shopping at a yarn store or a festival is the way to go.

When you can.

And, of course, you can't always. Especially in these pandemic years, sometimes your choices are buy online or don't buy.

I have had mixed results with online purchases. If you've read here for long, you know that my top compliment to a yarn is how soft it is*, and I remind myself of all the times I've been shopping, touched a lovely yarn, and then dropped it back down right away because no, not for me, not soft enough. I approach online buying with caution, rarely buying a yarn unless I either have seen it in person before, or I am informed by someone I trust that it really is soft.

*And truly, soft isn't always the most sensible choice, depending on the project, but I am very tactile, and enjoying the process is hugely important to me. I may never knit with linen because "it softens up when you wash it, it will just get softer and softer" does me no good in the knitting with it before that happens.

And even with such caution, the color thing still trips me up regularly. Those two colors don't go together at all! Or, hey, I know this colorway is called turquoise, but it looks like a deep gorgeous sapphire--oh, look, in person it absolutely is turquoise. Hmm.

Therefore, when I was shopping Treasure Goddess's sale last week, and saw a couple of colors I liked, I decided ahead of time that I liked them both, even if they didn't go well together.

So, of course, they go great together. 

Reverse psychology, or just dumb luck? Either way, I'm happy.

This weekend, I'm going on a field trip with knitter friends to a yarn store I haven't been to yet. I can't wait!