• Home
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
  • Blog
  • Prep-Ahead Meals Cookbooks
  • Recipes
  • Lifestyle
  • Gardening
  • Kid’s Activities
  • Gluten-Free Recipes
  • Budgeting Tips
↑

Premeditated Leftovers™

Prep-Ahead Meals, Cooking Tips, and Frugal Living

  • Cookbooks
    • Prep-Ahead Breakfasts and Lunches
    • Prep-Ahead Meals From Scratch
  • Recipe Index
  • Members Area
    • Member Login
    • Join Us
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Recipes
  • Gluten-Free Recipes
  • Lifestyle
  • Garden
  • DIY
  • Kids
  • Budget

You are here: Home / Naturally Frugal Living / How to Save Money on Yarn

How to Save Money on Yarn

February 16, 2015 by Christine T 8 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy here.
7905 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

If you crochet or knit, you know how expensive yarn can be. Here are some tips on how to save money on yarn so you can stay in your budget on your projects.

If knitting or crocheting is a hobby of yours, you know that your hobby can be a little expensive if you are constantly buying yarn. It’s truly amazing to me how expensive yarn can be. Since yarn is an absolute necessity if you crochet or knit, you probably would like to know some tips to save money on it. Here are some tips on how to save money on yarn so you can keep doing your hobby within your budget.

How to Save Money on Yarn

Swap with fellow crafters. Most knitters and crocheters have a huge stockpile of unused yarn from previous projects they don’t know what to do with. Maybe what they have is perfect for a small project you are about to embark on. This way you can pretty much get yarn for free. If you have a large enough circle of friends who do this hobby, host a party where you swap yarns. This could be a fun afternoon!

Check on places like Freecycle.org and Craigslist in the free or hobby section. Often times, you can find yarn being sold or given away in lots (boxes of it). They may not be exactly what you need right now, but it’s free yard so you can create projects with it.

Shop thrift stores. There isn’t a single trip to thrift stores that I don’t see yarn in the craft and hobby section for sale for very low prices. What’s great about this tactic, is, you can often get discontinued brands and colors as well as some that may even be vintage. Since yarn is something that often sits on the shelves for a while, you may even get it cheaper if you haggle a bit with the store. Yard sales are also great places to find bargains on yarn and supplies.

Keep your eye out for coupons to craft stores. Many of the major retailers- Hobby Lobby, Michael’s and JoAnne’s, offer discounts of up to 40-50% off retail price at certain points in the year. Sometimes, they even release coupons for 40% off any item in the store so you can use it for that one expensive yarn you have had your eye on when those coupons are printed out. The coupons are often good on the store’s website as well.

Buy wholesale yarn. This tip is more for those that knit or crochet for craft fairs and for their own Etsy site than those who just do it as a hobby, but buying wholesale yarn can really be a bargain if you use that much yarn. Keep in mind that you will be getting a lot, and there are often minimum purchases of $50-$100 or more.

Use rag balls. There are some tutorials on how to do this online, but basically what you do is take old T-shirts and clothing and create a ball of it using strips of the material. You then use it to crochet more chunky styles and it is a great way to reuse materials rather then toss them.

How do you save money on yarn for your crocheting and knitting projects? Let me know in the comments.

Free Knitting and Crochet Patterns

10 Free Knit Scarf Patterns

1o Free Knit Hat Patterns for Men

10 Free Crochet Hat Patterns for Women

10 Free Crochet Boot Cuff Patterns

Find even more free patterns here.

7905 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

Comments

  1. Ellen Rosewall says

    February 7, 2016 at 10:45 am

    Sign up for one of the yarn sale destashing groups on Facebook. Often you can get great deals on handspun, local yarn store excess inventory, and people trying to get rid of stash yarn.

    Reply
  2. Sarah. Bradley says

    January 8, 2016 at 1:46 pm

    Wholesale, yarn paradise is great you can score yarn for 1.00 per 50g with shipping if you shop the sales and bonus is your yarn comes in about two days.

    Reply
  3. Barbara says

    November 20, 2015 at 9:59 am

    I rely on store sales and I shop the website frequently to catch online specials. Sometimes I can score a huge box of ‘name brand’ yarn for under $25.00 with free shipping! No car wear, no gasoline wasted and it comes in my favorite colors! Also purchase the one pound sizes in standard colors, white, black, navy, dark green, etc to save more $. for specialty yarns I check various websites online including ebay and Amazon. As an Amazon prime member most often shipping is free (and no tax if shipper is not in your state).

    Reply
  4. Abigail @ipickuppennies says

    October 29, 2015 at 1:10 pm

    I rely on the craft store coupons. I crochet in the winter to keep my hands busy, which prevents me from snacking as much. The results are a little iffy, but even lumpy scarves keep you warm, right? I don’t them to shelters, so I doubt they’re too picky.

    Reply
  5. Linda Warren says

    August 3, 2015 at 11:10 am

    I go to garage & estate sales. At one sale, I bought some yarn for $55. There was around 300 skeins.

    Reply
  6. Janette says

    March 6, 2015 at 10:12 am

    i buy old knits from charity shops and unravel them. Even old machine knits as the yarn can then be added to others to make really interesting mixes. A good wash and they are as good as new.

    Reply
    • Lisa says

      July 18, 2015 at 3:29 am

      I save money by crocheting for charity and the groups I belong to provide the yarn for me. Also I sell some of my work to recoup the cost of yarn that I do buy

      Reply
    • Lisa says

      April 26, 2018 at 5:13 am

      How do you unravel sweaters? I’ve read this before but never understood how to do this.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Prep-Ahead Breakfasts and Lunches by Alea Milham

Search

Prep-Ahead Meals from Scratch Where to Buy

Recent Articles:

How to Make Homemade Air Freshener Spray

How to Make Homemade Air Freshener Spray

Tips for cleaning lunch boxes, snack gear, and back packs

End of School Year Cleaning Checklist

Easy Summer Cleaning Tips

Easy Summer Cleaning Tips

BROWSE:

  • Blog
  • Cookbooks
  • Recipe Index
  • Members Area

ABOUT:

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclosure

Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

Copyright ©2022, Premeditated Leftovers™. All Rights Reserved.
Design by Pixel Me Designs
7905 shares