Now Go Buy Some Yarn!

Hi SoS-ers!

I wanted to thank everyone for participating in the Summer of Stash. What began as a simple idea to try to focus more on knitting and less on acquiring more yarn has become a chance to read a lot of new blogs and learn a lot from my fellow knitters.

I have loved reading these last posts where everyone has been sharing their successes, their disappointments and the lessons they learned from taking a break from knitting. I love how each of you have taken away something different from the SoS.

Something that I learned is that things out here in the blogosphere sometimes grow bigger than you expect. I am very new to blogging, having just started my blog in January. I certainly did not expect for this KAL to have over 100 participants, and at no time did I ever encourage others to get on any bandwagon.

I think one thing that we have all learned is to be a little more choosy with our yarn budgets. Many people talked about buying yarn with a purpose, and not just because it was one sale, clearance, or being discontinued.

With that said, I want all of you SoS-KAL-ers to consider supporting an independent yarn producer now that the Summer is over. The 100 or so of us taking the summer off from buying yarn certainly did not hurt the mega-marts, craft centers, large yarn companies, or even the bottom line of your local yarn shop. But please consider the impact that your yarn purchasing dollar has on an independent yarn producer. There are a lot of incredible yarn dyers and spinners out there making a beautiful product.

Here are a few that I could think of, in no particular order. If you have more to add, please post them in the next day or so, and please, support one of these small businesses if you can.

Sundara Yarn
Knitterly Things (the home of Vesper Sock Yarn)
Black Bunny Fibers
Sunshine Yarns
Sweet Georgia Yarns
Scout's Swag
Mama-E's C*EYE*Ber Fiber
Yarntini

Thanks to everyone for participating.

NOW GO BUY SOME YARN!