I recently posted a video in which I shared my thoughts about the Hobby Lobby brand yarn: Yarn Bee Authentic Hand-Dyed Tonal Yarn. But in that video, I did my best to stick to the facts about the yarn: quality; how it knit up; how it felt; etc. Here, on the blog, I feel like I can share some more feelings as this might be a more appropriate forum for discussion. Personal opinions and feelings are welcome here; hateful speach and outright attacks are not. And that goes for myself as well. I will hold myself to the same standards. So, as an effort to be transparent, any comments that cross this line will be deleted.
Having said all that...let's spill the tea, Sis.
To be honest, this yarn was not my first choice for the projects that I will be making. Like I said in the video, every year I make a pair of socks for my husband and my children on their birthdays. It has become a tradition that everyone still enjoys (at least that's what they tell me to my face 😂). And in 2019 I purchased all the yarn up front from Hutch at Dye Candy Yarns. It was incredibly helpful to have all the wool upfront and to be able to go in the closet and pluck out the required skein when it was time to get started on a pair of birthday socks.
2020 was - as you might expect - not a banner year. With our international move at the end of 2019 and then the COVID pandemic in 2020, I just decided to make due with whatever I had on hand. And I'm not gonna lie; they aren't my favorite creations.
But 2020 was hard for Hutch too. And the beginning of 2021 things just went mental for her and her family. She can explain is best: click here for the deets. Consequently, I couldn't order my 2021 sock yarn from her as the first shop update was too late for me to get the yarn in time to make socks for the first birthday of the year.
Having used up my stash in 2020 I knew that I was going to have to purchase some wool for 2021. I really didn't have a plan as to how this was going to happen, considering the pandemic was still in full effect and vaccines were just starting to roll out. We, as a family, were still hunkered down and only venturing out when necessary. Somehow, in mid March 2021, I found myself in my local Hobby Lobby.
So, we're in Hobby Lobby getting some new markers and a sketch book and, of course, I browse the yarn aisles. And that's when I came across a display of their Yarn Bee Authentic Hand-Dyed Tonal Yarn.
I'd never seen it before. The colors were interesting and varied and it felt like sock yarn. I'm not super great at reading the label fully. I'm more of a tactile textile person. After having made socks for so long, I can generally judge by feel if something will work out right. This had that adequate feel. And I was definitely in a pickle. I needed the yarn and I had waited as long as I could for a shop update from Dye Candy. So I stood in the aisle for a while, riddled with feelings of disloyalty and desperation. Ultimately, I ended up purchasing all the wool I would need for the year because - with my daughter's help - I was able to easily identify 5 different colorways that would suit each person (Yes, this year I got a skein for myself!) and it was on sale. I consoled myself that if I hated the first set of socks, I could return the rest.
Turns out, I didn't hate it. I don't want to rehash everything I said in the video but I do want to discuss my (and your feelings) about this situation. I was stuck for need of wool but felt super disloyal about not supporting my favorite, or any for that matter, indie dyer. I know you get what you pay for and the Yarn Bee Authentic Hand-Dyed Tonal sock yarn is not indie dyer-quality. There is a lack of "lushness" in the feel of the fiber. But it certainly isn't the worst sock yarn I've ever worked with (that honor goes to Linie 2 Supersocke Silk Solid - thank God it's been discontinued!). And, it was relatively inexpensive, so it did make me think, that if you were just starting out knitting socks, picking up a skein like this, might be the way to go. You won't feel so bad if you can't work out the knitting/sock making. But if you do....oh boy, you'll be hooked and will want to venture out and purchase more quality yarns as like the ones you can find at Dye Candy Yarns and other indie-dyers.
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