Wool for a jumper which is gorgeous but not £££

[Whenisitmysleepytime]

I want to knit myself a jumper.
I want it to be made of lovely wool- possibly merino, but something lovely and soft and warm and snuggly (and not itchy).

But when I've looked (briefly) online it looks like £8+ a ball and I would need 7. Which makes it a bit cost prohibitive.

Any recommendations or suggestions? :)

Try eBay?

If you know anybody going to the US then Knit Picks is fabulous.

www.kempswoolshop.com/ quite often have some very cheap wool or wool mixes.

new lanark mill sell cheap wool spun at their heritage mill. Lovely colours and you can buy a shade card to check colours first

Thanks!

Unfortunately no one I know is heading to USA so no knit picks for me. :(

Kemps website is a bit of a pita on my iPhone so will looki laptop when dh is home again.

Any other ideas? :)

How about scouring your local charity shops for something suitable? Then unravel it and knit it up in your pattern?

I got a handmade cardigan in Patons Australia Shadow Tweed linky for £4! There must be about 8 balls in it!

This is a good shop for quality wools at discount prices. If you don't live nearby they do mail order.
Look down the left side of page to find what you want by brand or ply.
They sell patterns, books & craft items, all discounted, too.

www.blacksheepwools.com/knitting-yarn.html

I love Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran. It's definitely a fair bit cheaper than £8 per ball, it's pure merino, and it is beautifully soft and kind of springy. I think it's about £5 from my local shop, but you might be able to get it more cheaply online.

3 for 2 on wool at Hobbycraft at the moment.

I hate Hobbycraft, it's pretty shit. But I got 9 balls of 4ply wool and a ball of sock yarn for £22 today with a voucher from a knitting mag.

If you go there - CHECK THE DYE LOTS very carefully, they like to put 3 balls each of 20 dyelots on the shelf together

Kemps is good for bargins but it's very hard to navigate as the search facility is shockingly bad.

Blacksheep good, and try cucumberpatch.co.uk they often have good offers. And McADirect - free delivery over £15 and some modest offers. Aileen55 on Ebay is excellent too.

Can you tell us which wool the pattern recommends? Then we can tell you what you can sub it with... you would be surprised what is out there, if you know where to look.

It's this one here

ATM I'm thinking of getting a v cheap 10 ball bag of sublime merino tweed chunky wool off eBay. That would be less than £25 inc postage. :).

The sublime sounds lovely. Go for it.

Remember knitting a gorgeous pure wool garment is never going to be as cheap as buying a ready made cheap acrylic item but you have the pleasure of the knitting as wll as the enjoyment of wearing.

You could also try Rico Design Essentials Soft Merino Aran you will only need eight balls as each ball is 100 yds and your pattern is 720 yards... and here is a coupon to get you a discount and orders over £25 are free P&P.

My work here is done :)

I have knitted many jumpers in my time (often that didn't turn out as hoped) and would offer: Make sure you choose a yarn of the same thickness as the pattern, and choose a good quality yarn because it's a killer when your hours/weeks of work are a bobbly mess after 3 outings.

The Sublime does look lovely but there is a reviewer on Ravelry found it shed/bobbled badly.

You could try King Cole Merino chunky, those are a lovely range of yarns.

Beautiful pattern, thanks for the link.

I came to suggest Garnstudio as their yarn is good price yet good quality. Please don't go for acrylic as it bobbles and won't last the same as proper wool.