Interweave Knits' WebWatch

Internet yarn shopping, eh?
Okay, you asked for it. Get your bookmarking finger ready. And if you're on some kind of misguided yarn diet [who ever heard of such a crazy thing?] or even trying to stick to a budget, you probably don't want to keep reading. It'll just hurt too much.

You've been warned.

Here are my favorite sites to visit for yarn and knitting stuff on the web. Remember: this is my personal list, compiled from several years of online browsing. I haven't ordered from every site on the list, but I have visited each of them and these are the ones I return to again and again, because each offers something I can't find locally.

Elann: Hands down, my favorite daily browse. Almost every weekday at 9am eastern time, a new yarn is listed on their "What's New" page. Elann offers discontinued yarns or colors at often-huge discounts, and sometimes they even offer current yarns cheaper than you'll find everywhere else. I *have* ordered from Elann, many times, and their customer service is top notch.

Knitting Garden: this site offers the most useful feature I've found anywhere: pictures of patterns in pattern books AND the schematics with yarn requirements. Before you order, you can see exactly what size the garment you want to make is and how much yarn you'll need. Comprehensive, professional and a wonderful resource.

eBay: The legal addictive drug source for knitters on a budget. Search their yarn listings and you'll often find stuff long gone from the stores for less than retail. Many people operate their yarn business solely out of eBay, and you can find by-the-bag deals here on Rowan and other non-North-American yarns that are really tempting. Don't get caught up in auction fever, though; think before you bid. [Everyone I knit with has at least one cone of something horrid they bought on eBay. Don't be like us.]

Wool Needlework: A quirky little site that often offers Noro, Debbie Bliss, Berroco, Gedifra and other premium yarns at a good discount. I've heard they have a tendency to run out of stock, but for the savings you'll get, it might be worth the wait.

Discount Yarn Sale: I stumbled across this one last week and it's only gotten better since then. This is a new by-the-bag shop with a minimum $30 order. It's my guess that they don't carry much inventory. So there's a wait involved when you order, but they let you know it up front. The trade off is that you get yarn for less than retail, and the selection is increasingly awesome every day. Yummy.

Royal Yarns: A nice, clean, well-laid-out site that offers a free ball for every 5 you purchase. Nice!

Rosie's Yarn Cellar: They put a different yarn on sale every week. Nice site, too.

Knitpicks: An interesting site that offers free delivery for orders over $30 in the US [shame they don't do the same for Canada, hint hint]. They offer one colorway in a specific yarn at a substantial discount [they change the yarn from time to time]...the savings are usually 40%! A nice sale selection, too.

Webs: If you use lots of yarn, this is affordable cone heaven. A good selection of cottons, too. Nice treat: if your order is $60 or more, you save 20%. They offer a sample book for $25[ish] and if you're going to order a lot, I'd suggest you get it. Colors are so impossible to read over the web and a bargain is only a bargain if you get what you were expecting.

Interlacements: Check the limited-edition section for 700-yard skeins of hand-dyed yarn for $25! The retail section is mighty fine, too. A heavy offering of cotton blends can be found here along with wool blends, and the colorways are really delish.

Posted 7:34 AM PST

Ooh! Shopping!
Since way back, I've been a huge fan of shopping without walking into a store. Catalog shopping? You bet, since the early 1980s.

So when the world wide web started to become a new platform for my favorite stores, I jumped right in.

Online shopping, when done smartly, is an excellent way to get what you need. Or what you want [which is often more fun].

If you've never bought a thing online, you are either frugal with your money or hesitant to trust that online shopping is safe. I can't help with the first one, but the second, no problem.

Your first stop should be Safeshopping.org. This site is provided by the American Bar Association and will give you a good understanding of web-browser security, the safest methods of payment [the ones that give you some recourse should you run across a bad vendor] and lots more.

Around the world, here are some other resources:

The Shopsafe websites [there are versions for the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand] offer a number of services. They provide a list of online vendors that offer secure shopping. That means that your data [credit card information and other private stuff like name, address and phone number] is sent securely through the web to the vendor. They have, they say, independently rated each seller and assigned a star rating. However, as their disclaimer states, "A listing on Shopsafe is not an endorsement of the vendor's services." So this might be a good resource, but make sure you feel comfortable with the seller before you push the PURCHASE button.

You've heard of the Better Business Bureau, but did you know they were online? More than 17,000 businesses have voluntarily signed up stating that they adhere to the BBB's standards for ethical online business practises. Businesses that don't are not allowed to remain in the program. You can search by state, zip code and keyword, or browse the alphabetical listing of participants.

BizRate is a mighty handy service. They've been around since 1996, and operate by asking consumers what they think of a purchase they've made after the item has been delivered. They rate on-time delivery, quality of customer service, and such handy bits of information. They also allow you to search for a specific item [say a digital camera] and show you the lowest price at a variety of online stores as well as those vendors' ratings. How do they make money? They take the information on consumer buying habits and trends that they collect and sell it as market research. Rather clever. A good site to bookmark and check before you make any significant online purchase.

You give out a lot of information when you buy something online. What will the vendor do with that information? If you see the TRUSTe logo, that tells you that the vendor has a clearly worded privacy policy in place and sticks to it. Read more at the site to see exactly what that means to you.

All of this information is useful if you're going to buy stuff online from cars to groceries. Buying knitting stuff online means you need to know about this stuff, and more.

And that's for next time.

Posted 5:31 PM PST