Hi James,
I wanted to share that Jo-Ann’s (a chain craft store) has half-price sign up days for their classes once per month. The next two half price days are May 7th and June 11th. I am not 100% sure but I think the knitting 101 and crochet 101 basics include supplies. They are under $20 per class, if you sign on the half price days. They also e-mail out either 40% or 50% coupons once per week. Two months ago they had a $5/off any $5 purchase. I was able to buy several circular knitting needles for $1 – $2 each. With the 50% off coupon I can get 7 oz of acrylic yarn for under $1.50. Today, I used the 50% coupons to buy 2 sets of cable needles we needed to learn new stitches. (You can’t use a coupon on a sale item, so you always double check to make sure it’s not on sale at the register.)
I know a lot of readers are probably cringing at my mention of cheap acrylic yarn 🙂 I think higher end yarn/needles and learning from a yarn shop owner is ideal but the cost might prohibit people who are just starting out. I wanted to mention the half-price classes and coupons as an inexpensive way to learn the basic stitches from hands on instruction and obtain some supplies to practice with. There are so many skills within knitting, crocheting, tatting, spinning, looming, etc to dive into later if someone wants to invest more in classes and supplies from a yarn shop. Happy Easter! 🙂 – Lisa E.
JWR Replies: Handspinning, knitting and darning are valuable skills, and I do recommend learning them. But as previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog, those skills are best suited to very long term TEOTWAWKI situations. For most folks, simply buying several Merino wool sweaters at a thrift store and buying a footlocker full of factory-made spare socks will suffice for preparedness for situations lasting up to five years.