Ever since that game came out, my husband has wanted them to make and sell a Sackboy plush of some kind, since he would most certainly buy one. Well, they have not done so yet (to our knowledge), or if they have the quality is less than stellar.

However, there is a knitting designer in England who knitted up a Sackboy and created a pattern for it, and it is in an English knitting magazine (also sold in the U.S.).   We now have the pattern in hand, and he has asked (begged? LOL) for me to knit one up for him.

The knitting itself doesn’t look too difficult, but it requires a lot of sewing for the finishing – which I really dislike having to sew on a knitted project.  So all I can say is – once I’m done with it, he sure better appreciate it! LOL

Anyway.  I went looking online for the suggested yarn for the project, and being that the designer is in the UK, he (yes, he) suggests a yarn that is produced in the UK (but also sold in the U.S.).   It quickly became apparent that this particular yarn, while sold in the U.S., still isn’t very easy to find, and if a store happened to sell it, it was most likely out of stock.  The stores that did have it in stock, were selling it for about $5.00 per skein/ball.

However I did not limit myself to just U.S. based stores, I also checked some UK stores… And wouldn’t you know it, I found a UK store online selling this yarn for 1.61 GBP (1.85 GBP w/VAT tax)… which is about $2.40 USD??

So, I wondered how much it would cost to ship a few skeins to the U.S.? I decided I’d order five skeins – the pattern calls for 2 skeins per Sackboy, and I figure if I can make one for my husband, I’ll also make one for myself, so I ordered enough for two Sackboys and one extra skein just in case.  So, five skeins.   That came out to like 8.05 GBP, and shipping?  3.05 GBP… So grand total of 11.10 GBP, which they converted to $16.68 USD.

Score!  I couldn’t even get THREE skeins of that yarn in the U.S. for that much (with shipping).  Sure, it may take a bit longer to get here than if I ordered it in the U.S., but who cares?  I’m not in a huge rush to knit this stuff up, so I can tolerate a week or so extra of shipping time to save myself probably over $10!

I think I’ll have to bookmark that site and order from them again in the future depending on what my yarn needs are and if their prices are that much lower compared against U.S. prices, and if it doesn’t take months for my order to arrive. 😀

Tags: England, Knitting Magazine, Little Big Planet, Sewing, Skeins, Yarn