Friday, August 5, 2011

Yarn U - iPhone App Review



I received the Yarn U app for my iPhone for free in return for a review from Mary Beth Klatt, the app owner, through Ravelry

I played around with it last night and it is quite interesting!  It lists tons of yarn by brand name or by weight and has all the specifications about it in one place along with a link on where to purchase it.  It is quite helpful!

A cool feature is that there are pictures of the yarns.  If you have ever been into a large yarn store (I live in Massachusetts so Webs is local to me - don't be jealous!), it can be very overwhelming in finding something specific.  Knowing what the label looks like is very helpful!  Another cool feature is that users can post comments about the yarns listed.  Some comments listed were regarding current sales, wearability and quality of the yarn.  It is helpful to have in case you were trying to decide between yarns.

My only complaint is that there are many brand names and different products within them that are not listed; but a nice variety is available. For example, they have Knit Picks yarn available (which is my favorite place to buy yarn lately) but only 12 types of yarns are listed when there are so many more. I know, there are tons of yarns out there and I cannot expect all brands to be listed.

I would like to suggest adding some of the more inexpensive and readily available brand names found at Michael's, AC Moore, Joann's and Wal-Mart such as Lion Brand, Red Heart, Caron and more.  As a newer knitter (I began knitting in January), I still have a hard time spending money on expensive yarns for my every day projects.  I will often try a new pattern on Red Heart before diving into some hand dyed yarns such as Dancing Dog Dyeworks that I have splurged on.

Another suggestion would be to have the ability to compare yarns.  Often times, as a newbie, I want to get the suggested yarn for a project.  If I could compare it to another one, it could simplify the process of finding a substitution.

Overall, I think that this is a very useful app for anyone who knits or crochets.  A special thanks to Mary Beth for allowing me review this app for her!  :)

1 comment:

  1. Thank you, Diane, for your review. I know there are glaring gaps in the product lines. Some of it I can control, others I can't. Sometimes I get distracted by pretty project pictures for different yarns, just like in a LYS!

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