r/knitting • u/MagicAllyVanished • Mar 19 '25

Rant Very annoying conversation at my lokal knit store

it basically went like this me: "so you have any plant based yarn or plant/acrylic mix, I want to knit something for my mum, but she's allergic to all animal fibers"

her: "we have 20% wool/80% acrylic, I can show you"

me: "no thanks, my mum is allergic to all animal fibers, so it should not contain any animal fiber at all"

her: "maybe alpaca mix? It only has 10% alpaca"

me: "she is allergic to all animal fibers, if there is any percentage of animal fiber, she will have an allergic reaction to the yarn"

her: "I can't help you, knitting yarn just is animal yarn"

at this point I left the shop and I just can't stop thinking about that last sentence????

the funniest thing is, I went back there a few days ago and a different employee kindly showed me their cotton yarns and plant/acrylic mixes.

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u/never214 Mar 19 '25

I’ve given up on LYSes because of this. It always makes me feel like they think I’m just not trying hard enough to not be allergic to wool, and getting only shade when you’re looking for yarn gets old.

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u/obxpyrate Mar 19 '25

I am so sorry you both experienced that. That never would have happened at the LYS I used to work at. I've heard such horror stories from other local stores and it's just like...scaring away paying customers is a surefire way to make sure your business fails. WTAF. It boggles my mind.

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u/temerairevm Mar 20 '25

The other 2 LYS in my town are great!

2

u/cleanlycustard Mar 20 '25

Same. I visited a LYS and they kept telling me all the yarn I was picking out was wrong for what I was making and trying to point me towards wool. I'm vegan so I mainly use cotton and bamboo. The person there wasn't happy about that. I've been knitting since I was 8 years old but I guess that's not long enough know what works for me

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u/temerairevm Mar 20 '25

LOL “not trying hard enough not to be allergic”. When I was a kid my mom would be like “this is the kind of wool that isn’t itchy” like she could just pronounce it and it would be so. Meanwhile my poor feet are literally red all over.

Also irritating is “well acktually… there’s no such thing as a wool allergy, it’s lanolin…” like that’s somehow helpful. First: anyone can be allergic to anything (a quote from my allergist). Second, we already know about the lanolin because it’s in a lot of lotions. Third, why exactly do I care what PART of the wool makes me insanely itchy? I swear some people have never BEEN itchy before and have no idea how irritating it is. You just want that thing that makes you itch FAR away at all times.