Have you tried going into any of your local yarn stores to ask the owner or employees? They can be a wealth of information.

I've never even seen a local yarn store here in the suburbs. There's yarn in the craft stores, so I assume that's where people buy ttheir supplies. I kind assumed such places were gone long ago...but maybe not. A google search is in order....

Sometimes you'll find yarn stores where you least expect them. You can go to the web site for a yarn company (Plymouth Yarn, for example), and then check to find where in your area there is a store that carries their yarn. Plymouth Yarn is considered to be a high-end yarn, so not all yarn stores carry it, though. You could have 20 yarn stores within three blocks of you without any of them carrying Plymouth!

The Knit Picks web site also has a store locator, to find yarn stores that carry, for example, their needles.

Anyway, checking various yarn sites will only cost you a few minutes of your time, and you might be pleasantly surprised at what you find.

Good luck!!!

I just found this site while searching for some free patterns. The "About Us" page (to which I'll include the link below) says that they have every issue of Vogue Knitting back to the 1930s. So, there's a good chance that the folks there will at least know where to find the answers you seek, if they don't already know the answer themselves.

Here is a link that might be useful: About Us -- A Good Yarn

This post was edited by Lindsey_CA on Mon, Jan 6, 14 at 3:49