The Secret about Crafter's Secret Yarn (and My First Giveaway!)

A couple weeks before my visit back home in the Chicago area ended, I went on a yarn-shopping trip to Hobby Lobby to select some yarn for a Cath Kidston-inspired afghan I'm making. I was perusing the choices when, out of the corner of my eye, a few skeins of brightly colored yarn practically leapt off the shelf at me. As if the colors weren't enough to attract me, the label wrapped around each skein sealed the deal...I had to see just exactly what they were.

I know I'm not familiar with every brand of yarn, but I feel like I'm pretty well-versed with what the area craft stores carry. But this brand...I'd never seen it before. A bright-colored label, boasting pretty flowers, ferns, a ball of yarn and knitting needles told me the brand was called "Crafter's Secret". Whatever Crafter's Secret was, I needed to be let in on it, then and there.

I picked up a brilliant turquoise blue skein of Crafter's Secret yarn and took a closer look at the label. "Who makes this wonderfully packaged, colorful skein of yarn?" I wondered. A turn of the label was all I needed to find the answer: Hobby Lobby. It was one of Hobby Lobby's own brands.

Admittedly, I've not used a lot of Hobby Lobby brand yarns. I'm currently working on my second project with their "I Love This Cotton" and have to say it's the softest cotton yarn I've ever used, and I really, really like it. Knowing that a purchase of any of the Crafter's Secret yarns would be based purely on "want" and not "need", I selected these four skeins and added them to my already overflowing shopping basket.

Now do you see why I couldn't pass them up?! Being a writer and a researcher, I went directly home to my computer to see what else I could find out about Crafter's Secret. And here's what I found: nothing. Still, nothing would put a damper on the delight I felt at finding such beautiful yarn.

In this post about my early springtime projects, I shared the above picture. Soon after, I received several emails as well as questions through social media about Crafter's Secret -- what was it? Where did it come from? What colors did the yarn come in? Was it true that Hobby Lobby was going to do away with other brands and only sell there's? They were all good questions, and I wanted to know the answers just as much as everyone else did. So the writer/researcher in me went to work.

Yesterday, I connected with a very nice customer service specialist at Hobby Lobby whom we'll call A. I enlisted A's help so I could dig deeper and find out for myself and everyone else what the low-down was on Crafter's Secret. Here's what I learned:

Information on Crafter's Secret Yarn

•  Crafter's Secret is indeed a Hobby Lobby brand and will be sold only at Hobby Lobby stores. 
• Area buyers have sole discretion over the yarns each store carries. There's no way to shed light on which yarns will be carried and which ones won't due to the fact that stock varies per area.
• At this time, there are 34 colors in the Crafter's Secret line.
• At the time of purchase, in a Chicago area store, I paid $2.99 for each 7-ounce (199 grams) skein. 

Now for the fun part...the colors. You see, Crafter's Secret yarn appealed to me for another reason. The names are unique, fun and full of life. Orange isn't orange, blue isn't blue, and yellow isn't yellow. Of course, they are to the eye. But the label gives each color a name and personality all it's own.

And that's where the contest and giveaway come in!

While talking to Hobby Lobby Customer Service Specialist A., I requested a list of color names so I would be able to tell you how many color choices there are and what they are. I'm going to give you all the color names (except one that's abbreviated and is even a mystery to me...I couldn't crack the code!), which leads to the contest....

How to Play

1. Look over the color names, and guess the names of the four skeins of yarn pictured in this post. 
2. In the comment area, leave your guess in the order the skeins are pictured, from top to bottom. 
3. You may guess as often as you wish, with each guess being in a separate comment.
4. Guesses will be taken until the end of the day on Wednesday (April 2nd).
5. Whomever guesses them all correctly (or comes closest), wins!

The Prize

Now I'd love to say that the prize is four skeins of Crafter's Secret but, unfortunately, I'm overseas now and can't get to a Hobby Lobby to buy and ship it. Instead, I will give the winner a PDF copy of my first two crochet pattern eBooks, Crochet Crazy Baby Cocoon & Matching Hat Patternsand Four Infinity Scarf Patterns to Keep You Warm.If there are many, many contestants, I'll probably be inclined to give a copy of one to the runner-up, as well. But there's got to be more than at least 10 guessers for that.  The color list is below.

Crafter's Secret Colors:

SKU#          Color Name

704890        ALPINE SNOW
401778        KYOTO PEARL
411561        PEARL FLECK
548982        SAMOAN SAND
705277        MAGNOLIA WAY
109157        BRISBANE BROWN
516666        WARSAW
763102        HONEY RIDER
233643        SUMMER MAGIC
516781        PASSPORT
317404        I LOVE CAMO!
542415        JINX
705640        I'M JEALOUS
705590        PEPPER.COM
669077        BIG APPLE RED
705558        BLACK CHERRY
591768        CKFLKCHERRY (this is the mystery one I can't figure out, maybe you can!)
705517        PRINCESS
109207        PASSION
316992        ARE WE THERE YET?
549006        MIAMI BEAT!
705665        LIL BUTTERCUP
516807        GONE WISHIN'
669085        A GRAPE FIT!
764944        NOSEGAY
590505        UNFORGETTABLE
705293        BLUE MOON
705319        MIDNIGHT TEAL
404186        HYDRANGEA
317412        ROAD HOUSE BLUES
500926        RUSSIAN NAVY
109181        FABULOUS
542332        SPLASH
232553        CASTLE ROCK

So, now you know the secret of Crafter's Secret. If you've got a Hobby Lobby near you, I encourage you to give it a try. My four luscious skeins will be made into a summer afghan in bright, happy colors that remind me of flower, the beach, carefree summer days and the wind blowing in my hair. I look forward to hearing what you think of Crafter's Secret, and...

Let the contest begin!!

UPDATE: And the winner is....Quiltzyx (aka Sue) who guessed two of the four names correctly! Congratulations Sue!

From top to bottom, the yarn colors I have pictures are:

• Splash (turquoise blue)
• Passion (raspberry pink)
• Are We There Yet? (orange)
• Miami Beat! (yellow) 

Thank you to everyone who participated in my giveaway! I look forward to hosting the next one soon.