Oh yes, I remember those skeins of wool and the two person job involved in winding it into balls.
When i was 21, in 1966, I came back from being an au pair girl in Vienna, and one day went to Dewsbury market for some knitting wool. It was sold in skeins at a very reasonable price. Anyway, i asked the woman running the stall for a particular colour, and she called out to her husband in the back - in Viennese German! I joined in the conversation in German, and we got talking about Vienna, where they'd lived before the Nazi era. They had got out in 1938 and never ever went back (understandably, as the were Jewish)
Anyway, i was able to tell them all about Vienna, and some of the places they'd lived and worked.....it was really lovely talking to them, and after that I always got discount!!
When I was 28 my husband and I moved to New Zealand, land of sheep, but I was horrified how expensive wool was there. It can be expensive here in Australia too, though you can get acrylic very cheaply.
I would really like to get my knitting skills back. When I was about 15, I once knitted my little 8 year old sister an aran sweater - and made up the pattern myself because I could only find aran in adult patterns. I never got that good at knitting again!!!!