Skip to main content

Posts

Look Back

I kicked off a very busy October by working up and finishing this V-stitched pearl and abalone Sea throw, made entirely from thrifted yarn. My first mini-quilt of October was a wee patchwork piece made from scraps from my Halloween quilt. I crocheted these two baskets using video tutorial patterns by Jayda in Stitches on YouTube . I finished half a row on this granny stitch ripple baby blanket that I thrifted to complete it. My second mini-quilt for the month was a bit of a bead fest, which helped me practice my limited dexterity. I finished and delivered my fourth big project this year for my day job. Inspired by that baby blanket I finished, I made this granny ripple stitch throw with thrifted yarn from my stash. My third mini-quilt for October was a little art piece about healing and self-respect. My Halloween week mini-quilt had a little spooky scrap patchwork. I made twelve ghosts out of thrifted shop rags, styrofoam balls and scrap yarn. I...
Post a Comment
Read more
Recent posts

A Wish

Happy Halloween! Image credit: Image by Alexa from Pixabay
Post a Comment
Read more

Yarn Plus Lot

Here's a lot of yarn that I thrifted for $9.99. The description of the lot in the original listing was "Vintage Misti Alpaca Loops & Threads Cowgirl Blues Yarn & Yarn Tools & More", which along with the photos convinced me it was worth the price. There are two bags of what look like unfinished embroidery projects. I was curious about those. There are also at least six twisted hank-type skeins of fingering weight yarn in the lot. That kind of yarn tends to be very pricey; the Misti Alpaca runs about $16.00 a skein on Etsy. I want to try crocheting some slipper socks this winter, and thrifted yarn is best for that kind of experiment. Thing is, bidders usually snap up any kind of fingering weight yarn the minute it's listed, and have big bidding wars over it. I think they just missed it in this lot because it's hard to see mixed in with with regular yarn. We'll see if I got a real bargain in a few days when the lot arrives. Stay ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Progress

Another thing that's nice about crochet for me: I'm pretty fast, even with arthritic hands. Here's the ripple granny stitch throw I'm working on during deadline week. It's working up quickly, and really helps clear my head at the end of each day. The stitches will look a little better once I've washed and blocked the throw, but I am having a little trouble with the turns in the down bends of the rows. Last night I had a flare in the middle of crocheting, which was a first, so the arthritis is putting up a fight against the therapy. I changed my mind about the darker colors I'd pulled from my stash and swapped them out for some lighter shades. I want this throw to have a gentler contrast between rows so it's less stripey and more, well, ripply. Yes, that blue is about as dark as I want to go. I've been thinking what to call this one, as I usually name everything, and since it was inspired by another maker's baby blanket I'...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cheap Pants

I needed a few more pairs of long pants for fall and winter, so I checked at the thrift auction, and found these 3 pair of new with tags in my size listed for $8.99. That's basically three dollars a pair, which you cannot find in stores. I bid and won the lot for that price with no challengers. When the arrived, the only problem with the pants is that they're not my size -- the listing was wrong. Because they're too big, however, I can tailor them to fit me. Now look at the price tags. All three were originally sold for $49.50 each. That's $148.50 before tax. Although I will have to alter them I saved $139.51 by buying them from Goodwill. Thrift your clothes, my friends. Image Credit: The first image in this post came from the original auction listing at ShopGoodwill.com.
Post a Comment
Read more

Thrift Watch

Sometimes I wonder if I'm too paranoid about situations and things that can injure me. I've been like this since my long stint working in various ERs treating folks for every kind of accidental injury you can think of, from deeply embedded wood splinters from tree trimming that got infected and ultimately cost them a finger to falls off house roofs while hanging Christmas lights that turned them into paraplegics. Sorry, I had to slip one in about the holidays, which happen to be a nightmare for any ER. Here's a ball of yarn I thrifted. I thrift all my yarn, and there's nothing to be afraid of, right? Pink, fluffy, innocent. I could use this with no problem, right? Nope. Whether accidentally (probably) or on purpose (less likely but scary) someone stuck a sewing needle into the ball of yarn. A rusty sewing needle. And you wonder why I dislike pink so much, huh? Never a good luck color. I was fortunate that I noticed it sticking out versus getting st...
Post a Comment
Read more

Change as Self-Care

For me self-care is turning out to be more than just doing nice things for myself. It's making changes in what I do and how I do it to avoid problems and be realistic as well as kinder to myself. I was looking through my photo archives and found this pic from last year around this time. I was within eight weeks or so of finishing my calendar mood blanket, and it already covered our king size bed. That was when I realized I'd made it a lot bigger than the original pattern, probably due to my choice to use thrifted worsted weight yarn, the bigger hook I employed, and my hand problems creating bigger rather than smaller stitches. As I recall I wasn't really upset about it -- stuff happens when you make stuff -- but now I think I need to start actually checking the gauge before I began a crochet project. I've always eyeballed it since, well, forever, and it's time to stop doing that to avoid disappointment. For a while now I've been forbidding myself ...
Post a Comment
Read more