starting the New Year in the right way

How?
By adding to the stash, of course!

Last week, I visited the Big Box Store (not the real name of the store; it’s a crafts and home-wares chain store) to buy some fabric to bind Dotty Bright. While there, I found myself in the yarn department and picked up a couple of bargains that weren’t advertised in the catalogue (they were specials in this store only).

Let me explain: The store had some yarn they wanted to clear so they marked it down to clearance prices. It wasn’t moving quickly enough, so a sign on the table advertised 50% off the clearance prices!

So here are my purchases:

Firstly, sock yarn (as if I needed any more!): I don’t have these two colourways and at $2.50 for 100g I couldn’t resist! This particular yarn, at full price, is $11.99 for 100g.

And no, I’m no trying to brag; I want overseas readers to understand how much we pay for craft materials here. Remember, this is a chain store with discount prices, sock yarn at my local LYS starts at $24.99 a ball!

Secondly, what I consider my bargain of the month – not only was it heavily discounted, but the sale yarn included my favourite colour!

It’s a 90/10 blend of cotton/silk. It was marked down to $3.00 a ball and to clear it out, they were taking another 50% off. Twenty balls (all in the same dye lot) for $30.00 – what a bargain!

On Saturday I returned to the store. This time I had DD with me. It’s a rare treat for her to get out without the boys so she made the most of it. I could say it was all her fault but it wasn’t really; I had already made up my mind what to buy before I got there.

Before I go any further, overseas readers probably need to know that fabric in this chain store normally starts at $12.99 a metre, and in Australian quilt stores, fabric starts at $24.99 a metre. (Just take a moment to absorb that…     Okay, you can resume normal breathing now!)

So you can understand that when I say “bargain”, I mean BARGAIN (sorry for shouting)!

I bought three metres of each of these fabrics for $4.00 a metre (yes you read that correctly!) That amounts to a discount of 67%-75%!

These fabrics were purchased with the intention of using them as backings. I’ve used the top one already! (yes, that means there's quilting in progress but that's another post)

And I bought at least two metres of each of these solids. The normal price of homespun in this store is $6.99 a metre – at $4.89 a metre it seemed like a good time to stock up. (What’s that? How much is homespun in LQS? Oh, $14.99 a metre! Do I need to remind you to breathe again?)

Navy, Natural, Black, Sand, Petunia, Grass Green, Chestnut, White, Fig, Iron, Regatta Blue

 This fabric was bought for sashing and binding.

DD found these two fabrics in the remnant bin and somehow they found their way into my purchases. The one on the left is homespun, more reddish than shown here. The one on the right is flannelette.


And finally I bought this fabric to make a quilted tablecloth for our new glass topped (outdoor) table. There is enough there to make a couple of placemats for when there is only WM and I.


And, it doesn't stop there: I won these eight fat quarters from a give-away late last year on Wish Upon a Star blog.

Thanks Mrs A! I don’t know what I’ll do with them but I’m sure I’ll think of something!

So, I guess I’d better get sewing!

adding to the stash (again)

I’m still on a yarn and stash diet. I haven’t fallen off the wagon. My rule was that I could buy any yarn or fabric as long as it had a specific (short term) purpose. There should be no adding to the stash just because I love something, or because it’s on sale.

I have not broken the rules with my most recent purchases.

Firstly, there was this fabric for my niece’s baby’s play quilt. All except the solid are from The Very Hungry Caterpillar range of fabrics.

The left photo is a glimpse of the top which I have finished and the right is the backing fabric (to be used in conjunction with the spots and solid).

The green in this photo is the backing and sashing fabric I have chosen to go with my Christmas Tree embroideries and the waves fabric is to be the backing for a cushion/pillow which I’m making as a gift.

I won these two sweet Japanese fabrics in a give-away on Val’s blog.

Val also included this little handbag charm – how cute! I didn’t see it until I went to take the photos today so a special thank you, Val, and please forgive me for not mentioning it in my email to you.

Carol, at FunThreads, sent me this little package of fabric for the I Spy quilt I plan to make for my grandsons. Thank you so much, Carol. It was very kind of you.

This is Older Grandson’s favourite fabric square.

I’d better move that I Spy quilt up the “to do” list, I think!

As for the yarn, I have purchased only two 100g skeins.

Yes, I know it’s acrylic and I said I wasn’t buying any more acrylic but I have a bag full of acrylic yarn to use up and a great idea in mind, so I purchased these two because they were on sale and because they were colours I didn’t already have in my collection.

I didn't buy this yarn but it is now in my stash. It is 100g of Crazy Zauberball – a yarn for making matching socks becasue two strands of yarn are placed alongside each other and dyed together -- giving a perfect match!

This was the prize for the most popular item in the One Skein Challenge at our knitters’ guild meeting last month. Thanks to all the members who voted for my Extended Swallowtail Shawl.

Time to get back to those WIPs  that I mentioned in my last post! One is now finished so there should be a celebratory post soon!

adding to the stash (with purpose)

Life has been really hectic since the conference at the beginning of the month. I have been knitting but not much sewing has been going on.

However, there has been some time to add to the stash – and have others add to it!

At the end-of-winter sale at the Big Box Store I bought six metres of polar fleece. This will be used to make doggie blankets for the local animal shelter.

I won a 45cm x 45cm (18” x 18”) piece of beautiful fabric from Ink and Spindle from Helene’s blog. It is organic cotton/hemp. I have no idea what I will do it – at the moment I just admire it! Thanks, Helene.

Several months ago, Cindy, of Tops to Treasures, made me smile with one of her fabric purchases (from Hancocks). When she finished with the fabric, she kindly offered to send me a small scrap for the “I Spy” quilt I will eventually get around to making for my grandsons. Along with the scrap that made me smile, she also sent these:

Older Grandson will love this monkey fabric and those synchronised swimmers (on the left) bring a big grin to my face!

And here is part of the original “scrap” that made me smile. It is so ridiculous that I just cant help grinning!

Thank you so much Cindy!

On the yarn front, there have also been purchases “with purpose” and a couple just because I could!

Firstly, I needed yarn to knit a blanket for my new great-nephew. I didn't knit in advance because I was hoping the baby would be a girl -- I have a lot of pink cotton in my stash!  But it wasn't to be, so it was off to the store for some "boy" yarn! This is a bamboo/acrylic blend which means it can be machine-washed: a quality most young mothers appreciate!

While in the Big Box Store I found a new range of yarn – “new” in the sense that I have never seen this brand before. They had three varieties – a 100% wool in an 8ply, a silk/merino blend in an 8ply (DK weight) and the one I purchased – a 4ply sock yarn. All of them are very reminiscent of Noro yarns but at about half the price!


I returned to the Big Box Store on Wednesday to see what they had on sale. I wanted to knit a lightweight (summer) cardigan for myself. I need it to go with everything in my wardrobe. I didn’t go with any particular pattern in mind so had to guess how much yarn I would require! I can do that with no problems in 8ply but I think I miscalculated when I bought 20 x 50g balls of this viscose yarn:


Just as well it was on sale! Viscose is a plant fibre, originally wool pulp, but has been treated to be super soft. It also has the most beautiful sheen which is hard to see in the photo. I really wanted the grey but they only had fifteen balls and it was three different dyelots – and yes, there was quite a discrepancy between the shades of grey in the balls.

I could also imagine a beige or stone-coloured cardigan going with everything in my wardrobe so I also bought fifteen balls of this cotton/acrylic blend.

This colour is so wrong – in reality it is a lovely, soft beige colour.

I have had no success with cotton in the past – it always stretches way out of shape on the first wearing so I’m hoping the acrylic will help it maintain its shape but that it also won’t be too hot.

And, I couldn’t resist the last two balls of this yarn on special. I can imagine this 50% wool/50% acrylic blend as the Lady Eleanor Stole (Ravelry link) – a lot brighter than the original!

I’d better get knitting if our great-nephew is to get his blanket and I am to get a new cardigan!

on and off the needles

Firstly, thank you all for your kind comments and emails regarding my internet fiasco! I really appreciated each and every one of them. Yesterday, I spent over an hour (knitting and) watching a fourteen minute video from my course. I watched two minutes of the second video in half an hour – time to give up when it gets that slow!

I have been knitting and sewing as well as spending a lot of time on the computer. Today the knitted objects have the limelight.

I have continued to knit cowls and mitts for the charities I support.

I indulged my interest in stranded colour-work to use up some of the left-overs from previous cowls.

As winter approaches I appreciate having a roof over my head and a warm bed to sleep in and I really feel for the homeless and less fortunate at this time of year.

I also couldn’t restrain myself from seeing how this yarn knitted up. DD won a ball of novelty yarn, Carmen by Mondial (Italian), at the Knitters’ Guild meeting last month. I didn’t take a photo of the ball but here is a snippet of the yarn – it’s basically variegated blue tape with little dangling yellow pieces every couple of inches. The second picture is the detail of the knitted yarn.

DD gave the ball to me because she doesn’t have the patience to knit novelty yarns. The vendor at the meeting claimed that a scarf could be knitted from one ball.
As you can see, it’s a very small scarf even knitted on needles one size larger than recommended (6.5mm - 10.5 US). This one is approximately 10cm (4”) wide and (90cm) 36” long. Ah well, some young girl will probably like it.

Mothers’ Day is approaching and I found myself wondering about a gift for my mother. I have already knitted a pair of striped socks which she knows about but have added a second pair. I hope she likes them because they are fraternal not identical!

On Tuesday evening, I foolishly thought I could get another pair finished before Sunday. A cuff-down pair with baby cable rib and a gusset heel (instead of my usual hourglass heel).I am using Cleckheaton Cocoon (70% wool – 30% polyamide). This is the first sock at the time of writing.

Do you think I can get them finished given that WM and I are leaving for northern NSW this afternoon and will be at mum's late morning tomorrow?

yarny gifts

Back in September, I was supposed to tutor a workshop on knitting socks from the toe up. It didn't happen because I was sick. A very dear non-blogging friend, D., was going to assist me with the workshop. She always has socks on the needles and normally knits her socks cuff down but she is willing to give other methods a try.

We met a couple of weeks before the date of the workshop to talk and to correct any mistakes in my sample pattern (which D. had test knitted). That day, D. realised that I did not have any hand knitted socks of my own.

A few days later these arrived in the post. They are Nanner Socks from "wendyknits" and the yarn is Julie Spins Superwash Merino (colour: Pickle). Unfortunately the socks were too small; I couldn't easily get them on over my heel. But I was very grateful to be the owner of such gorgeous, beautifully knitted socks.
About a week later, another parcel arrived from D. Inside were these socks in my favourite colour. They are Simple Socks by Cat Bordhi knitted cuff down in Hedgehog Sock yarn (colour: Hush). Before the weather got too warm for socks, I wore them on several occasions.

I am very blessed to have such a wonderful and generous friend. Thank you, D.

On top of that, Sally, who blogs at PomPom, celebrated her 2000th post with a give away. I didn't write the 2000th comment but apparently I am the person who has commented the most so I also won a prize. Thank you, Sally.

Some yarn-y goodness arrived at my place a couple of days ago -- sock yarn made in Germany by Schoppel Wolle. Sally wrote that she has never seen this yarn in Australia, so I can only assume she bought it on a recent trip to England. Looking at the packaging, I think the colour way is called Sputnik Welle (which translates, according to Bing, as "Sputnik Wave"). It is 100g of very soft hand-dyed yarn -- two strands dyed together to get identical socks. The packaging even comes with instructions to unwind the two strands without getting into a tangle! How cool is that?