Valerean

It's time for another round of wannabuts, or thrift lots that I want but only for a minimum bid. I have some pathological need to hand wind yarn, it seems, because I can't resist a messy yarn lot like this one. It will need a lot of TLC, however, so I am sticking firm to my minimum bid. This lot combines yarn and fabric, which also prompted me to wannabid. :) I really, really doubt I'll get this DMC floss cabinet, as the thrift auction buyers fight ferociously over them, but nothing ventured. Before I could write this post I won this wannabut yarn lot for my max bid. It's a bit of a jumble, but almost all of the skeins have labels and are in colors I want. It will arrive soon, and when it does I'll show you why it was a real bargain. Stay tuned to the blog for the results on the other lots. Image credit: all of the pictures in this post came from the original auction listings on ShopGoodwill.com.

Here's another small lot of yarn I bid at and won at the thrift auction. I counted 25 skeins of yarn, some quite vintage (the three skeins of Dazzleaire are probably 30 to 40 years old) but what interested me is one type of yarn that I go through at the speed of light. There are something like ten skeins of white acrylic worsted yarn in this lot, which is my most-used yarn. It's also quite unusual to find ten skeins of matching yarn in any thrift lot. Although the white is what I really want, the other skeins are interesting, too. I see some that look like mohair, a couple of variegated in colors I like, and even a skein of Christmas red and green metallic yarn. When the lot arrives I'll show you what it looks like in person. Image credit: all the images in this post came from the original auction listing at ShopGoodwill.com.

I'm at the county quilt show today, and I'm also almost two weeks ahead on pre-published posts for the blog, so it's time to start doubling up again. Today I have a rant about health insurance, and how the current regime is making my last seven months before I go on Medicare a nightmare. First, I should point out that I have type 2 diabetes, moderate to severe arthritis in most of my joints, and artherosclerosis, which is a serious cardiovascular disease. I am treating my conditions with diet, exercise, and (for the diabetes) medication. I'm a ticking time bomb for all of these reasons, plus the fact that I'm 64 years old. There is no way I can live safely or even afford physician care without health insurance. One hospitalization would bankrupt me; we'd lose our house and pretty much everything we've worked all our lives for. Before the Affordable Care Act I paid about $800.00 a month for health insurance (I am self-employed, and this is one of...

Once I had the foundation of the pink-only quilt put together, I needed to create my own template for the destroyer, and work out where I would put my poem. An hour and a lot of erasing later, I cut out a very rough template for the destroyer element. I also thought the bottom right would be the best spot for the poem. Th top, sides and bottom of the quilt will have flamingo appliques everywhere, and I want the poem to be easy to read by the beholders. During my breaks (and mostly out of idle curiosity) I started making the scarf pattern I found on the back of the label for the self-striping yarn, using a thrifted jumbo skein of Red Heart Super Saver Wildflower yarn. It's fairly mindless and pretty enough that I want to finish it, so that will be my next side project.

Last night I had a bit of a quandry as I discovered the fabric I thrifted for the backing of the pink-only quilt had stains from being soaked in dirty water, probably from a garage being flooded. It's so light I couldn't see it until I had it under the sewing room light. Since I don't know if I can get the stains out, I decided to use the dark pink fabric I thrifted for the backing. I then put it together with thrifted batting and the top made out of thrifted pillow cases and pinned it. I'm ready to start adding the fabric elements. On my breaks I made a winter hat out of a skein of thrifted variegated yarn using this pattern plus four extra rows to add a brim, which I flip down to keep my ears warm on cold mornings. The leftover yarn is about 1/3 of a 5 oz. skein of Red Heart Super Saver Macaw, so it took 2/3 of a skein.

While I'm working on my pink-only art quilt I'm also going to be crocheting some small projects on the side, which helps keep my trigger fingers from locking up. This 5 oz. skein of Red Heart Super Saver Polo Stripe was included on one of the bags I picked up in the Villages; I've never before tried self-striping yarn. Some folks think you can't make a lot with one skein, but actually there are a ton of projects that required only a skein or even smaller amounts of yarn. I decided on my no-pattern scarf. I just crochet foundation row of chain stitches in the length I want for the scarf (in this case, 65") and then just do rows of double crochet until I run out of yarn. This skein lasted for nine rows. Here's the finished scarf, which took me two nights to crochet while I've been quilting. The yarn does stripe and the color shifts are gradual, so it doesn't have sudden changes. That little bit of aqua yarn is all that's left of t...