Valerean

The lot of yarn with the fingering weight skeins that I thrifted arrived, so let's dive in and see if I got a bargain. Here is everything in the lot, all unused, clear and odorless. When I saw that all but one skein of yarn had labels, and some of the labels had the original pricing, and I began to add things up in my head I was blown away. I received eight skeins of fingering, sock and lace weight yarn that are unused and labelled with tags totalling over $200.00. Just these eight. The Isaac Mizrahi craft yarn is worth $8.99. The little Cowgirl Blues Merino Twist and Mohair Wool skeins are worth a total of $47.00. The lot also came with a barely started needlepoint kit with all the threads and instructions that I found selling for $45.21 new online. Since I had nearly all the labels (I'm positive that the unlabelled skein was a Peaches & Creme cotton) I went ahead and looked up all the prices on all 27 skeins plus the kit and hooks, because I know...

This past weekend my guy and I attended the Halifax Art Festival in Daytona, only I can't show you pictures of the artists and their work because that's a big no-no at juried shows. It was pretty cool, as were some of the sights along the river. Daytona has some of the most interesting architecture in central Florida, with some buildings dating back to the turn of the last century. This place and the cool restaurant with the fountain and ivy-covered brick walls is for sale, if anyone is interested. :) Here's another building, art deco in style that was built in 1932. These always make me feel like I've stepped into a Batman movie set. If you're ever in town, walk around and enjoy the art even without the festival.

Back at the beginning of Octber I won a lot of fabric for $19.90 on a buy it now option, paid for it and waited for it to arrive. Two weeks later I hadn't gotten even a shipping notice, so I sent a query via customer service to the seller (who I've dealt with before and usually ships within 5 business days) on the thrift auction site about when they were planning to ship it to me. Here's the response I got: Hi Valerean I’m really sorry for the delay. I have not been able to locate this order as it is not in its assigned location due to a system error. Our managers are currently aware of the situation and are actively searching for your order. If you would like to allow more time, then there is no need to respond to this closed ticket. If you have any further concerns, please respond as we will then be notified of your response. Apologies again, and kind Regards. Customers can cancel an order and request a refund, something I've never done. I've only h...

Last night I started on my pink-only quilt challenge by deciding on the arrangement of the foundation fabric for the quilt top. My original plan was to use three pillow cases and some thrifted yardage for that, but once I put them all together the dark pink yardage seemed like too much in that quantity, so I set it aside. This is the final color arrangement for the foundation, which I'll iron and piece today. This will not be a huge art quilt, but there will be enough room for my planned imagery and the poem I wrote. I'm keeping all the scraps and unwanted pieces from the project to one side so I can use them again for other elements. Because I'm anxious about how this piece will turn out I'm taking my time and just doing it very calmly and slowly. I'll work on it everyday in November until I finish it, or December arrives.

Another lot of yarn I bid on and won for $10.99 included some unusual skeins and what appears to be a brand new sewing kit. This Pioneer Woman floral set is pretty, and while it's just a basic kit, I've never owned one (I have thrifted and collected lots of vintage sewing boxes, but nothing new.) I found the exact same kit selling on eBay for $20.00. The yarn includes some pricey bulk yarn, but what interested me most was this pile of nine or ten balls of high quality Italian wool. According to my research it's a discontinued line, and I couldn't find any price for it anywhere, but I did see similar discontinued Berlini yarns selling for $16-$17 for two balls on eBay. There are definitely enough skeins here to make a small project like a shawl, or possibly a throw if I add other yarn to it. When this lot arrives I'm going to price it all out and see how much of a bargain I got. Stay tuned to the blog to see.

I kicked off 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 an 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 used up more Hallo...

Happy Halloween from Valerean. Image credit: Image by Alexa from Pixabay

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 ...

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'...

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.

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...

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 ...