The Beauty of Bargains

I always talk about the cheapness of thrifted yarn, but I don't often mention condition as a factor. After all, most yarn that is donated is more of the old stash that was never used variety. Sometimes it does have a storage smell, or some soiling. But most of the time the yarn is in like-new beautiful condition. This is because most knitters and crocheters do store their supplies properly.

Every now and then I find a few skeins at my local thrifts that are in mint condition. But this bargain lot that arrived in April was in exceptionally nice condition. In fact, it looked like it came directly from store shelves.

Here are the fifteen skeins in the bargain lot that I bid on and won. All of them are worth five to fifteen times the price I paid (which is why it's a bargain.)

The two skeins of cotton yarn. I've never won a lot in such great shape. I also received a lot of yarns I've never tried to use, so having that variety of fibers will let me try new patterns, like amigurumi made from cotton yarns.

Two bamboo and one silk/bamboo blend skeins. With cost of living soaring right now I don't want to waste a lot of cash buying exotic yarns that may not work for my projects. Thrifting them is better for my wallet and my frugal lifestyle.

These two skeins are an acrylic nylon blend, another type of yarn I've never tried out. Love the pretty colors, too.

Large skeins of acrylic are wonderful for blanket or throw projects, so I'm always happy to find these.

These are polyester yarns I've never tried. The whole lot is amazing, and in perfect shape, and just what I want to add to my stash. I've already used close to fifty skeins of thrifted yarn making throws this year, so I go through a lot.

Still, the numbers are important, too. I looked up every skein, and to purchase them retail would have cost me $152.92. Where can you buy this much yarn in this condition for $16.00 (about $1.07 per skein)? Not even at the dollar store.

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Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to...

Valerean

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