Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Old Loves & Such

My guy kindly bought me my favorite Chinese take out the other night, and my fortune cookie offered up an interesting story starter: This sounds sweet, right? Only the first thing I thought of was an old love coming back from the dead . . . . must be October. In other lovely news, my favorite hand-dyed thread artist, Lorraine from Colour Complements , is moving her business from Etsy to her own web site. Many of my favorite sellers on Etsy are leaving due to the whole "free shipping" coercion debacle, which has also soured me on the site. To show support I did a little shopping at Lorraine's web site and got in these: I love her threads and trims; you simply can't buy anything like them anywhere. Her work makes my specialty thread box look like a treasure chest: At night I'm spending just as hour working on quilting the scrap project runner, and I'm making slow progress: I'll keep quilting the runner while I try to decide on a design for t...

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...

Wild Ride

Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds is an epic, dazzling film that hurls you into the Korean version of the afterlife while showcasing some of the most impressive special effects I've ever seen in any movie. The story begins with the death of firefighter Kim Ja-Hong (Cha Tae-hyun) who jumps out of a burning building with a child in his arms. The kid lives, but he dies at the scene. Two strangers inform him that he has passed away right on schedule, and toss him into a vortex that takes him to the world of the afterlife, where he meets his three guardians: Gang-rim (Ha Jung-woo), Haewonmak (Ju Ji-hoon) and Lee Deok-choon (Kim Hyang-gi). At the gates of the afterlife Ja-Hong learns that he is considered a paragon (an exemplary person who lived a noble and self-sacrificing life) and is eligible to be reincarnated -- but there's a catch. First he has 49 days to make it through seven hells in which he will be judged on his sins. His three guardians will help and defend...