Thrifty Crochet

I considered donating to our local church thrift store the bag of macrame cord that I received in my Lion Brand mystery order. I'm not a fan of bulky yarn, and this cord looked like very ropey stuff that would fray if I breathed hard on it (which in hindsight makes me wonder if I am psychic.) That said, I was also curious as to why the company would consider something like this as an acceptable substitute for a skein of yarn (I ordered three mystery skeins, and I received two skeins of yarn and this bag.) I also thought the skeins were too small to be useful for anyone who did make macrame. Since I'm a waste-not want-not kind of gal at heart, I sat down last Saturday night determined to use it. The simplest way would be to make a basket. This is the point when my very religious neighbor would say "And Jesus wept." I'm a kinda-sorta Buddhist, so this is when Buddha would have wept. :) There were twelve 1.5 oz. skeins in the bag, about equal in weight...

Elisa Rose took a trip to one of if not the largest antique malls in the country, and went looking for vintage crochet and how much the dealers are charging for it. If you want to see some incredible bargains (as well as some overpriced clunkers) watch the video. I also love something she did toward the end of the video (no spoilers!) We don't have nearly as much vintage crochet in our antique malls here; I see maybe a couple of throws and some doilies at most places. This is because Florida has a humid subtropical climate, especially down south. Here where I live we get a decent amount of cold weather every winter, but not enough to justify having a bunch of blankets (which I already make anyway!) Elise mentioned that most of the crocheted items she found were made from acrylic yarn, which did not surprise me. Wool crochet attracts moths and can become felted or damaged with careless laundering, so less of that survives. While vintage acrylic crochet is more plentifu...

A bunch of royalties came in earlier this month, so as a reward at the finish line of my no-spend March I invested in some new yarn from Hobbii during their latest sale (that was technically spending, but not from my regular income.) I thought I timed it so it would arrive on April 1st, but it actually got here earlier than I estimated. Since I also fell off the no-spend wagon once in March with thrifting I technically don't deserve it, but I'm going to think of it as a consolation prize. Here are the sale skeins I ordered so I could try these different yarns: a ten pack of We Heart Yarn acrylic in Aqua, one Tea Time XL in Rooibos, and six skeins of Daily Stitch Recycled cotton in Oat Milk. I love recycled yarns so I'm really looking forward to making something with the latter. I also ordered another lucky bag, this time with mixed fiber. Let's see what I got. Wow, what a neat assortment. Let's see, there's one skein of Happy Chunky fine pol...

I do sometimes wish I had someone I could talk to about crochet. I don't have any maker friends here, and my one acquaintance neighbor who crochets is too busy. My hearing impairment prevents me from joining a local group or club; in a meeting setting it would be difficult for me to hear what the members were saying. Like almost everything else I do in life, I'm pretty much resigned to going it alone. I think that's why I really created this blog, to have a place to talk about what I love -- the many joys and treasures of crochet and thrifting, along with some of the pains. Recently a dear friend gifted me this yarn bowl; she said it reminded her of me (I am like an albino without the pink eyes, so I get the resemblance.) I've named it Happy Cat, and it reminds me to be cheerful because I have the time to do what I love now. I've been looking for something to make with my smallest balls of scrap yarn, and happily I discovered there are tons of free bookm...

Why do you crochet? It's a skill my grandmother taught me when I was a little girl that I've always enjoyed. Although it was a bit stressful in the beginning, over time it's become comforting and meditative for me, and I also get to work out my stiff fingers, which helps with my arthritis. How fast are you? I can make a fairly good-size throw in about a week if I have to; ten days if I can go at regular speed. Where's the strangest place you have ever crocheted? In our car dealership's waiting room last year. Three women came up to me while I was crocheting to ask about what I was doing. I was able to give one of them advice on how to repair a vintage crochet blanket she owned. What's your favorite project to crochet? I make so many throws I should say that, but I really like making one-skein projects like amigurumi because they're quick. Nothing beats the immediate gratification of a speedy-to-make project. Do you crochet for charity...

I've had this half-skein of Bernat Baby Blanket yarn sitting in my scrap basket for months, so I decided to crochet it into a book sleeve. This is a kind of open-ended envelope in which you can put books for shipping (better for the planet than plastic bubble wrap, too), to protect the covers and/or to carry with you on car trips. There is no pattern. I just crocheted a foundation chain of 21 stitches, and then alternated rows of single and double crochet until I ran out of yarn. To use all but 24" of the yarn that turned out to be 26 rows. I then used 12" of the remaining yarn to whipstitch the sides and thread the rest through the top as a tie. This sleeve will likely take the average crocheter a couple hours to make, and it's a good way to use up scrap blanket yarn.

I can't fit much more leftover yarn balls in my scrap basket, so for the rest of the month I'll be using what I have to make some smaller projects to use up my overflow. While test swatching patterns for my next throw I found this Afternoon Wrap pattern that I really liked. The deceptively simple stitch work is really fun to make, which is why it became the second runner up. I wanted to see if I'd get tired of the repeat, so I started making the pattern with a ball of sage green from my scrap basket. I did not get bored. It also worked up very fast. Color changing in the middle of the row when I ran out of yarn turned out to be effortless, and the shift blends in nicely with this stitch design. Here's how much I did in a night. I think I'll use my scrap yarn to make the pattern, which is for a wrap, and see how it turns out.

I was beginning to think I would have to test swatch for the rest of the month to find a pattern I liked for the Sweet Roll Cinnamon Pop yarn I thrifted. I don't know why I'm being so picky; maybe it's because I really like this yarn. Anyway, I started off my latest batch of swatching with the Charming Crochet Throw . This is a really interesting pattern and I like the stitching and the resulting look a lot. I think it's just different enough to keep me interested without demanding too much of my attention. Next up was the Mesh Bands Shawl . This one was a bit monotonous, as it only has two different repeating rows of solid single crochet and latticed double crochet. Adding a single crochet row atop the latticed double crochet row is also a bit fiddly. The Afternoon Wrap pattern also had a simple stitch (with only a one-row repeat) that I liked quite a bit. The lacy look of the test swatch also pleased me. I then had to decide between the two st...

I've been searching a little more, and I found three more throw patterns to test swatch for the Sweet Roll Cinnamon Pop yarn I thrifted; starting off with this Charming Crochet Throw . This reminds me of Ocean Tranquility without being a dupe, and I do like the look. I looked through some wrap patterns, and this Mesh Bands Shawl is simply and pretty. Sidebar: why do designers call wraps shawls? I've never liked that word. Wrap sounds so much better (and more functional!) This Afternoon Wrap pattern looks neat, too. I'm already in love with the stitch pattern after just reading it. I'll give them all a test run and report back on what I think. Hopefully we've got a winner here.

After reading about The Lil' Mushroom Guy that was supposed to be palm-sized but ended up being as big as a toddler, at once I thought "I would never make that." Since I have no children to play with a giant amigurumi, even a cute one, it would be a waste of yarn. Apparently there is a size limit to what I think is cute, too. If it's bigger than my head (which is pretty big!), probably not cute to me. That got me to thinking about what else I would not crochet. There isn't much I won't try -- the 6 day star blanket turned out pretty -- but some projects demand too much yarn, aren't attractive or useable for me and also would test my patience and even my sanity. Here are a few: Poufs like this one are at the top of the list, primarily because of how much yarn they require. This one will take 18 skeins of Red Heart to make, which is about six more than a decent size throw in almost any pattern requires. And what do you do with a pouf? You...

After some communication with StringsToo Stitches , my Etsy seller offering the mystery yarn bag, I learned my order might have been lost in transit. I understand things sent by USPS get lost; it's happened to me more than once. I decided to wait a bit, and at the end of last month the mystery bag from them finally arrived here. I was truly surprised by the three skeins it contained. One is a lovely bulky weight yarn in a pretty lavender, and the other two appear to be hand-dyed worsteds. The Big Twist retails for $10.00, the pink and yellow "Summertime Lemonade" was hand-dyed by Little Loopy and retails for $30.00, and the brown/purple/gold worsted is 100% Merino wool called Autumn Drive from Arcane Fibre Works in Canada; this retails for $33.00.That's $73.00 worth of yarn for $21.40 which I paid for this bag. Let me review how I did overall. The Herrschners mystery bag arrived first with seven skeins of mill ends in two colors of bulky and worsted wei...

For some reason my mystery yarn drama is continuing with Lion Brand, from whom I ordered three mystery skeins of yarn for $6.00 each to replace the mystery yarn bag that I bought from an Etsy seller that never arrived. The package was at first delayed (am I cursed or something?), but it finally arrived. Seems like the box is a little full for three skeins of yarn. Here's what I unpacked: two skeins of yarn and a bag of twelve mini-skeins of recycled macrame cord. Now, the two skeins of yarn are nice, and I can definitely use them. The macrame cord is a generous assortment of mini-skeins to be sure. I ordered three skeins and (in essence) got fourteen. I checked the listing again and it does say "Each Mystery Skein can be any color, weight, or fiber." That apparently covers sending me a bag of macrame cord. I was also aware at the time that I ordered this that the listing stated very clearly that all sales are final and the yarn cannot be returned. ...