Thrifty Crochet

Happy Halloween!

The next new-to-me yarn I'm testing from a Premier surprise box is this skein of Just Yarn Worsted Value Ombre in the colorway Mustard Ombre. This is a 100% acrylic #4 worsted weight yarn, and the jumbo skein holds 612 yards/560 meters and 9.8 oz./280 grams. Since I had a lot of yarn to use up I decided to make Yarnspiration's free Kaliedoscope Shawl pattern , which would show off the subtle ombre. I've used the dollar store version of Just Yarn, and found it to be a decent bargain acrylic. This worsted value ombre version is as good if not a little better. It's smooth, stitches up without issues and has a nice hand. I do like the color, as gold is one of the shades of yellow that doesn't remind me of unpleasant memories from my years in the medical field. I got half the pattern done the first night. It needs blocking. :) On the second night I made it to row 40 when I ran out of yarn. I could have ended it there, but I wanted the shawl a litt...

I have not been bidding on yarn lots at the online thrift auction because 1) everyone is bidding on the good yarn lots and 2) I have enough yarn. That said, when I see an outrageously good bargain with zero bids, reasonable shipping, and a buy it now option, I will invest. Counting labels, there are at least four skeins of Caron One Pound yarn in this lot, and they run between $13.00 to $17.00 retail. Two are worth more than I paid altogether for the buy it now and the shipping. I'm not sure how much fabric is in the lot -- this was the only pic -- but it looks interesting. We'll see when it arrives! Image credit: all of the pics in this post came from the original listings on ShopGoodwill.com.

Since I have made enough winter hats, I decided to turn the last two Premier Sweet Roll Vivid skeins I have into hexagons. I've reviewed this yarn before now, and I like it very much. I started with this skein in the colorway Primary. I believe this is the first time I've tried making hexagons from a worsted weight yarn. Interesting side effect from using the Parfait Plush Super Bulky the day before: the Vivid yarn, which has always felt soft to me, seemed not so soft! I got spoiled by working with chenille all day, lol. Despite my odd softness reaction Vivid is a perfectly good yarn to use for hexagons. I got six out of the skein with a small ball leftover, which I'll save for sewing them together in the future. Something else I noticed: the Vivid hexagons (one on the right) are almost the same size as those I made from Premier Puzzle yarn (one on the left.) They're so close it's possible I could use both in the same throw or blanket. In the ...

On a recent road trip to St. Augustine I brought along a skein of Parfait Plush Super Bulky in the colorway Spearmint. This is a skein from a surprise box, and I wanted to test it out while in the car because why not? Ha. This is a #6 Super Bulky 100% polyester yarn that comes in a 174 yard/160 meter 7 oz./200 gram skein. It's massive. Unlike most chenille-type yarns it's also machine washable and dryable. I found the yarn to be a bit challenging to control, which was probably mostly due to the fact that I was crocheting in my lap while riding in a car. I made one hexagon on the way to St. Augustine and one on the way home, although I could have made more. I just wanted to use it in a relaxed, no-pressure fashion. Tio for crocheters who want to work in a car but have trouble with it: don't stare at your work the whole time. Look out at the scenery at regular intervals, and that may help. Here are the two hexagons I crocheted in the car, with a hex ...

I got ten more hexes out of the last skein of Premier Puzzle in Backgammon that I had, so now I have to put the project aside until my latest order with more yarn arrives. Here are the thirty-nine hexes I've finished. Once the extra skeins arrive I'll make as many more as I can and figure out that the grid count for the finished throw will be (probably bigger than I thought; maybe 7 X 9 hexes.) In the meantime, I have a chance to test some of these free Halloween crochet patterns I found. The little ghost coaster looked easy enough. This coaster took less than thirty minutes for me to work up. The pattern is really straight forward and well written, and the embroidery is simple enough. If you can do sc2tog and dc2tog stitches, you should have no problem with it. I might back mine with some muslin and use it for a hanging decoration rather than a coaster. :)

I've been haunting (pun intended) web sites with free Halloween themed crochet patterns, and I have some I might try if time allows this week, like this pumpkin, ghost and witch hat garland from Premier Yarns. Lion Brand has a cute crochet spider magnet pattern that definitely appeals to me -- I have too much black yarn in my stash. Yarnspirations has a ton of free Halloween-themed patterns, and I liked this ghost coaster pattern because it's simple, and you can use the ghosts for more than coasters. Some thoughts on last minute Halloween crochet decor and gifts: Halloween is this Saturday, so I'd keep it small, easy and simple. For gifts for little ones, stay away from scary and go more for cute; I wish people would remember that it is a holiday for children. Also, consider storage -- is your project easy to put away for a year? Finally, is it going to be fun to make, or a chore? If I have time this week I'll try one or more of these patterns and repor...

I invested in a copy of Quick Crochet for the Home by Tamara Kelly because I'm interested in finding more decor crochet patterns, and quick is alway my favorite speed. Tamara has a blog that is mentioned on the cover, which likely means she's a social crochet influencer (they're usually the only ones who get book deals, too.) I deliberately stayed away from that so I kept an open mind. Sometimes all that noise and self-promotion turn me off before I can even read a pattern. This is a well-organized book that groups the projects by the room of the house in which they can be used. The patterns are written clearly and there are photos to show the end result of each project. There are close ups rather than in-progress project photos, but the glossary has stitch illustrations and explanations. There are small and large projects, very simply designed, and most seem fairly easy to make. This door hanger would be a good one for a confident beginner. The smaller pr...

For the first skein of Premier Puzzle in the colorway Backgammon I crocheted ten hexes with this little ball leftover. I also went through my stash looking for other skeins of bulky yarn in colors that would work with Backgammon, but no luck. I have tons of worsted, and some #6 super bulky yarn that would work, but no #5 Bulky. I also realized I have hardly any bulky yarn at all other than what I've purchased new from Premier. Last night I brooded while I crocheted seven more hexes from the second skein. I need at least six skeins to make a decent size hexagon blanket (49 hexes in a 7 X 7 arrangement.) Premier is currently having a sale on Puzzle, so I went ahead and ordered three more skeins of Backgammon, five more skeins of Jacks (it was back in stock) and two more of Marbles. That got me free shipping, and now I'll have enough to make two more throws plus this one I'm working on if I want. Here are all the hexes I've crocheted out of Backgammon so ...

I crocheted the rest of the Puzzle skein in Jacks into hexes, and got six made out of the remaining yarn with a tiny ball left over. My scrap hexes box is half full; I've got about thirty in there already. I'm also keeping all the scrap leftover balls so I can use them to sew together the hexes when I turn them into a scrappy blanket. For my next project I want to make a throw out of the hexes I made from testing Puzzle in the colorway Backgammon. I ordered three more skeins so I could make a throw, and I want to mix in some red, blue and possibly black plain yarns to see how that works out (still experimenting, I guess.) I need to hunt through my stash and see if I have any bulky skeins in colors that will work with the Puzzle hexes. Time to rummage!

The final Premier Puzzle skein I ordered to try a new color was this one in the colorway Jacks. I fell in love with it the moment I opened the box it came in and I am definitely purchasing more with my next order. I've been wanting to make Bev's Basic Hodge-Podge Beanie in a bulky weight yarn, so I settled on that pattern. I also made margin notes on the adjustments for stopping the increases and how many total rows to make. It worked beautifully, and it made a lovely winter hat. I used about half the skein, so I'll turn the other half innto hexes. I love gray and white, and I want to try mixing this colorway with a pink varigated to create one of my favorite palettes.

My guy and I stopped in a local antique mall and whole we were wandering around I took pictures of the crocheted blankets (and one doll) they were selling, along with the prices. To see what may or may not be vintage crochet, check out my album along with my comments here .

I decided to make my next pumpkin for fall out of Premier Sweet Roll Vivid, which is becoming one of my favorite yarns. This is a 100% acrylic #4 worsted weight yarn, and the skein is 174 yards/160 meters and 3.5 oz./100 grams. It is just like the name advertises, very vividly colored. This skein is in the colorway Glow Worm. Working with this yarn is effortless. It's what I'd consider to be the perfect worsted, soft but sturdy, with a wonderful hand that just makes you want to keeping stitching. The colors in this Vivid line are super saturated but well curated. There were a couple of spots of dye spillage but oddly not as much as the regular Sweet Roll yarn I've worked with in the past. I couldn't make the final sixteen rows of the pumpkin pattern due to the size of the skein, but what I could manage turned into a very respectable Halloween pumpkin with a tiny ball of leftover scrap. I definitely will be ordering Sweet Roll Vivid again when I need a...