Thrift Score!

I know a lot of people are really skeptical about whether there's really anything good to be had at the thrift store. While it's true that I do come home empty handed sometimes, I find really cool store more often than you might imagine.

Thrift store yarn score.

I thought I'd share my latest haul with ya'll, a ginormous stash of mostly wool and cotton yarn, for around ten bucks total. One ball of pink and orange cotton yarn still had a tag on it, which said $12. (There were 6 large balls of it. My picture is terrible, but it's beautiful hand dyed yarn)

I broke my self imposed yarn buying fast, just this once...

Coming Home Toddler Poncho

I finished another project for V, a poncho crocheted from the "Coming Home Poncho" pattern on the Lion Brand website. (Sorry, no link. Lion brand requires you to sign in to view patterns.) I made it out of navy blue Cascade 220 yarn.

The pattern worked up quickly, and I love it, although I tinkered with the pattern a little, changing the edging. I think I'm going to make a cotton version for warmer weather.

V was less than enthusiastic about it. Once again, it wasn't pink enough. ;)

(Sorry about the worse than usual pictures. Apparently the flash is going out in my camera.)

After more snow and ice last week than we normally get in a whole winter, I realized that V needed a warm winter hat. I whipped her up one from the crock pot dyed yarn I wrote about last week. I thought it turned out pretty, the colors reminded me of cotton candy.

V was less impressed. Apparently it wasn't pink enough.

Crockpot Yarn Dyeing

It's been a while since I've dyed any yarn. In the past, I've done my dying in the microwave. It's pretty easy and it works, although (in my experience,) the results haven't been very vibrant, and there are more blank splotches than I'd like.
I recently decided to give crockpot dyeing a try. I ended up using this tutorial at do stuff!

Since this was my first attempt, I wasn't expecting to get results quite as good as hers, but I was very happy with what I ended up with.  The colors were brighter and more even.

This was also an even less labor intensive method than the microwave, since the yarn can just sort of  do its thing in the background throughout the day, while you're doing other stuff. (No standing by the microwave, checking and restarting...)

Now, what to make with it...

Reusable Crochet Gift Bags

I was going through the big duffel bag of yarn I keep in my room the other day when I realized I had a lot of teeny little balls of leftover wool yarn, not really enough to do anything with, but too much to just throw away. Over the course of several days, these were the result:

They're little reusable gift bags, (about the size of my hand,) which I'm going to start using for the little trinkets we give to each other throughout the year.

I sort of like the wacky, multicolored ones the best...

What do you do with all those leftover bits of yarn?

Crocheted Wrist Warmers

The other night, as I was battling insomnia, I whipped up a really cute pair of crocheted wrist warmers. I actually got the pattern out of a book, but these ended up being one of those pattern-that's-not-really-a-pattern types of things. Basically, you figure out how long you want them to be, and make a chain that long. Then you crochet a rectangle wide enough to go around your arm, and finally, you seam the edges, leaving a hole for your thumb. Since there's no gauge when you do it this way, you can pretty much use whatever yarn you want, and make them as long or short as you want

I made these out of Patons SWS yarn, and one skein was (barely) enough to finish them.

Now I'm itching to make a teeny pair for V. Wonder if she'd wear them? These would make a fun, easy Christmas gift too...

Crocheted Halter Top for Baby V

I purchased this great crochet pattern on Etsy a couple of years ago from Sour Apple Stitches, and spent several happy late pregnancy hours making little dresses for baby V. I recently came across it again, and whipped up a little top for her. The patterns is cute, and works up pretty quickly. I found that it tended to run a little short, so I added a couple of rows to the skirt, when making it as a dress, and to the bodice, when making the top.

The yarn I used this go round was some super soft hand painted cotton yarn I picked up at Tuesday Morning. The drape on this yarn is a little nicer than the other versions I've done. The pattern calls for for Sugar N Cream yarn, which is cheap, colorful, and easy to find. It feels ok to the touch, and gets softer with washing.

I love Etsy, and I love versatile patterns like this one. The dress goes up to a 2T, and with a little tinkering, can go from a dress to a top. The pattern includes options for a headband or a hat.

Fabric Stashbusting Projects

I love fabric. And yarn. Over the last 10 years or so, I've amassed way too much of both. If I start now, sewing and crocheting with both hands, and my feet, I'll probably still never use it all. I've been giving some away on Freecycle, and now I'm determined to start using some of it up. I generally make a lot of our Christmas gifts anyway. I've committed to making as many as possible from things I already have this year.

It's hard to part with vintage fabric. I have a dumb tendancy to want to hang on to it until I come up with just the right project. I decided to dig in and make a few (simple) things recently. (My sewing machine is desperately in need of a tune up. Simple is all I can manage right now.)



First I made this little mat for V out of vintage terry cloth. It's the right size for her to have a little picnic or tea party in the backyard, which she really enjoys.

(Look at her face. I love when they're this impressed by something so simple!)




Next I used some more vintage fabric to make a couple of small throw pillows. I've been looking at this fabric for about 10 years. The scale is too big to make anything other than a tote bag or a pillow, and it was also a border print. I think these turned out cheerful and pretty, and am leaning toward using them on our patio furniture.

I've got several other projects in the works. If my frenemy, the sewing machine, holds up, I should have a couple of things checked off the Christmas to do list in the next week or so...

Granny Square Doll Blanket

Another Christmas gift completed. This one is a doll blanket for baby V. I usually stay away from crocheting fussy projects with lots of ends to weave in, and pieces to connect, but I love how this turned out. The brown yarn was Lion Brand wool, and the pinks and reds were leftover bits of Kool-Aid dyed Lion Brand Fisherman yarn.

This project got me contemplating a bedspread for our bed...

Easy Yarn Dolls

I made these cute little yarn dolls for the kid's stockings last week. I was going to do a tutorial, but then I thought why try to reinvent the wheel, especially since I am such a lousy photographer. I found a great tutorial here, which also shows optional clothes and faces. http://www.craftstylish.com/item/27585/how-to-make-yarn-and-felt-folks

These were fast and easy to do, and didn't take much yarn.

I would recommend using soft yarn though, since these are for holding and snuggling. These are made of soft wool, and cashmere blend yarn.

Kool-aid dyeing link and tips.

It was pointed out to me that I didn't include a tutorial for Kool-aid dyeing yarn. I guess I just assumed that everyone else trolled Craftster, and all the other craft sites as much as I do. Oops. Here's a link to a good yarn dyeing tutorial at Knitty.

Here are a few tips from me:

Remember your color wheel. If you dye the yarn pink and blue, it's going to be purple where the dye blends. That should be pretty. If you dye the yarn red and green, it's going to be brownish where the colors meet. That may or may not be pretty.

Try not to wring or squeeze the yarn any more than you have to. You might felt it.

Don't rinse your hot yarn with cool water. You might felt it.

If you are painting yarn, be sure the dye is fully saturating the yarn. If it doesn't, you'll end up with patchy looking color.

You can always overdye yarn, if you aren't happy with the results. The other day, I dyed a pink and blue batch. (I've done the same color combo several times.) This particular batch wasn't as bright as usual, so I overdyed the the whole hank with strawberry Kool-aid. The resulting yarn was actually really pretty. Hot pink where the pastel pink had been, and purple where the pale blue had been.

Kool-aid Dyeing Yarn (giveaway)

I love Kool-aid dyeing yarn. I'm sort of a fly by the seat of my pants dyer. If I don't like the way something turns out, I just overdye it with something else. At some point it usually turns out pretty. I like that it's sort of experimental. I'm not even that great at it, but it's lots of fun.
Here's some I dyed a few days ago.







Want to dye some of your own? How about a giveaway? (How about a little shameless self promotion on my part?)
The winner of this giveaway (who will be chosen by Random.org,) will win:
two skeins of lion brand yarn
some Kool-aid to dye it with.



That, along with your own bowls, water, and microwave is all you'll need.

Here are the methods of entry:
Become a follower, and leave a comment. If you're already a follower, just leave a comment saying so. This entry is mandatory, and must be followed in order to gain additional entries.

Additionally, you can:
Blog about the giveaway. Come back here, and leave me a link in a comment.
Leave me a link to your favorite internet craft tutorial. (It doesn't have to be yarn related.)

This giveaway will run until midnight central time, June 9, 2009, (My birthday). U.S. residents only, please. Please make sure I have a way to contact you if you win.

Thanks!
This giveaway is listed at All Things Bloggy.

A few finished projects...

I finally got around to finishing the soaker I've been working on for baby V for months now.
I guess I shouldn't have been in any big hurry, because it turned out to be a bit too big. She's such a teeny little thing.
I used the Dandelion Dreamers pattern, which is my favorite because it's easy and fast.




After church today, I dropped by Michael's to get some yarn to make a couple of baby hats to use as examples for the class I'm teaching at church next month.I made a major haul of clearance stuff. They are apparently resetting the yarn section, and had the Lion Brand wool, the Bernat Cashmere blends, and some other stuff marked down to $1. I bought a pile of the wool for various future projects, and a couple of the Cashmere ones for the baby hats.



I finished one of the hats tonight, using my favorite baby hat pattern found at Bev's Country Cottage . I tweaked it to be a little bigger, and to eliminate the holes in the joining area of each round. If anyone is interested, I can post my version.
It feels good to have finished a couple of things, although if you could see my house, you'd probably think my time would be better spent cleaning.
(Weird spacing courtesy of Blogger...)

Some crafty pics

And now, a post where I post pictures of a few things I've previously completed, since I can't seem to get much of anything finished these days. Please excuse the fact that I am a lazy and lousy photographer.

The band t shirt quilt. Turned out pretty good, although if I had it to do over, I'd use interfacing. I don't know why that didn't occur to me at the time. It turned out to be about the size of a full size comforter.


Some Kool aid dyed yarn. I still haven't figured out what to make with it, because I only dyed a couple of ounces. My husband said it reminded him of froot loops.


A fun baby blanket I tie dyed. I also made the diaper from the Rita's Rump Pocket pattern. I got the cool robot flannel from a garage sale.