Raffle

Each year, my kids' school does a "Spring Fling".  There is always a large raffle table.  You buy 25 tickets, for $5, and your odds are pretty good.  Some of the items are theme bags put together by teachers, many items are "re-gifted" things, some are bought new by the parent group and others are bought new by parents to donate.  I decided this year, I should do something to promote myself a bit!

First up was the water bottle holder on the left.  The middle one went to my niece in Indiana (red and white are her school colours), and the right one went to a friend of my mother-in-law who comes from England every year.

 I also crocheted two water bottle holders.  I bought a red, cheap, water bottle at the dollar store to fit the one on the left, and the other two got bottled water.

 I also made a neck cooler, a crocheted tote/gym bag, and a "wallet-to-tote" bag.

 This is different than the teachers' gifts I made last year.  I did a single layer for the bag (but with French seams).  The base is some red Naugahyde.  I had some difficulty figuring out how to sew the pocket lining and should probably have just googled it.  I wanted it a bit bigger than the ones I made before, but the one piece bag caused some problems when sewing it down.  If going for a bigger size again, I'd make a bag with a sewn in bottom.

Also in the basket (from the dollar store), I added a red and silver pinwheel, and instructions for the neck cooler.  I think the end result turned out great!!  It was certainly well-presented (and survived the night without losing parts or being pawed to death!), though I don't think my business card on the front was very visible.  It's amazing what a basket and some clear basket wrap can do to make ordinary items look impressive!

Yarn In:  7410gr
Yarn Out:  228gr + 4119gr = 4347gr
Balance:  3063gr more brought IN than out
Cost:  $208.46/163 days = $1.28/day

To compare with a year ago:
Yarn In: 12 574gr

Yarn Out:   10 714gr

Balance: 1860 gr more In than Out

Costs: $287.71/164 days = $1.75/day

There's a much higher in and out amount because I had gotten a large yarn donation (4820gr), and then re-donated much of it (1624gr), plus the donations of hats/scarves/mitts that I made to the school (2536gr) and to the northern First Nations community (2416gr).  So, without that yarn donation, my total last year at this time would have been 7754gr IN, and without the yarn donation out, 9090gr OUT, but if I also take off the winter items donations--4138gr OUT, for a balance of 3616gr more brought IN than out.  So, I'm actually doing better this year, especially with the cost per day (and add in that I'm getting paid for many of the items I"m creating now!).  I still have a few bigger items to show to get that Yarn Out balance down.  However, donating so much last year felt really good and you can't put a price on that!