More Yarn!

My niece asked for a mermaid blanket for Christmas.  Now, she's not some little 3 year old.  She's 18.  And not little. In our family, we pretty much stop giving gifts when kids turn 18. But I've slacked off on gifts the last couple years because we haven't really been doing a big family Christmas anyway, so I thought, fine.  Also, I never made her sunhat that I promised her.

I needed some yarn for a Christmas stocking so I took a look at mermaid blanket yarns. She wants thick and cozy.

And red and purple.

What?! Red and purple do not place nice together.  I just can't do stripes. I did find a yarn with a mix of red and purple with some pink to soften it, as well as  a mainly purple mix in the same yarn line. But does she mean solid red body and purple tail?!  Better find out.  And I better find out what her younger sister wants.

So, I got five balls of Loops & Threads "Country Loom", $6.99/ball but the cashier said she had a 30% off coupon I could use, even though I was also using a 50% off one item coupon! I also got one ball of white Impeccable (127.5gr.  Really.  We're now using half gram weights for yarn?!).

I'm heading out this afternoon to pick up more yarn!  This time some wool from another crafty mom who is clearing out some of her stash. It'll be great for the mitts for the kindie kids.  Need to get started on that--the Farmer's Almanac says it's going to be a cold winter!

Yarn In: 897gr + 2478gr = 3375gr

Yarn Out:  4914gr
Balance:  1539gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $30.28 + $105.45= $135.73/271 days = $0.50/day

In the Buff!

We were planning an epic camping road trip this summer and between that and our new boat, we did a lot of shopping at a large chain outdoors store.  Near the cash, there was a display of "Buffs". I thought it was a clever use of a bit of fabric.  But the price?! $25Cdn, aprox. Sure, it's a "high tech fabric" and seamless, but really...I could probably make one, right?  Especially since I have a serger!  I've been using wide headbands (almost like a bandana shape but the back is elastic, not a big knot) to protect my head from the sun (and cover up on bad hair days LOL). But a multi-purpose item would be even better!

Pinterest to the rescue to find the sizes, and see if others have actually done this.  Sure they have!! This was my starting point.
I dug through my knit fabric stash and found some I bought for a shirt but then found some holes in it.  It wasn't a big piece to start with so I wasn't sure I'd be able to cut a shirt around those holes.  But I didn't care if the holes ended up in the buff, so I went ahead. Cut, cut, serge. I didn't finish the ends.

 Here it is as a hat.  This was very useful at night, for sleeping, when it got a bit chilly. I also found that if I left it just folded in half, it made a good sleep mask AND helped hold my earplugs/earphones in!

 It was quite windy on the whale watching boat, so I wore it as a balaclava for a few minutes, but my kids hate that look, LOL.  Here I am channeling my inner-Ukranian.

 Inside the whale watching boat it filled the gap at my neck.

This one was made from a men's athletic shirt.  I made it a bit shorter as I didn't think I'd need it as a balaclava or hat since it's more of a hot weather thing.  Here, I wore it for inner tubing down a river in Quebec.  Fast drying!

Here's another one from a men's athletic shirt.  This is the balaclava look. My glasses do get a little steamed up, but they are large glasses, so maybe with my older ones it'd be fine. I might make one a bit longer and see if I can fold it around my forehead like you do for around the nose/mouth.  Around my neck is a triangle shaped headband I made, but I never finished off the threads so it didn't get worn. I also made a couple wide headbands from bathing suit material for at the water park and white water rafting. It was awkward with the thick floaty strap I have for my glasses.  And I find if I make the headband tight enough to really feel secure, I end up with a headache very quickly--even with the stretchy elastic.

I made one from the left over fabric from a dress for Lucy.  I wear this one a lot too.  I really like them when I'm driving. I can wear it as a wide headband, but then if I have to open the windows (I have no AC), I can stretch it out so it really contains my hair and stops it from blowing in my face. Also, at work (supervising kindergarten kids outside at lunch--I get to do the whole hour outside now!), it works so much better than a hat!! Although I loved sewing the hats (well...more on that later), these just seem so much more practical for my lifestyle!

Hello There!

I had hoped to write a post before I went away, to schedule to post while I was away.  And I thought I might be able to find some downtime to write a post and then publish when we got to wifi.  Well, it wasn't that kind of vacation! We were either driving, doing an activity, or doing the things that make camping...camping (set up, cooking, organizing, etc).

Before I left I bought yarn for another Christmas stocking order.  I've started the fourth and last stocking, and I WAY over bought.  Good news is, I have another order that I can use it for, though I'll still have lots left probably.  I needed red and white.  The original stocking is not white-white though, more of a soft cream.  I found a comparable yarn but as I was checking out, I thought "I wonder if she did want it white-white though?".  When I got home I emailed her and sure enough, "white-white" was her preferred choice.  So back to the store! I ended up with 7 balls of "Impeccable".

I noticed yesterday that the yarn label doesn't have a suggest gauge!  It just says "Medium 4" and the free project needs 6mm needles.  This is a real disservice to knitters. There is too much variability with the "Medium" classification. And if you're trying to substitute for a yarn that you do know the gauge of, you can't just rely on the label! I know rarely do we knit to the suggested gauge, but it's a starting point to find out how the yarn wants to be worked for best results.

Anyway. Onwards, especially since I have to go buy more yarn.

Yarn In: 1586gr + 892gr =2478gr

Yarn Out:  4914gr
Balance:  2436gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $30.58 + $74.87= $105.45/258 days = $0.41/day