Welcome to Year Two of the $20 Budget Challenge!

For Lo, the Winter is past...

Well, it's still 21 degrees F up here in the frozen northland, but the sun is out today and there's a promise of spring in the air. It's a good time for a new beginning.

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Rummage season is a few months in the future, but I answered an ad on Craigslist and bought a bag of yarn, sight-unseen, for $5. It turned out to be 19 complete skeins of the yarn shown here---of course, it's a rather pinky shade called "antique rose", although I'm telling myself it's sort of a dusky mauve. It's acrylic, but very soft with a bit of a sheen. Certainly enough for an afghan, and not dirty or musty or anything unacceptable. There was also a tangled skein of some white cotton, which I can use for a few cloths. All in all, a good beginning.

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I also recently made a nice purse out of some chennile gifted to me, paired up with some snazzy wooden handles and a button, both salvaged from a thrift shop purse.

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It's just two hexagons crocheted together. I used a double strand of yarn and crocheted the motifs very tightly, then just put them together with a bit of a decorative seam with bobbles on each corner. It's thick and spongy and doesn't need a lining, although I prefer a shoulder strap.

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My biggest decision right now is whether to award myself the entire $20 for the new year, or try to get by on less, considering the fact that I have some stash left from my last year's budget. I'm just going to wing it for awhile until I see what kind of bargains are out there.

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I saw a wonderful documentary recently about the Hamlin fistula hospital in Ethiopia, and was curious about the patchwork shawls many of the patients were wearing. A bit of googling resulted in the knowledge that these were made by a group of Methodist women in the UK, along with some Australian knitters. It was very cool to find out that the residents--who stay at the hospital for several weeks--are now knitting the shawls themselves for the new arrivals. I love a good knitting story. It seems that there is no end to the number of good causes out there that needlewomen around the world contribute to.

My own little charity--Christmas hats for teens in the shelter here--is already shaping up for new year. I've decided to make all the hats in a black/cream color scheme, and am putting any appropriate yarn aside. The 2009 hats will be earflap hats, both in knit and crochet. I wanted to do something a little more "hip" (do people still say that?) than I did this past year. I already have black and cream yarn enough for about four or five hats, thanks to Barbara and Lisa. It's a good project to carry around in my purse when I'm babysitting or socializing.

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The "Sweet Scallops" blankie is finally done, and will be up here in a few days. It's so big, I want to get out on the porch to take a proper picture. I still need one more blankie for all the upcoming babies, but I'm tired of big projects right now and want to work on some thread projects first.

There's so much to look forward to! Life is good. Hugs to all.

Coming Full Circle

It's been a year this week since I quit buying "new" yarn, and, incredibly, I ended the year with a profit.

One of the eyeglass cases I gave away last fall ended up in the front desk of a new office building, holding the rectangular plastic key cards the employees use to move through the building. Soon after, I got an email asking me what I would charge to make more "keycard holders" for the other departments. I quickly made six more, completely out of scrap yarns.
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I also sold the gossamer scarf featured here a few months ago.
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So, I spent $20 this year on yarn, and made more than three times that amount from the scrap yarns I purchased. Now, I need to decide whether or not I can spend that money on YARN, or stick to my budget for another year. [Note: several people gave me lovely yarn as gifts, and I was careful not to make anything for sale from that yarn. It just didn't seem right.]
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Some really good yarn is left---the blue cone yarn and the bag of cotton boucle are still awaiting proper pattern ideas. Additionally, I got wonderful orphan skeins in swaps with Jami and Lisa, and a box of Softee Chunky from Barbara (I used most of this, but there's still enough left to make something nice).
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The year had a lot of high points. In November, I was (big surprise) knitting in the hallway of the courthouse and chatting with a woman as we waited for the court to return from lunch. She told me that she managed a group home for eight foster teen boys, and that none of their families had left them any gifts to open on Christmas morning. She was hoping to find some donations. Due to the generosity of Barbara and Jami and the yarn they sent, each boy got a Christmas hat! [There are many, many wonderful charities distributing hats, scarves, afghans, and the like, but if anyone wants to knit or crochet items for the local community, just google Catholic Charities to find your local office and give them a call. They have group homes that serve all sorts of people---including the teen mothers and babies that I've been knitting for throughout this year.]
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This was also the year I rediscovered crochet, after many years without holding a hook. My hands are arthritic, and sometimes get too stiff to knit. At such times, it's easier to crochet for a few days. Gosh, it's fun! Crochet just lends itself so well to small, multicolor projects.
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My most popular project (by the number of emails I received asking for the pattern) is the knit "overlapping scallops" baby blanket. I was so glad to make the two baby blankets and finally use up most of my baby yarns. And, thanks to Lisa, I was able to finish the neutrals afghan. Now it just needs some sort of border.
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There are so many projects that I didn't post patterns for, because I found that writing down patterns was a lot harder than I originally thought it would be. I've resolved to post the baby blanket pattern this week, and several other winter patterns (mittens, hats) ASAP.
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Right now (and I really mean RIGHT THIS MINUTE) I'm trying to finish a set of Jack and Annie dolls (the Magic Treehouse books). I'm adapting them from an old pattern I have of Jack and Jill, and struggling to embroider the necessary eyeglasses on Jack. He also needs a backpack! They'll go to my youngest grandson's first grade classroom, where the kids act out the stories. I knew all that pale pink worsted would come in handy.
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It's been a good year. Thank you all for being there. Hugs all around.

SR