Eleven Dollar Yarn

Here's an older entry....enjoy!

With any addiction, there is a time when the addict hits rock bottom. Mine was on a cold, blustery day in early January 2007. I was driving to work, and I realized that even though I had brushed my teeth thoroughly, I could still taste the finely chopped red onion from my salad I had for lunch. I knew I could have picked up a pack once i got to work, but since there was a dollar store just up the road on my right, I could get a five pack of five sticks for a dollar, and I had just a few dollars on me.

As I scoured the limited candy rack, I found a pack of Extra Spearmint, ahh - just the stuff to kill onion breath. But in my searches I overheard the workers talking about yarn. The mere mention of the word makes my ears perk up. I pretend to look through the Juicy Fruit's, Doublemint and Winterfresh racks. So then I start looking up and down the aisles. Past experience of yarn at a dollar store, and my current experience tells me that it is probably on an end cap, and low and behold it is!!

You are probably wondering why I don't carry gum normally, it is because I have TMJ, and I clench my jaw muscles, making chewing unbearable. Years ago, before my dentist, I swore off the sticky, minty chewy stuff, in an effort to help heal my jaw. But once in a while, I just have to have a piece. Sure, ten years or so, I would have had several packs stashed everywhere - my purse, my backpack, my car. The list is endless.

So, I find this end cap, sparsely filled with yarn. I did hear the workers saying a customer told them it was normally eight dollars. Actually it close to more like five a skein, but either way, it was now a dollar each! So, I grabbed some blue fuzzy, and some black fuzzy, and some black sparkly, and the next thing you know, I am up to a bill of eleven dollars! Ten of it being yarn,

Now would be a good time to tell you that the job I was driving to was at Michael's Arts and Crafts, and it was during their big Dollar Days event. I had already bought plenty of Fancy Fun and Matrix to cover half of Oakland county. But did I let this stop me- of course not.

It has been about a month since that eleven dollar yarn venture, and I have bought a few times since. I was actually looking for a project to complete, when I came across that fateful bag - yarn and four packs of Extra in the bottom.

I have decided not to begin anymore projects until I complete the ones I have started. There are blankets to work on, and a scarf.

On the Fringe

I knitted my way through the Winter Olympics. Through the opening ceremony, knitting a scarf. Through the men's figure skating, finished the scarf. Knitted another scarf while watching the gold medal hockey game. Finally, during the closing ceremonies, I dug through my yarn collection for that half spool, so I could fringe the last scarf.

There is something to be said about fringe. To me, it gives the piece some character, a final touch. Whether it's on a scarf or an afghan, I have wound many a strand of yarn and attached groups of them to a piece.

I need to talk about the fact that my laptop was out of commission for 2 weeks, (mostly during the Olympics) - which was probably good, because my eyes were on the tv, on not this screen. During this time, I managed to organize my yarn stash.

I talk about my collection, and until I could actually see it all together, I never realized the sheer amount that I own. In the past, it was stored in large, plastic containers that you could not see through. Colors and types were all mixed in. Until about 2 weeks ago.

My mom is a bargain shopper and on a recent post-holiday trek into a local discount store (that shall remain nameless). She found the large CLEAR plastic containers for a whopping $2 each, and grabbed quite a few.

It was time-consuming and very eye-opening, to go through my yarn. I had a few new spools of Lion Brand Trellis (which they no longer make) that I considered selling on ebay. Since I can no longer buy it, those spools will become scarves.

I even did some research on how to organize yarn. At one point, I had enough to fill 2 large containers and one was pastels and baby, the other was all other colors. Then, it started to grow. more containers, a box, bags, even some runaway odds and ends that hang out in a basket.

I decided colors would be my best bet. White, black, reds, pinks, purples, blues, greens, yellows, and the browns and off-whites are mixed together. Plus 1 more container for baby yarn that is white with hints of color. So, about 10 containers total. I will have pictures soon!!

As tedious as the task was, I am glad it's done, and I have a better idea of what yarns I have, and a better system to find things. No more digging and hoping the precariously perched yarn containers stay put. Stay tuned - photos coming soon!!