Yard Sale Booty!!

[SPOILER ALERT: If you or someone you are related to is on my gift list, please don't read this post, you might ruin a surprise or two!!!]

I am a die-hard yard sale shopper. Every spring I wait impatiently for the fun to start again. I've been out almost every Saturday morning for the last 4 or 5 weeks now, and I'll be going until the end of September - then the fall church rummage sales will begin, to keep me going for another month or so.

I love the "thrill of the hunt" - you never know what great bargains you might find. I have a knack for finding the exact things we need, when we need them. This season, I've already replaced our languishing drinking glass collection with an entire set of gorgeous matching glasses (identical to the kind I had in mind!) and found a replacement winter jacket and snow pants for Noah for next winter, along with quite a lot of other great stuff.

It seems every week ends up having a bit of a theme to it, and this week it was "books and stationery week".

Yesterday's haul included:
-2 unopened boxes of Christmas cards (cute ones that I really like!)
-4 brand new, still in the package fancy greeting cards (2 are new baby cards and I need those right now!)
-BRAND NEW copies of Eat*Pray*Love and Rodney Yee's Yoga: Poetry of the Body
-2 like-new condition children's books (one hardcover)
- a felt story board with 2 sets of felt figures
[these last 2 items are for a certain toddler's birthday and Christmas gifts]
-a set of plastic dishes (to replace our really old and beat up camping set!)
-a set of "magic boxer shorts" (add water and watch them grow!) for Joe's Christmas stocking

I estimate this lovely collection of items would have cost me $125 at retail prices. My yard sale total? $16.00

Have I mentioned that I love yard sales??

Need Last Minute Christmas Ideas?

Make It From Scratch Carnival: 'Twas the Week Before Christmas Edition is up. Go check it out for some great last-minute food and gift ideas!

A Knitted Mini Purse

I have finally finished another of my knitted gifts! What a relief as Christmas is just over a week away now. I am making two of these purses for my nieces (in different colours); the second one is not quite finished yet - I still need to do all the seaming and crochet edging. I am planning to tuck a few goodies in the purses as well - lip gloss, hair accessories, etc.

This was a fairly quick project but a lot more involved than the lace bookmark! I think most people would need to spend a couple of evenings on this to get it completed. I am pretty slow at sewing seams and crocheting so if you are speedy with both of those you might be able to get the whole thing done in one afternoon or evening. This is another gift that was practically free to make - the yarn had been in my stash for a long time and the button came out of my rather full button box!

Here are the basic directions for making the purse:

Yarn: I used Bernat Handicrafter Cotton; any worsted weight yarn would work. If you use a wool yarn, you could knit the purse up in a bit larger size then felt it.

Needles: 4 mm (size 6 US), 1 pair straight needles plus 2 dpns (for i-cord), 4 mm crochet hook for edging

Other: 1 decorative button

Cast on 24 stitches. Knit in stockinette stitch for 11", ending with a purl row. Starting on the next row, K2tog at the beginning and end of every knit row until you have one stitch remaining on the needle. Pull yarn through the last stitch to finish off.

To make the strap, knit a length of 3-stitch i-cord using the dpns (mine is about 20" long but you can make it however long you want!) There are instructions here on how to knit i-cord if you haven't done this before. It's super easy and a really handy thing to know how to do, I use it often in my little projects.

Weave in yarn ends and sew the side seams of the purse together, attaching the i-cord at the top on both sides (make sure the i-cord's not twisted before you sew it into the second side!)

I decided to do a picot edging around the flap and the top (inside) edge of the purse. You could just leave it plain if you want but I like the little something "extra" it gives the project. I am NOT a crocheter so don't let that scare you off, it's really easy! There are some basic directions on how to crochet a picot edge here if you need some help. I chained a few stitches down at the end point of the flap to create a little loop for the button. If you're not going to do a picot edging, you will need to make a little loop of either single chain crochet or i-cord to attach for a button loop.

Now, sew the button in place and you're done!

If these directions are as clear as mud, email me and I'll try and help you out!

A Quick Knitted Gift

I was wracking my brain for an inexpensive yet "nice" gift to send to my Grandma. I had already selected a book to send to her, and eventually I realized I could knit her up a lacy bookmark as an accompaniment.

This turned out to be a "practically free" gift. I had some crochet cotton in my stash (which was either donated by a non-crafty friend or purchased for next to nothing at a yard sale; I'm not sure!) The lace pattern I used is from the book A Creative Guide to Knitted Lace; the "Evening Wrap" pattern on page 30. You could really use just about any lace pattern you like as long as the pattern repeat is fairly narrow. After I finished knitting the bookmark I decided it was too stark white so I threw it into a bowl with some leftover coffee and let it soak for a couple of hours. I then gave it a good rinse, blocked it out on a towel and let it dry overnight. I gave it a quick press with the iron the next day. You can see the difference the dye job made in the photo - the final product has a much "softer" antique look to it.

This was a very quick project and I'm pleased with the results. I think this would make a great gift for a teacher or any book-loving friend or family member. A knitter with a reasonable amount of experience could churn out several of these in a couple of evenings of TV viewing.

Frugal Hostess Gifts (at last!)

This post (which I initially promised to deliver way back on the 7th) has now become long overdue! In hindsight, I shouldn't have figured I'd have any time to blog with our very busy Thanksgiving weekend and its aftermath.

Above is a photo of Hostess Gift #1: Pumpkin Butter & Pear Chutney. Both of these were homemade (the chutney was properly canned, the pumpkin butter I just put in a canning jar to match). To make the labels, I cut up an old brown kraft paper gift bag and (for the white) an old greeting card. I trimmed all the edges with my fancy-edge scissors, and tied the tags on with raffia (one package of raffia lasts approximately forever as far as I can see!) You can't see it in the photo, but I also cut circles out of wrapping paper and put them under the screw-cap lids of the canning jars to cover the canning (snap) lids. I brought this to my brother-in-law's (wrapped up all proper in a gift bag with tissue paper and ribbon), and it was very well received (as were the Baked Squash Casserole and Apple Crisp!) We had a great dinner and a relaxing visit with my hubby's brother's family.

The boys spent much of the time at their uncle's playing on the rope swing with their cousins. That is, when they weren't in the hot tub!! Yes, they were perfectly comfortable playing in their swimsuits at Thanksgiving, as we had summer-like weather both Sunday and Monday.

On Monday we headed to my brother's house (in the blistering heat and humidity of a 30 degree Celsius day - a new record for Thanksgiving!) Below is a photo of Hostess Gift #2: A Jalapeno Pepper Plant, Jalapeno & Banana Peppers, & Pumpkin Butter. The peppers were all from our garden, as was the plant. I dug it up carefully (leaving a few half-grown peppers still on the plant) and put it in a coffee can (these are very handy for a lot of gifting purposes, so I try to keep ours from ending up in the recycling bin!) I wrapped the peppers in cellophane and attached with raffia to the stake (an old piece of quarter round) supporting the plant. We also brought Oatmeal Dinner Rolls (this is close to my recipe) and Red Cabbage and Apple Salad (I used raisins instead of dried cranberries, and left out the nuts due to allergies). These were all very well received too!

All in all, it was a very satisfying and enjoyable weekend, full of good food and lots of time spent with family. Now if we could just finish off the (seemingly bottomless) bowl of cabbage salad...