Thrifty Weekend

It was beautiful this past weekend.  I forgot it was only the middle of March...no coats, bright sunshine.  A great pick me up from the winter doldrums.

Since ya'll know I didn't spend the weekend in my garden, I thought I'd share some of my thrifty finds.

The find of the weekend was two boxes of vintage christmas balls to add to my "collection".  One was broken by the check out guy (boo!) but I did get a steep discount on that box (yeah!), so I guess it all works out.  Check out these new beauties.

Do you see the one that looks like it might have been a Santa?  How cute is he?

I also hit the purse/handbag/totebag motherload.

Woo hoo!  At least one of these I'm going to be gifting, and another I hope to send to a Vera Bradley fan. 

And finally, some great vintage pyrex found their way into my shopping cart.  I hope I can find the perfect collector for these items.

 

What are your latest thrifty finds?

My Green Thumb

No matter the amount of neglect I have shown my yard, these pretties have popped up. 

Thank you, mother nature, for proving to us that spring is truly here.

Stay tuned for some updates on my thrifty adventures this weeked.  I *love* other people's spring cleaning!

Spring Has Sprung

I've finally gotten out of my winter, non sewing rut.

Boutique Girl Gifts inventory has been multiplying by leaps and bounds over the past few weeks. 

Here are some of the latest goodies.

Packing and tagging

Stop by and check out our latest goodies http://www.boutiquegirl.etsy.com/.

Time to plan the rest of this year's craft shows...or at least the next couple of months anyway.

New Etsy Team

Check out Team hartbeat, CT's newest Etsy team located in the capitol city (and surrounding areas).

I LOVE that they are planning a team craft meet up!  Fun times!

http://teamhartbeat.blogspot.com/

Blocking Makes Everything Better

Behold, my first official knitted project which required blocking.

Op Art baby blanket in black and white CotLin yarn by Knit Picks.

 It was a fun, but long knit.  With a lot of ends to weave in.

I suggest making a cute tag to complete your gift.  It will distract the recipient from the flaws in your knitting.

Giving

I've been thinking about giving today.

It's no secret I love to give gifts...even more than I love receiving them.  Seeing the joy in the recipients eye is priceless, and does a body good.  Giving for no reason, other than "I'm thinking of you" is often the most rewarding.

But not all gifts have anything to do with money.  The gift of time can be the most precious gift of all.  Giving your time to help another, is not a favor that needs to be repaid, but can be a gift that you give yourself.  The feeling you have giving to another, whether a friend or stranger, is it's own reward.

Find a cause or a friend that could benefit from your gift of time, and give your time freely.  Trust me, you'll feel fantastic.

Ahead of Schedule

I've been working on a special knitty gift for a new little gal that I'm going to meet this weekend.  She was born a few weeks early--totally healthy, but this necessitated increased knitting time.  STAT!

This morning I figured out I had 30 rows to go...and that each row was taking me over 20 minutes to complete.  So I ambitiously decided that I had about 10 hours of knitting left to complete this gift.  Where was I going to get 10 hrs?  PLUS I need to block this gift and since this will be my first knitted item that requires blocking, who knows how long it will take to dry?  Nevermind.  I put aside the daunting time commitment, and was determined to finish knitting between tonight and tomorrow night.

I'm knitting along tonight and quickly realized that I would run out of my black yarn before completing the final 18 black rows...I got 12 completed.  I hopped on ravelry to see if anyone else had this problem.  I mean, I know I didn't check my gague (No chastizing, Katie!), but I shouldn't be out of yarn?!?!?  After searching many forum posts I finally click on the link for the pattern.

Way at the bottom I find this:

Errata from Designer: Errata:
The smaller size blanket should end after the line:
Work 16 rounds B. 552 sts
working the additional 2 stripes results in running out of yarn.

No kidding.

I've cast off, so instead of knitting for hours tomorrow night, I'll be weaving in ends, and researching wet blocking.  It feels great to be ahead of schedule!