Thrifty Shopping

If you ordered anything from me last week you probably noticed that I was a little slower than normal on response time. There is a reason for this- me, my husband, and my parents hopped in the car and drove over 16 hours to visit my sister's family in North Dakota. You see, my sister and her family used to live across the street from us. Just about every day after work I had the luxury of visiting my nieces. It was so much fun to play the auntie roll these past fours years, but in July, they moved (and they moved FAR!).

Although North Dakota is not the typical place most people would consider visiting on vacation, I couldn't have asked for anything more than spending time with them. Much of the week was spent de-popcorning their walls (yes... every surface had a popcorn texture, not just the ceilings!) and painting, but I managed to sneak in some antique and thrift shopping as well.

So before I show some pictures of my finds, I must give a disclaimer about my knowledge of antiques. The simple fact of the matter is that I have no knowledge. I am dead wrong every time I guess at a price on Antqiues Roadshow, the actual worth of a piece means nothing to me. If it looks pretty to me, I pull the trigger.

Come on, who doesn't need a Playmaster Ribbon Writer?! I have no idea what I am going to do with this (extremely) heavy piece of metal- but doesn't it look cool? I even tried it out:


Take away the fact that this thing is probably polished in lead, and this makes a very cool toy for children to play with! When I was young, there was a large barn on our property with an old cash register. My sister and I always had a blast playing with that. I guess this reminded me of it in a small way!








I loved the look of this lone dish towel. The navy blue and golden yellow really do something for me. Does it match my kitchen? Absolutely not! That's ok, I can find a use for it.








These two items are pieces bought for my future knitting studio (hey... a girl can dream!). I probably won't actually use these wool combs or darning egg, but they are perfect knit-friendly decorations! The dish towel got to stay in the pic... see, I'm already putting it to use!






And perhaps the item I am most excited about: over 350 grams of recycled cashmere! A thrift store that we visited had a bunch of brand new, 100% cashmere hats. Cashmere is cashmere...I bought every .99Β’ hat and took them all apart before we even headed home! I have red, blue, baby pink, and black...any suggestions?


More from the 'Baby Shower Tower'

And as promised, here are details of what knitted gifts reside in boxes 1 & 3 of the 'baby shower tower'!

First up are a pair of my gender- neutral felted baby booties. I will be preparing the pattern for these sometime in the near future. For baby boys, I will typically do this same pattern and just use baby blue yarn and accent with little white X's. I also have baby girl felted mary-janes and t-strap booties with flowers. I am thinking of putting these out as a set when I get all the patterns written up.




Finally, in box #3 you will find one of my favorite patterns of all time. You can find it in the ever-popular "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" by Joelle Hoverson. "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" was one of the first knitting books I owned. The patterns are great for beginnings and there are a range of projects to choose from.



The pattern for this bear is very worn in my copy of "Last Minute Knitted Gifts". The pattern is written by Marion Edmonds of Knitting Together NYC. Not only does this pattern include instructions for a teddy bear, but also a bunny rabbit and elephant (and believe me...I have made them all multiple times!). The pattern is named "Lovable Toys"- how fitting!

Baby Gift Details

Last week I posted pictures of a gender neutral baby gift I had prepared for a friend's baby shower. Today I will explore box # 2 of my 'baby shower tower'.


The Organic Cotton Baby Bolero is a pattern from Leigh Radford that can be found in the book "One Skein". It is a relatively simple pattern that knits up very quick. In a neutral color, it is a perfect choice for a baby boy or girl. The thing I love most about this pattern is the sweet eyelet
detail on the back:
It is beautiful details like these that really sell me on a garment.

The second item in box #2 is an organic cotton hat with interchangeable ribbon. Knit in the round, the hat starts with a seed stitch brim and a rows of eyelets to feed the colored ribbon (or in my case, braided yarn) through. I like giving something that has an option of personalization! This is an original pattern that I plan on putting up for free as soon as my Etsy holiday rush is complete.

Stay tuned for box #1 & #3!

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String



They really are one of my favorite things. I'm not sure if it's the simplicity or the nostalgia, probably a bit of both. I remember the first Christmas my husband and I were dating. He showed up with a load of gifts neatly wrapped in brown packaging paper and finished off with lilac ribbon. My whole family was impressed with his wrap job(especially my grandma, if I remember correctly). Maybe this is what reminded me that my favorite things really are 'brown paper packages tied up with string'.


I have tried to carry this simply pleasing aesthetic to my packaging. Without being wasteful, I think it is very feasible to have a professional and appealing package; and I truly believe that this is much of the buying experience. Every customer deserves a special buying experience. Since I usually never meet my customers, I must make the online buying experience stand out. I feel that the best way to do this is by allowing a beautiful package to arrive at their door!


The package above is my typical baby shower packaging. These are my favorite gifts to do because they knit up quick and I have three different sizes of square boxes that I can stack on top of each other for a 'gift tower' (ok...I admit, the 'gift tower' is the true reason I like making baby gifts!).


So what's inside?
Here is the finished gender-neutral gift set. More on the individual knits later!