Charity Shop Rummaging

I love charity shops more than is good for me - if I don't restrain myself my home would end up looking like one. I especially like looking for craft materials, partly because I'm a bit of a hippy, eco sort at heart, but mostly because I'm on a tight budget. I am very envious of those bloggers I see who can look at a fugly skirt and imagine what glorious thing it could become.

I have dipped my toe in the water recently by purchasing knitwear for the specific purpose of reclaiming the yarn. The first two were probably a mistake. I'm still a newbie and I guessed that two jumpers were made of DK weight yarn - alas, they were much thinner and unravelling them is a major undertaking. The colours are a lovely bright green and lavender blue so I'm sure I will use them eventually.

I had more luck on my second attempt with this poncho which was on the children's rack.

The yarn is an alpaca/wool/acrylic blend, which is very soft and drapy. It has fabulous heavy buttons. Unfortunately, the buttons and the fabric aren't a good combination - the buttonholes had all ripped, which I didn't realise until I got home.

This is now becoming a Ribbed Lace Bolero, perfect for the time of year!

Another find was this 'grab bag' of yarn. The going rate around here is 50p for a skein or partial skein of yarn. Since the yarn was in a bit of a tangle in the carrier bag, I offered £5 for the whole bag rather than spending ages untangling the ones that I wanted.

I didn't have any ideas what I would do with it, but I loved the bright colours. The WPI tells me that this is DK weight or slightly lighter. My thoughts while in the shop were along the lines of a granny square blanket or socks (lots!), but there is enough of the blue and green above to possibly get a couple of summer tops out of.

Some of my favourites:

One thing I found interesting is the way the skeins are wound. It looks to me like these have been wound by hand, or at least at home. Can anyone shed any light on this? How do you wind yarn to look like this?

Little Orange Bird

I admit, part of the reason I wanted to learn crochet was because I fell in love with the Amigurumi projects I'd seen on Ravelry. I did start the Exchange Bag from The Happy Hooker, but decided it was a bit much for my first crochet project. Cue, the Birds of A Feather pattern, which is very cute and very do-able for a beginner.

The stuffing is showing through a bit because I didn't have the right size hook and had to go up to a bigger size. But sometimes the urge to cast on (or make a chain, in this case?!) is urgent and must be obeyed.

Done in an evening, which considering this was my first ever crochet project shows just how fast these little guys are to make! I would not be surprised if he ends up with a few friends before long . . .