yard sale finds

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Anastacia Knits

Sat I hit it BIG with yard sale finds. That’s just the way it goes – you go every week & come home with nothing & other weeks you find a ton of goodies. Here’s the craft related stuff I came home with (not all from the same yard sale; I also managed to get 7 or 8 cds & 3 books & some odd buttons/safety pins/knitting needles, including an Addi Turbo, which I didn’t photograph)

YARN!!

homespun

Wedgie helping

a few balls of misc acrylic mint green, there’s a bit here to play with

pile of misc acrylic

(edited to fix photo)

bigger pile of misc acrylic including most of a full pounder

(all of this yarn will go towards either the cat blankets or lapghans for the local nursing homes, with the exception of a few of the variagated yarns which will probably go into charity scarves)

(I also photographed some other skeins of vintage stuff that I’ll be putting up on Ravelry that I won’t bore you with here, but you can check out my flickr or ravelry accounts if you want to see the other stuff)

PATTERNS!

And my favorites…

and the best item was…
drumroll please…

Barbie knitting kit! It’s missing one of the two spool knitters but the box is of course what is even harder to come buy, & believe it or not somewhere in my collection I have the missing spool knitter that I picked up a few years ago loose at a yard sale, so I just have to put it all together.

How much did everything cost? It’s hard to say as I didn’t include the things that Jon got, but I paid $5 for the tubs of yarn (I threw out a ton that was damaged or soo badly tangled) & $3 for smaller lot of yarn that also included a ton of patterns. Jon picked up a bunch of patterns & the set of books for me & paid $12, that also included the cds & a bunch of other things that he bought at the same yard sale.

Memorial Day

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Anastacia Knits

happy Memorial day to all my US readers. It’s a day to reflect, but I think most people consider this weekend the unofficial start to summer. I had to work Sat & today, but spent Sat am hitting some yard sales (photos to come tomorrow) & Sat night with my family / friends at a cookout/bonfire. I only took a couple photos but here are the highlights from Sat night:

the gang’s all here! can you see me knitting?

Before you all cringe at the thought of me throwing my knitting into the fire, this was a piece that I got mixed up in a tub of yarn at a yard sale. It was badly sewn together, badly knotted, stunk to high heaven. I tried to take it apart & recycle the yarn, but it was not happening. When we have a big bonfire over at my parents every one has to bring a burnable, well this one was mine

If you look carefully you can see my dad behind the photo

Badass Business Women: Manifesto mini book review

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Anastacia Knits

Badass Business Women: The Manifesto by Jessica Kizorek

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This book is nothing but a short advertisement for their website. I actually read it twice because I really thought I was missing something. I admit, I was hoping I was actually going to learn something from the book, or at least gain an idea from it but there is nothing of value here other then talking about how wonderful the website is & how wonderful it is to be a part of it.

I received a review copy for free.

View all my reviews

Unbelievable Adventures of a WWII German War Bride

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Anastacia Knits

The Unbelievable Adventures of a WWII German War Bride: Collections of Acts of Kindness in War and Peace by Ingeborg M. Johnston

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don’t normally read reviews of a book before I review it myself, because I don’t want to taint my own impressions of a book, but i admit I did so in this case & I was rather surprised to see nothing but very positive, glowing comments about the book. Not that I had anything overly negative about the book; I did enjoy reading Johnston’s adventures, but sections were written poorly, there was a lack of editing more obvious in some places then in others, and all in all, the whole thing lacked realism. Not any individual ‘adventure’ mind, but all in all, that all of these adventures could actually happen to one person, who has not come apart at the seams & is still perfectly sane. I’m not saying I don’t believe the author, as in this case I do happen to believe in her tales & she has no reason to lie, I’m just pointing out that all of these adventures just seem a little fantastical, but that’s because absolutely nothing of any interest has happened to me.

I received a review copy from the author.

View all my reviews

Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously by Adrienne Martini book review

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Anastacia Knits

Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously by Adrienne Martini

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful book about Adrienne’s tale in knitting an Alice Starmore sweater, the holy grail of knitting. Though Adrienne does try to explain some knitting things to the muggles, aka non-knitters, it’s obvious that only other crafters will really understand what it takes, and why, we would undertake a project such as this. She does a great job of explaining everything that goes into making a project of this size – from the little things like getting an audible subscription so she has something to knit to, from the larger things like finding substitute yarn.

Along the way, Adrienne is lucky enough to do a lot of traveling & meets lots of other knitters, including Ann & Kaye from Mason Dixon knitting, who are among my personal knitting favorites. She also gets into some history behind both Starmore & fair isle knitting, the latter which I was familiar with & the former I was not.

In the end, the result is something that probably wouldn’t surprise any knitters & is something we’ve all gone through with any knitting or crocheting project near & dear to our hearts.

I may or may not have received a review copy for free – I have no memories of receiving or buying this book, & there are no price stickers on it anywhere.

View all my reviews

Friday FO

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Anastacia Knits

Good morning!

(I don’t know why, but the above photo is my favorite)

I have a new coins quilt to show off to you, I’m calling this the Man Version – how original, I know.

I actually finished crocheting up this gem a week or two ago, but the photos have been sitting on the camera waiting for me to download / upload to flickr, & I finally got around to it.

As per the others, it’s 100% acrylic scraps, in mainly manly colors (say that 10 times fast) & is using my Coins Quilt free crochet pattern. It has been added to the donation pile for the local nursing home.

quickie post

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Anastacia Knits

Have you seen this website yet? Too cool

Craft Roulette

work in progress wednesday – catherine socks

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Anastacia Knits

Good morning!

Not much to show you, I’m afraid. I only took a couple photos, inside with a flash photo to share with you.

They are the beginnings of the free sock pattern, Catherine, by Kate Blackburn. I am just using the chart & making them toe up. I’m using Knit Picks Stroll fingering yarn in a pretty shade of blue, the exact name I don’t recall.

yard sale adventures

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Anastacia Knits

Anyone who knows me or my hubby know we are avid yard salers, thrift store, auctions, flea market, free stuff on the side of the road junkies. Here are a few of my treasures we picked up this past weekend:

The first 3 books in an Elizabethan series for $1.50 (for all 3) & added to my TBR pile.

Some pretty vintage fabric that I have no idea what I’ll do with, but have entertained the idea that maybe I’ll use it to line a crocheted bag:

(you can see from the price I paid $1, & it feels like there is at least 2 yards in the bundle)

A skein of yarn mom picked up for me to use in a charity item of some sort, & a magazine- I have a ton of them in this particular series, but didn’t have this one. I think the mag was a quarter or a dime.

I picked up a tote of assorted, well, mostly junk, at an estate sale for 50 cents. This was what I kept:

5 cabbage patch kids, two are from 85, & one has the “real” hair that I *think* is slightly rare? This is the first one I’ve picked up with the “real” hair as compared to the “yarn” hair. That’s also a Rainbow Bright dog, does anyone remember his name? At the same estate sale I picked up some cool Care Bears glasses for 50 cents for 4 of them, but I didn’t take a photo.

And, of course, a Wedgie photo…

Wedgie photos

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Anastacia Knits

Crazy cat lady alert!

I haven’t shared any Wedgie photos recently, here are 2 of my new favorites

Also I wanted to share two recent blog posts with you about my lovely Dudley Do Wright shawl pattern:

Peacefully Knitting did a write up recently here & Last Yesterday did a review & is offering a 25% off discount code over here! Please go visit these lovely ladies & share some love.

Anastacia Knits

easy, elegant & edgy crochet designs

Monthly Archives: May 2011