$5.58 and 9 months (the pullover project continued)

That's the total amount of money and time spent I spent on the pullover. I'm am so happy it is finally done! The force was strong against me, I kept running into one problem after the next. First I ran out of yarn, then I found out the yarn was discontinued. Once I finally found some more yarn I didn't have enough of the color I wanted to finish the edging with. To make it worse, 2 nights ago I was assembling it at about 12:30am and the power went out! You better bet I was crocheting by candlelight by that point. I also realized the next day that I had managed to get a messed up square in there so I had to go back and take it out and fix it. As if that all wasn't enough, just as I was finishing the very last row around the bottom, my crochet needle snapped in half! That wasn't going to stop me either. I searched for the super glue to no avail, it was empty so I grabbed the duct tape. It wasn't comfortable but I managed to finish just before the tape and my fingers gave out on me. Too bad my daughter can't wear it yet, it's October already and still 90 degrees outside. Wtf? Well at least it is done and she has it to wear when the weather is right. I ended up winning the auction for the turquoise yarn, a whole 98 cents! The s&h came to $4.60 so altogether I paid $5.58. I used up every last bit of the turquoise making the squares and putting it all together so I had to use the white I had purchased to do the edging, and I didn't follow the directions for the sleeves and bottom b/c I didn't like the way it was looking but I think it came out looking nice still. Claire still loves it and that's all that matters. I like it too. Well here it is:

And did I finally learn my lesson about making sure I have enough materials to finish my work before I start? I doubt it. :)

Jewelry skills return?

I've been thinking about picking up my clay again and making more jewelry. A good friend recently lost her job and we've been talking about getting together to craft and make money, possibly starting our own business if it works out. I've been thinking more and more that we could really make some money off of jewelry and that it would be a great starter craft for her since she doesn't sew or crochet, yet. I love teaching others how to craft so this is going to be so much fun. I made a bunch of stuff years ago and have since donated it all to my beloved forum- Carolina Mommas, for an auction they had a couple of years ago to make money for the site. I was surprised at how everyone was bidding quickly on my work and how well it sold. I saved one necklace that I just couldn't bare to part with. Here is a picture:

Every time I see this necklace I wonder if I can do it again. Guess I'll never know if I don't give it a shot! I wonder how long clay is good for?

The pullover project

Last year my mom got a bunch of free yarn from a neighbor that had been sitting around for quite some time, the price tags say Woolworth's for goodness sakes! Well, I've been having fun creating with this old stuff, up until now. Some of this yarn was Caron cotton terry yarn, very pretty and nice to work with. It is a purplish color and soft so I thought it would make a nice pullover for my daughter Claire. Little did I know that the pattern I had chosen to do would need more yarn that what I had. Of course I didn't figure this out until I had used up all the yarn I had on hand. No problem, I thought, I'll just get some more. It turns out that Caron discontinued this particular type of yarn quite a long time ago. Crap. So I've been on this never-ending search for cotton terry looped yarn. My first attempt was through someone on ebay who hand paints it. I learned the hard way not to let seller's know just how much you need their product. When I asked for 3 skeins I was told I would have to wait until more was dyed. When I checked back more was dyed alright, and the price had been raised almost 3 times what it was before! Yeah right. So my search continued, or was put on pause I should say. I moved on to other crafts and forgot about it until just last week. I decided to give it another go with the hopes that I would this time find the yarn and Claire would have a pullover to wear this fall. Well yesterday must have been my day b/c not only did I find an auction on ebay for some of the EXACT SAME yarn I had in a color that would go very nicely with the color I had already begun with, but it was affordable too! I placed my bid but my impatience got the best of me and I continued searching. Just my luck, on ebay express someone had a listing of 7 skeins of the same kind of yarn in white at less than $2 a skein including s&h. I couldn't help myself so I went ahead and bought it. That means I now have way more than enough yarn coming my way, plus if I get the other auction I'm really set. If I win the auction I will use the colored yarn to finish the sweater. Either way I will be dying the white yarn and using it to complete the sweater (if the auction doesn't go through) and make all new washcloths and kitchen towels. The bidding for the other yarn ends tomorrow and the 7 skeins are already in the mail and on their way so it won't be long now! Now I just need to find the best dying techniques available for dying a 85% cotton and 15% polyester yarn... In the end I wonder just how much time and money this quick and free pullover will cost!

Yeah so that's how I make it my way.

Here's a picture of what I have been able to complete so far.

The pattern can be found here: http://www.knittingdaily.com/freepatterns/crochet/232-1.html if you register for free you can download it. I have been having fun making the squares, they are very easy and if I had the yarn I needed in the first place it would have taken no time to complete I'm sure. ;)