getting a yarny (or other crafty) deal...

Yes, still knitting away, but I wanted to share something I've figured out recently...

Jo Ann Fabric has been putting out a lot of good coupons lately and it used to be, you were limited to using one 40% (or 50% or whatever) off coupon per purchase. Not anymore! Last time I was in there, I bought 4 items that were not on sale and got 50% off on each... just wish I'd figured this out when they had the 60% off coupon!

Here's how:

1. Use the paper coupon from the ad flyer.
2. Sign up for the emails from Jo Ann's and you'll get coupons in your inbox - print those.
3. Go back to that email and click "send to phone" - this will come as a text message and has a different number on it than the one you printed above.
4. Download the Jo Ann Fabric app on your smartphone and log in with your email then go to "coupons" and pull up the current coupon - this will have yet a different number on it.

Now you have four coupons - two digital, two on paper. Jo Ann's will let you use as many coupons as you have on the same order (one per non-sale-priced-item, of course) as long as they have different numbers below the scan bar. This is a great way to buy multiples of, say, yarn in the same dye lot that's not currently on sale or just multiple skeins of the same type of yarn for a colorwork project in just one trip. =) I got four skeins for a sweater, all at 50% off and saved about $22.

Now, you know too. =)

get your fiber today!

I got mine yesterday... but I left some for everyone else. I'm nice like that. The Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival in Franklin, IN, is always good for at least a couple hours of woolly fun. It seems a bit smaller than last year, but there were still lots of great booths to browse through. I did miss the couple with the great deals on bamboo needles this year though. =( I'd planned to fill in a couple gaps in my supplies. And I'm so glad I went Friday instead of Saturday! It's blazing hot today and would have made for miserable wool shopping. And yes, stash be damned, I did shop for wool! lol I planned ahead though to keep within my budget, stopping at the bank for cash and left the plastic in the car so I had to be sure I really wanted something before buying. What did I want?

This:

(alpaca)

and this:

(handspun)

and this:

(handspun)

Did I need it? Nope. But man is it pretty!

There's always a booth outside with at least a few adorable lambs. This year did not disappoint.

They even had a couple of angora goat kids. SO much cuteness in one little pen! And they're so friendly, I could sit there all day scratching little lamb heads. =) One of the ladies at this booth spun the red and purple yarns above. I think this is my favorite booth every year.

One little critter did sneak into the car with me.

Isn't he adorable?! I thought briefly about purchasing the fiber and supplies to make my own... then I added it up and realized I'd be better off buying this little guy instead. =) 

There was also a booth, Bur Oak Studio, selling aluminum knitting needles repurposed into jewelry. She had some nice pieces and at very good prices (much less than I've seen similar items on etsy). Unfortunately, I spotted a very cool set of earrings just as someone else picked them up to purchase them. Ah, well. Wasn't meant to be. They went to a good home though - the lady wore them away from the booth! =)

This morning, I hit the farmer's market. Not much produce to be had just yet, but there were a few booths with some crafty wares. I sense a sheepy theme to this weekend... heh

Busy. Shopping. And a lack of yarny fun.

Hey, strangers! It's been awhile, huh? I've been busy lately. Busy. That's such a relative term. The past few weeks have been much, much busier than normal, but I finally took an entire day off this week... and it. was. awesome. A much-needed break. I hadn't actually had a full day off work in over 3 weeks and I was definitely feeling the burn(out). Two almost-full-time jobs'll do that to ya. It's only temporary though and for a very good cause (moving!) and it'll all be worth it in the end. =) Things have lightened up with job #1 too so I'm feeling a bit less over-committed this week (and more thankful for job #2 too!) and it looks like the next couple weeks will be more of the same. Ahhhh. Much better.

With the new time commitments (combined with being an hr away from any decent stores), I decided I needed an alternative to running all over buying gifts this holiday season. Enter: online shopping! Yeah, yeah, I've done it before of course, but this year, I pretty much did it all online and took better advantage of some of the great sales. Packages have been showing up and so far, only one shipping snafu. I received a package with a packing slip that didn't match the contents of the box. Good thing the missing item wasn't for a gift! Yeah, I got myself a couple of Christmas/birthday presents too. =) Hey, at least I know I'll like what I got me. heh

There has also been a definite lack of yarny relaxation time. I did pull out one of Reilly's sweaters and re-knit (this is twice now) the neck. A certain little dog can't be trusted in knitwear unsupervised - he tries to undress himself in the only way he knows how... with teeth. I've pulled out yarn to make him a new sweater. Alpaca and wool - perfect for a little dog with basically no natural coat and scrawny little legs and single-digit temps. I've learned a lot since making his other sweaters so I'm confident this one will fit even better... if I ever find the time to work on it. My camera's also been collecting dust. I can't wait until I'm moved and settled back in the NW and can start really living my life again... Limbo kinda sucks. Just a few more months... =)

Woolly Weekend

It's that time of year! Lambs!

So cute! These were all bottle-fed so they were super-friendly too. I headed off to Franklin, IN, for the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival on Friday where I got to see these little ones... and lots of yarny, crafty goodness. It was a looong day of fibery fun. =) It's always fun checking out all the booths and seeing what crafty people are up to. Of course, there were lots of beautifully hand-dyed yarns and roving and some other creative handmade items too.

There were some cute takes on the cotton dishcloth:

And some great deals on handy books:

A book on natural yarn dyeing and a community cookbook to benefit the animal shelter. $12 for 2 books? Not a bad deal at all! And there was just about everything sheepy you could think of! Loving that little felted sheep with golf tee legs!

And yeah, lots of yarny goodness. =) One booth had these small (100yd) skeins of wool perfect for felting and only $1.25 each! That was a great opportunity to get lots of colors in smaller amounts for a few felting projects I have planned and also want to try my hand at over dyeing a few of those lighter skeins as well. I'm working on a couple of ideas for things to put up on etsy. Should be fun!

If there's a fiber festival anywhere near you, check it out. You won't regret it!

I may finally cave

to technology. I've been looking at e-readers for awhile now and just couldn't justify the cost since Amazon's Kindle meant you buy the book, read it and that's it. $10 for a book that I can't pass on? And no expansion slot to increase the memory? I'm thinking "no" even though it would be awesome as a space-saver both on the road and on the bookshelves at home. I got to play with a Kindle not long ago and the owner (another business traveler) loves it, but still, too many limitations to justify it for me. Now, Barnes & Noble comes out with Nook and you can actually share books?! Hmm, might be worth it - esp since I have points sitting on a ccard (one I haven't even used in a year since I got my mileage card) that I could trade for $225 in BN gift cards. $260 is still a bit high for my comfort, but $35? That sounds more reasonable. =) Sure, the Kindle has text-to-voice and Nook doesn't, but after hearing the irritating computer voice of the Kindle, I know I'd never use that feature anyway. I saw a comment about being able borrow free e-books from the library as well. I'll have to check into that...

Have I ever said how much I love earning points??? =D

And let the shopping commence...

Yeah, yeah, it's nearly November and I'm just starting to Christmas shop. Okay, in all honesty, I did start last month... a little. I've picked up a couple of small items but today was my first non-stocking-stuffer-like purchase. My mom mentioned wanting a set of interchangeable circular needles so I offered to get them for her for Christmas (no surprise for her - didn't want her to go buy them!). Whew! I'd much rather buy someone something they want and might actually use (yes, I like things to be used not just collect dust on a shelf if I can help it) than try to figure out something they'd like (and don't already have). I looked at costlier sets, but my mother doesn't knit much so this should work well for her limited needs as well as take up very little storage space (if you'd ever seen the house, you'd understand that concern!).And I'll be able to afford a few other small items to go in the package too with the deal I got. Jo Ann's doesn't have these sets on sale right now, so I was able to use one of their online coupons (woo! 50% off!) and get these at a great deal. I do love finding good deals. =) Early this year, I found awesome deals on a ball winder and swift and saved my mom a ton since she got them for me for my birthday. I love everyone to get good deals. =) So... this officially begins my Christmas shopping ventures... and it was even knitting-related!

I have a problem

I love finding awesome deals on yarn. Yarn I don't really need. But it's just so irresistably pretty, dontcha think? Six skeins of this yummy mohair, wool, silk blend now reside in my stash. Well, my hotel room for now. heh It's not fattening... or illegal... so it's all good, right? ;-) And under $20 for the lot of it! How can that be bad? Heck, if the heat goes out, I can always just bury myself in my stash to survive, right?

I do believe the company I got this from is covering up the fact that they've perfected that method of transport used in Star Trek movies and beamed this to me. I placed my order late, late Wednesday night... and it was waiting at the hotel for me Friday afternoon! Wow. Okay, so it was only coming from Vermont and I'm in western upstate New York, but still. Now, what to do with it? I think this needs to be some sort of shawl or wrap. Any suggestions? I have 1200 yds and it's 8 sts/24 rows to 4" on US7 and a boucle (Wool In The Woods Harmony) - not looking to use all 1200 yds, obviously. heh =)

I started my fingerless gloves... and then frogged them. I'd started them on US6 dpns and realized quickly they were too big. I also realized... I didn't like this yarn as fingerless gloves. I loved that yarn in the ball. Still do. And it'll be perfect for something... just not fingerless gloves. ;-) At least, not for me. So I left that yarn at home last weekend and brought back some purple/blue/green variegated wool to restart my gloves. This colorway seems much more fall-like anyway. Pics to come...

BTW - Reilly is doing much, much better this weekend. Though it took longer than anyone (including two vets) expected and racked up a couple more vet bills along the way, he's apparently back to his old, bouncy self. =D Woo!

Hmm, any techies reading this? I know next to nothing about html. Is there an easy fix to make this section wider? So it doesn't cut off the edge of my pics? Just curious. It bugs me. =)

Organic, Low-Salt, Low-Sugar, Vegetarian...

Why must I choose only one? I was looking at ketchup the other day at the grocery. There were so many options! Now, I can choose standard recipe, thick, low-salt, low-sugar, organic, spicy, the options are almost limitless! Don't get me wrong, I love that the choices are there... but why do I have to choose only one? This is pretty much across the board with all packaged foods. Why can't I choose low-salt and low-sugar and organic??? Does it not make sense that many people who would choose any of these options, might want them all? Frustrating. Any wonder I prefer to cook myself?

The Perfect Bag(s)

When you travel for a living, you're always looking for the "perfect" bag... or combination of bags. heh I've been dragging a large computer/office bag around for the past year. I'd purchased this bag, a Swiss Army bag, for only $20 as it had been stored, unused, in someone's garage and they finally decided they no longer wanted it taking up space and had listed it on craigslist simply as a computer bag with wheels. It was just too good a deal to pass up once I saw what it was! =) This was just before I was offered a travel position... as if I'd known I'd need this bag soon. heh It's perfect for traveling to offices, neatly fitting pretty much everything I need to have on hand during the day. It doesn't work quite so well as a carry-on however. It's large size means it often doesn't fit either under a seat or in the overhead bin on smaller planes and often needs to be gate-checked... meaning I have to pull the laptop out and hand-carry that while the bag goes down below. So, lately, I've been using this as my 2nd checked bag and packing my laptop in a backpack-style computer bag. That works... but leaves me with light bruises on my shoulder after every trek through an airport. I really needed something with wheels to get me through the airport unscathed. I'd seen one at Big Lots for around $25, but passed at the time because it was small and I had my behemoth already. Rethinking things, I'd gone back for it... no bag. =( The search continued. Tonight, after a wonderful day spent with a great friend, I ran into Wal-Mart to grab a couple things and just happened to take a trip down the clearance aisle (something I rarely do). What should I find there? The perfect small office bag!! And on clearance for only $20! It's made by Franklin Covey, has the strap across the back so it will easily piggyback over the handle of another bag for easy transport of all the bags at once and is well-padded. Perfect. =) No more backpack bruises. No more shuffling items from bag to bag in the trunk of a rental car in the parking lot of an office or at the car rental return. This bag has just enugh room for my computer and accessories, a knitting project and a book. =) It will take its maiden voyage in just a couple days...
*****
Alas, the bag turned out to be not-so-perfect afterall. One two-week trip where it's most roughest use was the trip to and from on the plane resulted in a bag with a practically non-functioning extension handle (meaning I couldn't roll it - the whole point of the bag) and the piece of fabric across the back (enabling it to piggy-back on another bag - requirement #2) pulling free at both seems to a point where it was barely attached upon return to Indy Luckily, still had the receipt so I got my money back. The search is back on...

I'm weak...

in the face of a ridiculous yarn sale! haha

But what a heck of a deal! Everything I bought was 59-75% off! Full bags of alpaca (10 skeins) for $20?! The two variegated bags are Araucania Yarns Atacama 100% alpaca, hand-dyed in Chile. Beautiful and so soft! One in shades a green and the other in deep blue with silver and charcoal (gorgeous colorway!). Then, I added two bags of Zitron Kokon (silk/cotton/microfiber) in turquoise and dark brown with a hint of steel (such a cool color!) for some not-so-chilly weather use. And last, but not least, a bag of Ella Rae Classic 100% wool in a beautiful fuchsia. So, I started my first sweater last week and thankfully, I'm enjoying it because I now have my next 5 sweaters covered. haha I love being able to get a deal like this so I can buy by the bag and not have to worry about running out and not being able to get the same dye lot to finish a project... or possibly even the same yarn since I travel so much. Do the math. The per skein price is usually a better deal by the bag as well so most often that 10th (and sometimes 9th) skein is actually free! I'd rather have an extra skein or two to use for a smaller project down the road than stress about having enough so it's all good. =) I already even have patterns in mind for most of this. Hmm, I think I need to knit faster... =)

Check out LittleKnits for some awesome sales!
FYI - If you happen to have a question for them, call. Trust me. No one ever responded to my emails. Ever. And I tried two of the email addys listed on their site. So call... or pm them through Ravelry if you want a response. Oh, and the shipping's a little slow. Took just over a week for my order to ship, plus 4 days delivery time. You've been warned. =) Otherwise, this is a great shop with amazing sales! Well worth the wait.
(Sorry for the crappiness of the photo. I'd normally take this outside since my mother's house is unnaturally dark, but right now, it's SNOWING! So deal with it. =) Better pics to follow.)

A sad day... but full of yarny deals!

I went to my favorite yarn shop for the very last time today. Not because I'm heading back to the Midwest on Friday (I am, but not the point), but because today was the first day of their closing sale. =( Luckily, I finished the office-that-would-not-end yesterday and had nothing scheduled this morning so I was able to be there when the store opened. Good thing too as I was nowhere near the first to arrive! I went in a few minutes before "opening" and there were already probably a dozen ladies standing around the shelves ready to snag whatever they had their eye on as soon as the clock struck 11. haha I did get a few great deals on yarn and then moved on to the needles to stock up on some more circs - discovered I really like using 16" circs (rather than dpns) for hats. =) Then, I moved on to the patterns and books. Patterns for a quarter? Books for $1.50-2? I'm there! I even found a brand new color wheel for $3. And I think I can still fit everything into my suitcases for the trip home Friday - space bags rock!


On a non-fiber note, I finally caved and checked out the Ross in Everett after finishing up the office there Monday and found these awesome shoes. Also snagged a couple new Ts to replace the ones I'm tossing when I leave here.

Shopping and Blocking

My yarn haul from my trip to A New Yarn on Saturday. What a great place! I have specific plans for a few of these... and more vague plans for the rest. That variegated pink mohair at the bottom is destined to become a wimple! Found a pattern that calls for just one skein of that particular yarn. =) Most will be used for small, one-skein projects since the quantity available was small and many of these are mystery yarns - no ball bands to help determine fiber content. That's the great part of browsing in that shop though - no telling what you'll find that's been donated! There's some great stuff in this haul and I can't wait to play with it! =) I also picked up another pair of straight needles (can you ever have too many size 8s?), a couple circular needles, T-pins to block my stole and a couple patterns too!


Since I finally remembered to buy T-pins this weekend, I blocked my alpaca stole today! It's now residing on the other half of my now damp bed. haha It was too long to block on the couch and stretched nearly the full length of the bed. I'm just hoping I don't move around too much tonight since it needs the night to finish drying...


I worked on my Branching Out scarf and I'm nearly finished with my leash mitt too (only a couple more inches to go!). Pics to follow soon...

Weekend continued...

This was my photo haul from the weekend. =) Plus the tripod and a few other things that came with it. Had to spend time this weekend shooting my film assignment so not as much time to play with all this as I'd like, but I'll get there. Details can be seen here if you're curious. =)

Oh, I have to share an amusing story from my shopping trip Saturday too. People are funny... and sometimes apparently think they're shopping in the comfort of their own homes. haha

So, I went to this store that was having a great sale on sweaters. I picked up several sweaters and headed into a dressing room. Sale started today so it was busy. At this store, there are maybe half a dozen dressing rooms and one of those was out of order (I don't even want to know why) so I pick the one with the door hanging open and no one inside or hovering in the common area outside. As usual there's discarded clothing on the bench and things on the hooks since a lot of people don't take unwanted items back out of the rooms - pretty standard issue for any dressing room that has no one keeping track of the # of items going in/out. A few minutes later an irate woman is banging on my door wanting in to get her stuff. Remember, no one was anywhere near this room when I went in. I'm thinking she left something hanging in there that she wanted to buy. Turns out she left her clothes (the ones she wore in apparently) on the bench in this dressing room and asked didn't I see her clothes?! Sure, there's a pile there but that's normal for a dressing room - I'll add, there was also another pile that was not hers on that bench. What about her shoes?!? No, they were shoved completely under the bench against the wall and since I didn't squat down to look under the bench for some crazy woman's abandoned shoes, I didn't see her stupid shoes... haha She had apparently walked out to hang things she didn't want back up on the sales floor and left her clothes/shoes in a completely unoccupied dressing room. WHO DOES THAT?! And how was I supposed to know she was still using the room when it looked just like every other dressing room I've ever been in? Some people. At least she didn't leave her purse in there under her pile of clothes. She was using a few brain cells at least. hahaha Wait, the funniest part was after she left, a woman in the room next to mine wanted to go pick up another size of something she'd tried on and told her friend to stay there and not let anyone steal her room! I seriously almost lost it... as if I'd purposely picked a room full of someone's personal belongings. hahaha Some people.