It is no well kept secret that I enjoy going to estate sales (and antique malls, etc), almost every weekend.
There are several websites that I consult, usually starting the Thursday before the weekend, and I check them again on Fri. and Sat. morning, so I will have my game plan organized. The websites that I consult are:
www.estatesales.net
and
http://gsalr.com/garage-sales-st-louis-mo.html
Some folk will gasp in disbelief, but I do quite often tire of the "Julie, the Tour Director" role that I have somehow inherited. I know....I have choices. I could choose to sit in this house like a bump on a log and vegetate until I am mercifully relieved of my misery, and taken from this world. or I can make the absolute best of my experience while I am here.
Mark Twian's answer to the lady who exclaimed to him, "Your sense of humor proves that you must have a close relationship with God!" Anybody that has remotely glanced in the direction of Mark Twain's writings can easily discern that his writings were merely to amuse himself, pay his bills, and to occupy his time while he was here on this Earth. He lost his wife and two children before he, himself, passed away. Mildly stated, he was a bit peeved with God. He answered the lady's comment with, "You obviously have not heard of our (His / God's) estranged relationship!" I said that to say this: Many people mistake the activities and enthusiasm of an individual as a religious existence. That is not so. On the contrary, many of us are simply occupying our time, and making the best of our existence. I cannot imagine how boring our time on this planet would be without hobbies, interests and passions! Just look at those around you. This fact will become immediately apparent. When physicist Richard Feynman died, his last words were: "I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring."
My point is: I often tire of my adopted role as "Julie, the tour director", and occasionally, I would like Mark to select the day's activities. This can include whether or not we are going shopping, which estate sale we should go to on that early Saturday morning, or any other venue we would like
to attend.
This past weekend, Mark noted some craft supplies at a particular estate sale in the historic Webster Groves (St. Louis) district. He has that estate sale, and one other sale that featured a lot of furnishings from the 1950's - 1970's. I did buy a macrame wall hanging, a Jimmy Smith (Jazz organist) album and a hedge trimmer at this sale. The other mid-century furnishings from this house, and the house, itself, was PHENOMENAL. I had to reluctantly pass on most of the stuff in this house because my house is already nearing the full point! On to the next sale.
(The mid-century sale was two blocks behind Jilly's Cupcakes! (http://www.jillyscupcakebar.com/)
I am here to tell you that I was a very good boy. We bought a cup of coffee, and left the store! In another 10 lbs, I *will be back* for one of these cupcakes. They are so big, rich and wonderful, I have to eat them in 2 sittings. Check out that website. The choices are mind bending.
On to the estate sale that Mark selected for us. This sale was in an old house. Many older homes have many small rooms, rather than an open floor plan. This was a 2 home, and both the front and back yards had no grass. They both were heavily planted flower gardens. Because this home was small, and everybody that came to the door of this home was allowed in (rather than taking numbers, or counting customers in and out), the small rooms quickly became over crowded with customers. I eventually found my way upstairs and into the craft room.
This craft room was better appointed than a few Michael's and / or Jo Ann's Craft stores that I have visited! The woman that lived here did it all. She did crewel work, counted cross stitch, knitting, crochet, and many other arts and crafts. I do appreciate those that do other work, such as the crewel, needlepoint, etc. My gig is knitting. Only recently have come to speaking terms with "Crochet". In the opinion of this writer, knitting is so much more cut-and-dried. One stitch after the other. They are all on the knitting needles, waiting for you to knit / purl / cable, etc, them. With crochet, you have to pick up the right stitch, and do so much more with it than a simple knit stitch. To each their own, I say. If you can crochet and not knit, that is OK. IF you knit and not crochet, that is OK, too, and if you can do both you are blessed.
About a month ago, I went to an estate sale and bought what initially appeared to be a large supply of Red Heart (acrylic, 4 ply all-purpose yarn). These colors are BRIGHT. Turquoise, purple, yellow, red organge, red, and a couple shades of green. I had idea what I was going to do with these bright colors, but 'ya never know when I will want those colors for a project." The entire box was $10. What a deal! I picked up the box, paid the lady, and went along my way. When I got the box home, I started going through it to see what was in my little box of treasures. I don't know if I was happy or dismayed, but I immediately under the bright skeins of yarn that I thought I was purchasing was 200+ granny squares, several pages out of a magazine with the instructions to an afghan, an even the correct size crochet hook for the project. I could tell by the partially used skeins of yarn that this was probably the first crochet project this woman attempted. Her work was flawless, however. The bad part of the deal is that, by my calculations (and you know I calculated!), she had 80% of the squares finished, and they were correct to the pattern. She did not, however, weave in any lose ends, ordo any finishing work to any of the squares. So... I had to honor this woman's work. I could not rip out all of these squares, and once I discovered what I had actually purchased, the thought of destroying all of her work never crossed my mind. It was not an option. My only other option is to finish this afghan. There is byt one problem: I can knit like a mad man, but I can't (couldn't!) crochet. Not a stitch. I had to consult my friendly YouTube.com, and I learned to, minimally, double crochet, so I could put a black edging around these squares before I join them. I have already spent several week's worth of time weaving in her lose ends. The photo above was taken immediately after I got home with my unfinished treasure. Starting with the white-yellow-orange squares (the two that are closest to the viewer in the picture), the squares start with 6 of that pattern...then 14...ad so on, until there should be 72 of the last pattern (the farthest away from the viewer). The lady that started this afghan had 36 of the final 72 squares to complete, and she quit! With the exception of edging those squares in black, which I now have mostly finished, and tucking in *any* loose ends, she was much closer to the end of the project than the beginning. "How sad!", I am forced to think. And the circle of live continues, does it not? I hope she is in Heaven somewhere, smiling down on me, and that she is content in knowing that the project that she worked so hard to complete accurately in every detail will see it's fruition, and I learned yet another skill. We both win.
Look at all the pretty bright colors in that picture! Up to this point, the colors that I have used **thus far** in my knitting have been muted and fairly subdued, with a couple exceptions. There is, however no "over the top" for me. "The Top" is a prison that a lot of individuals build for themselves, and hope to snare any unsuspecting passing victim that comes close enough to fall into their trap. But that, my friends, is another blog for another day. I have no "Top", and these colors will definitely find their way happily into my fiber arts.
The issue at hand: We are now at a completely different estate sale. Different week. Different sale. Same art / craft. I wish I would have made this woman's daughter a deal all 1000 pairs of knitting needles (and I honestly don't need another pair!), and her huge stash of yarn. I did find several of the Red Heart colors that are in the project that I have before me - the orphaned afghan. I bought those colors, and several hanks of hand-spun / hand-dyed yarn. $1 each. Those hand dyed yarns are anywhere from $15 - $185 each in a retail shop.
While I am venturing down yet another side road, I am starting to get to the point where I need a center-pull yarn ball winder, and a swift so I can correctly and securely wind hanks of hand spun yarns into a usable ball. I can't tell you how thankful I am that I made the following purchase with a weekly 40% off coupon! This thing was $89 without the coupon, and I know I would have been extremely pissed if I spent the full $89. This electric yarn ball winder is extremely weak and underpowered. The balls it winds are fairly loose, to put it mildly, and you can't get a normal skein of 4 ply yarn all on one ball before you run out of room on the machine, and have to start a new ball (sometimes 3 balls per skein!).
With the exception of winding sock yarn, fingerling or baby weight yarns (and that is a stretch of my good graces!), this machine is worthless:
Can somebody build me one of these? I probably could do it, but my woodworking shop is in parts, sitting in the garage:
Anywho.... Even though I wanted to buy this lady's entire craft room, I had to make a few select choices, and continue with my day. I did buy some of the identical colors / brands that were used in this afghan I am completing, and I bought the homespun yarns. I did manage (however unhappy I was!) to unwind the hanks of yarn without a swift, but it was a bit hair-raising, and not a walk in the park. I placed each carefully untied hank over a full gallon jug of water, so it would have a constant and steady center. Then I had to hand wind the ball of yarn by leaning over the table, and taking my newly formed ball around and around...and around...and around ! No fun. I want a hand-wound ball winder and a yarn swift. There is one yarn store in the St. Louis area that sells these things (Knit & Caboodle in the Historic St. Charles area), and besides that location, nobody carries one for sale to the general public. Many of the privately owned shops do, however, have a winder and swift set up in their shops to wind any yarn you purchase from them. That isn't gonna help me much when I buy 'estate yarn' from a sale.
(I hear the troops in the distance!)
Back to the craft room and the hand-spun yarn I bought. This yarn was in a large, clear zipped bag, much like one that a comforter or sheet set would come in. As I was paying the lady at the sale, Mark joked, "Oh, look! It even comes with a magazine.!" True enough. There a pattern magazine from the 1980's in this bag. When I got the yarn home, and was taking a closer look at my treasure, I also found another surprise in the bag:
What is it, you ask? I'm glad you did! This is a half-eaten package of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies! Probably 20 - 25 yrs. old, ya think? !!!!!
There, you have it! A woman after my own heart! She had far more arts and crafts than she ever had time to complete in her lifetime, she had wonderful yarns and magazines, and she liked to eat Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies while she was knitting!
I did my part! I bought this second-hand half-eaten package of Girl Scout cookies! I supported our (Girl Scout) troops! he he he
(Anybody gonna make me a wooden yarn ball winder???)
- Michael
There are several websites that I consult, usually starting the Thursday before the weekend, and I check them again on Fri. and Sat. morning, so I will have my game plan organized. The websites that I consult are:
www.estatesales.net
and
http://gsalr.com/garage-sales-st-louis-mo.html
Some folk will gasp in disbelief, but I do quite often tire of the "Julie, the Tour Director" role that I have somehow inherited. I know....I have choices. I could choose to sit in this house like a bump on a log and vegetate until I am mercifully relieved of my misery, and taken from this world. or I can make the absolute best of my experience while I am here.
Mark Twian's answer to the lady who exclaimed to him, "Your sense of humor proves that you must have a close relationship with God!" Anybody that has remotely glanced in the direction of Mark Twain's writings can easily discern that his writings were merely to amuse himself, pay his bills, and to occupy his time while he was here on this Earth. He lost his wife and two children before he, himself, passed away. Mildly stated, he was a bit peeved with God. He answered the lady's comment with, "You obviously have not heard of our (His / God's) estranged relationship!" I said that to say this: Many people mistake the activities and enthusiasm of an individual as a religious existence. That is not so. On the contrary, many of us are simply occupying our time, and making the best of our existence. I cannot imagine how boring our time on this planet would be without hobbies, interests and passions! Just look at those around you. This fact will become immediately apparent. When physicist Richard Feynman died, his last words were: "I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring."
My point is: I often tire of my adopted role as "Julie, the tour director", and occasionally, I would like Mark to select the day's activities. This can include whether or not we are going shopping, which estate sale we should go to on that early Saturday morning, or any other venue we would like
to attend.
This past weekend, Mark noted some craft supplies at a particular estate sale in the historic Webster Groves (St. Louis) district. He has that estate sale, and one other sale that featured a lot of furnishings from the 1950's - 1970's. I did buy a macrame wall hanging, a Jimmy Smith (Jazz organist) album and a hedge trimmer at this sale. The other mid-century furnishings from this house, and the house, itself, was PHENOMENAL. I had to reluctantly pass on most of the stuff in this house because my house is already nearing the full point! On to the next sale.
(The mid-century sale was two blocks behind Jilly's Cupcakes! (http://www.jillyscupcakebar.com/)
I am here to tell you that I was a very good boy. We bought a cup of coffee, and left the store! In another 10 lbs, I *will be back* for one of these cupcakes. They are so big, rich and wonderful, I have to eat them in 2 sittings. Check out that website. The choices are mind bending.
On to the estate sale that Mark selected for us. This sale was in an old house. Many older homes have many small rooms, rather than an open floor plan. This was a 2 home, and both the front and back yards had no grass. They both were heavily planted flower gardens. Because this home was small, and everybody that came to the door of this home was allowed in (rather than taking numbers, or counting customers in and out), the small rooms quickly became over crowded with customers. I eventually found my way upstairs and into the craft room.
This craft room was better appointed than a few Michael's and / or Jo Ann's Craft stores that I have visited! The woman that lived here did it all. She did crewel work, counted cross stitch, knitting, crochet, and many other arts and crafts. I do appreciate those that do other work, such as the crewel, needlepoint, etc. My gig is knitting. Only recently have come to speaking terms with "Crochet". In the opinion of this writer, knitting is so much more cut-and-dried. One stitch after the other. They are all on the knitting needles, waiting for you to knit / purl / cable, etc, them. With crochet, you have to pick up the right stitch, and do so much more with it than a simple knit stitch. To each their own, I say. If you can crochet and not knit, that is OK. IF you knit and not crochet, that is OK, too, and if you can do both you are blessed.
About a month ago, I went to an estate sale and bought what initially appeared to be a large supply of Red Heart (acrylic, 4 ply all-purpose yarn). These colors are BRIGHT. Turquoise, purple, yellow, red organge, red, and a couple shades of green. I had idea what I was going to do with these bright colors, but 'ya never know when I will want those colors for a project." The entire box was $10. What a deal! I picked up the box, paid the lady, and went along my way. When I got the box home, I started going through it to see what was in my little box of treasures. I don't know if I was happy or dismayed, but I immediately under the bright skeins of yarn that I thought I was purchasing was 200+ granny squares, several pages out of a magazine with the instructions to an afghan, an even the correct size crochet hook for the project. I could tell by the partially used skeins of yarn that this was probably the first crochet project this woman attempted. Her work was flawless, however. The bad part of the deal is that, by my calculations (and you know I calculated!), she had 80% of the squares finished, and they were correct to the pattern. She did not, however, weave in any lose ends, ordo any finishing work to any of the squares. So... I had to honor this woman's work. I could not rip out all of these squares, and once I discovered what I had actually purchased, the thought of destroying all of her work never crossed my mind. It was not an option. My only other option is to finish this afghan. There is byt one problem: I can knit like a mad man, but I can't (couldn't!) crochet. Not a stitch. I had to consult my friendly YouTube.com, and I learned to, minimally, double crochet, so I could put a black edging around these squares before I join them. I have already spent several week's worth of time weaving in her lose ends. The photo above was taken immediately after I got home with my unfinished treasure. Starting with the white-yellow-orange squares (the two that are closest to the viewer in the picture), the squares start with 6 of that pattern...then 14...ad so on, until there should be 72 of the last pattern (the farthest away from the viewer). The lady that started this afghan had 36 of the final 72 squares to complete, and she quit! With the exception of edging those squares in black, which I now have mostly finished, and tucking in *any* loose ends, she was much closer to the end of the project than the beginning. "How sad!", I am forced to think. And the circle of live continues, does it not? I hope she is in Heaven somewhere, smiling down on me, and that she is content in knowing that the project that she worked so hard to complete accurately in every detail will see it's fruition, and I learned yet another skill. We both win.
Look at all the pretty bright colors in that picture! Up to this point, the colors that I have used **thus far** in my knitting have been muted and fairly subdued, with a couple exceptions. There is, however no "over the top" for me. "The Top" is a prison that a lot of individuals build for themselves, and hope to snare any unsuspecting passing victim that comes close enough to fall into their trap. But that, my friends, is another blog for another day. I have no "Top", and these colors will definitely find their way happily into my fiber arts.
The issue at hand: We are now at a completely different estate sale. Different week. Different sale. Same art / craft. I wish I would have made this woman's daughter a deal all 1000 pairs of knitting needles (and I honestly don't need another pair!), and her huge stash of yarn. I did find several of the Red Heart colors that are in the project that I have before me - the orphaned afghan. I bought those colors, and several hanks of hand-spun / hand-dyed yarn. $1 each. Those hand dyed yarns are anywhere from $15 - $185 each in a retail shop.
While I am venturing down yet another side road, I am starting to get to the point where I need a center-pull yarn ball winder, and a swift so I can correctly and securely wind hanks of hand spun yarns into a usable ball. I can't tell you how thankful I am that I made the following purchase with a weekly 40% off coupon! This thing was $89 without the coupon, and I know I would have been extremely pissed if I spent the full $89. This electric yarn ball winder is extremely weak and underpowered. The balls it winds are fairly loose, to put it mildly, and you can't get a normal skein of 4 ply yarn all on one ball before you run out of room on the machine, and have to start a new ball (sometimes 3 balls per skein!).
With the exception of winding sock yarn, fingerling or baby weight yarns (and that is a stretch of my good graces!), this machine is worthless:
But....I have started pricing umbrella swifts and hand-powered yarn ball winders. They are at least $200 - for THIS:
Can somebody build me one of these? I probably could do it, but my woodworking shop is in parts, sitting in the garage:
Here is an up-close pic of this thrifty little device:
Anywho.... Even though I wanted to buy this lady's entire craft room, I had to make a few select choices, and continue with my day. I did buy some of the identical colors / brands that were used in this afghan I am completing, and I bought the homespun yarns. I did manage (however unhappy I was!) to unwind the hanks of yarn without a swift, but it was a bit hair-raising, and not a walk in the park. I placed each carefully untied hank over a full gallon jug of water, so it would have a constant and steady center. Then I had to hand wind the ball of yarn by leaning over the table, and taking my newly formed ball around and around...and around...and around ! No fun. I want a hand-wound ball winder and a yarn swift. There is one yarn store in the St. Louis area that sells these things (Knit & Caboodle in the Historic St. Charles area), and besides that location, nobody carries one for sale to the general public. Many of the privately owned shops do, however, have a winder and swift set up in their shops to wind any yarn you purchase from them. That isn't gonna help me much when I buy 'estate yarn' from a sale.
(I hear the troops in the distance!)
Back to the craft room and the hand-spun yarn I bought. This yarn was in a large, clear zipped bag, much like one that a comforter or sheet set would come in. As I was paying the lady at the sale, Mark joked, "Oh, look! It even comes with a magazine.!" True enough. There a pattern magazine from the 1980's in this bag. When I got the yarn home, and was taking a closer look at my treasure, I also found another surprise in the bag:
What is it, you ask? I'm glad you did! This is a half-eaten package of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies! Probably 20 - 25 yrs. old, ya think? !!!!!
There, you have it! A woman after my own heart! She had far more arts and crafts than she ever had time to complete in her lifetime, she had wonderful yarns and magazines, and she liked to eat Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies while she was knitting!
I did my part! I bought this second-hand half-eaten package of Girl Scout cookies! I supported our (Girl Scout) troops! he he he
(Anybody gonna make me a wooden yarn ball winder???)
- Michael
thanks again Michael, for a good read!
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