What I did for Columbus Day, or How NOT to Waste a Day Off on Housework...

Last Monday was Columbus Day and I had the day off from work. The kids were home from school. And if you read my last post, you know that the nursery near the office was closing for the season and I had to get over there to get the bargains. Last day.
I wish I were a good housekeeper. If I were, I would have the skill to map out a good day off. I would balance work(household chores) and play(shopping, gardening, crafty stuff, and blogging), and by supper, have a nutritious, delicious home-cooked meal on the table. But unfortunately, I lack the self-discipline to make a day like that happen. At least, I did last Monday. I still aspire to such a day. The next day off is Thanksgiving and that's always mayhem, so my model day-off will have to wait until, oh, I dunno, MLK Day? So, instead of indulging in any more self-loathing because of the dust, the clutter, and the mediocre menu around here, I'll share with you the fruits of the shopping I did last Monday. You've already seen my nursery visit bounty, but what I didn't tell you was I also thrifted at Goodwill, and went to Michael's and A.C. Moore, both of which are nearer to the office than home, so I justified it with the old tried-and-true "Weellll, since I was in the neighborhood....."

I went into Goodwill first. I usually don't find much to interest me in our Goodwill. I visit blogs where I see really great stuff people bring home from their thrifting trips and wonder why my local GW has so little to offer. And sometimes I think maybe I would have passed up the very treasures featured on others' blogs, and only now find them interesting because of the blogger's vision of how they can be restored, or re-purposed or creatively displayed with what they already have (and which I don't). But this time was different... I had spent the weekend crawling through every post in the archives of a blogger new to me, and whose creativity and photographs had me mesmerized. This dear lady is a quilter, and her quilts are so attractive because of the eye she has for mixing colors, choosing just the right mix of hues of the right shade and value. I fell in love with her palette. She also puts a new twist on old-fashioned, like yo-yo patchwork, applique, and her latest, a crochet pillow. She makes me want to crochet little floral vignettes for pincushions. Take a look: Her blog is Knot Garden, click on the link on my blog list, it's post after post of some serious eye candy.

I especially love the way she styles her photos, and inspired me with her button collections displayed in lovely little pin dishes, or sandwich plates, or what have you. In my first picture above, you can see what I found with that inspiration in mind.

In the second photo, I show you what I found among the yarns. There were quite a few more there than the last time. And among the usual synthetics, I found the (vintage?) small skeins of fingering weight Bear Brand wool, some crochet cottons, and two synthetics I could acept. One is the white baby yarn by Sindar, and the other is a current yarn (that I have had trouble finding to finish a pair of socks! More on that later...), Caron Simply Soft Tweed in Med. (or Dark?) Sage. Now the 3rd picture is the loot I brought from Michael's. All those colors of crochet cotton are so I can try making the little crocheted pansy doily edging I've looked at a million times and the daisy insertions, and whatever other colorful little clever flower-y stuff I can find. Oh yeah, and I needed to fill out my choices for lavenders and greens for embroidering (and pinks and yellows too). The last two pictures are just some of my favorite colors in a lighter wt. yarn than I usually use. I really do prefer the wools, alpacas, silks, bamboos, etc., but for now, these synth. yarns are the compromise I make for my budget's sake. I will continue to knit and crochet with these while I get to know which patterns I want to make with an "investment fiber". At least that's what I tell myself.

The last pic is not just because that baby is so cute I can hardly stand it. A few years ago I knit that little jacket. In the yellow just like the picture. And I still haven't sewn it together! I even bought adorable little white ducky buttons for it. So I posted the pic and made this confession to shame myself into moving forward with it... After all, I know of two babies on the way!