Wyoming Breezes

I had a nagging feeling all morning to go to Lander to check out the thrift shop. I battled with myself. I rationalized that I really didn't need anything to justify driving 75 miles, yet the urge continued. After eating lunch with a friend, I decided to make the drive. I arrived in Lander an hour before the thrift shop opened, so I wandered downtown. I found a fabulous knitting book, The Complete Book of Knitting, by Barbara Abbey in a second-hand book store for $3.00. Even though it is a 1971 copyright and the photos are black and white, it was bargain because it has directions for a lot of knitting stitches. I was happy as I continued meandering down Main Street. I went into Neat Repeat and found three new skeins of yarn, listed as twenty-five cents a skein. That was a good deal, but the skeins were on sale for ten cents each. Wow, now I was really happy. I ventured to the Methodist Church Thrift Shop: a great place that always has wonderful bargains. It is my kind of thrift sho...

fleece jacket with logo I've never been one to wear the latest fashion or change my wardrobe with the season. I like clothing that is casual, comfortable and reasonably priced. I refuse to pay for over-priced clothing simply because it is "in style" or "in season." I refuse to pay high prices for inferior-made clothing. Thrift shops are always packed with clothing, and it requires patience to find the gems among the trash. Looking through the racks, I search for brands that are familiar to me: first for quality and second for consistent sizing. I will not spend more than $5.00 for a used item. Many people dismiss the new (with tags attached) or practically-new fleece vests, jackets and coats in the thrift shops because they have embroidered advertising patches, like the one shown above. I don't mind wearing these items, but last week, I decided to try a "makeover" on a L.L. Bean fleece jacket by using some quilting scraps to cover the logo....

These two cowls will be donated to a group collecting items for the homeless in Minneapolis, MN.  The cowls are knit (double stranded) from yarn reclaimed from a thrift shop sweater. I raveled several wool sweaters in 2007 and have used the yarn for many donated items. One of the posts I wrote on the process can be seen here , but all the posts on the reclaimed yarn can be found by clicking on the "reclaimed wool" label in the list of posted topics to the right or by clicking here . I find it very satisfying to repurpose or "upcycle" items from thrift shops. Many items can be used directly, but others can be "reclaimed" with a little effort and ingenuity. Do you visit and/or shop at thrift stores?

Browsing through thrift shops is one of my favorite activities: I enjoy the hunt for specific items as well as items that sometimes catch my eye. Many people don't like to go into thrift shops because they can be jammed with clothes and dishware and are often not the cleanest places. However, an observant and patient shopper can find real treasures. In the past, I have found Longaberger baskets , new clothes with the tags attached, gently used, quality products from Lands End, LL Bean, C.J. Banks, Cold Water Creek, Pendleton, Woolrich, etc. - all things that I purchased for considerably less than retail. Last week, I stopped to donate a few items at a local thrift shop and made a tour through the store. I found a nice, cotton blouse for summer, a book, and some new knitting needles. Out of curiosity, I perused a stack of souvenir plates from someone's travels, and at the bottom of the stack was a plate that I simply had to purchase because it was so beautiful and because ...

Steppe Vest reclaimed wool yarn March 2015 The yarn for this vest was reclaimed several years ago from a thrift shop sweater, and I have enough yarn remaining to knit another vest. Pattern: •   Original Steppe Sweater  (vest directions at the bottom of the pattern) - this link gives specific sizes and stitch counts • Steppe Ahead Sweater (vest directions at the bottom of the pattern) - this link is for the revised pattern, written with percentages rather than specific stitch counts Size : Large (cast on 100 stitches) Yarn : Reclaimed from thrift shop sweater  (70% wool 30% acrylic), knit double stranded - the finished vest weighs 6.9 ounces Needles : Knit Picks interchangeable (size 10.5 for ribbing, size 11 for body) Steppe Vest - off the needles 6.9 ounces of yarn used Size: Large Have you ever reclaimed yarn from a previous garment?

I was thrilled to find this Longaberger basket (1998, Glad Tidings ) complete with liner and protector at a Denver thrift shop for $9.99. The basket set is conservatively worth $50-60. Some real treasures really can be found at thrift shops. This basket, however, has found a home in my sewing room, holding extension cords, measuring tapes, and some templates.

wool yarn reclaimed from thrift shop sweaters before washing 2007 Since I'm presenting a program at the March Fiber Guild meeting on reclaiming yarn from wool sweaters, I thought it would be a good idea to start gathering the items I'd need and deconstruct a sweater to refresh my mind. I started reclaiming the wool in 2007 from wool sweaters that were purchased ( some shown in this earlier post ) in Denver thrift shops. Once washed, the reclaimed wool could not be distinguished from that purchased in a yarn shop. Some of the wool I reclaimed can be seen in  this post . The reclaimed wool has been used in a variety of projects for charities and for gifts. Projects I made using reclaimed wool:      Vests for children in cold climates - here ,  here,   here , here     Cowls -  here and here     Hats and helmet liners for the military -  here ,  here  and here     Mittens    ...

An unusual round handkerchief approximately 10 inches in diameter   Frequent readers know that I love searching for vintage linens in antique stores and thrift shops, and two weeks ago, I hit the mother-lode and at a bargain price. Out of curiosity, I stopped at a local thrift shop to browse, and found three plastic bags stuffed with ladies handkerchiefs. Each bag was priced at $2. It didn't take me long to decide to purchase the bags. When I got home, I sorted the handkerchiefs for laundering and checked them for condition. Some still had paper labels attached: "Oriental lace," "made in Switzerland," "made in Ireland." I threw the ripped and the very thin handkerchiefs away and washed the rest. A multitude of screen-printed hankies. Because of the designs and color, I think some were manufactured in the 40s or 50s. While I ironed these lovely pieces of cotton, linen, and lace, I admired either their simplicity or their beauty. I have ...

Attachments for a vintage Singer sewing machine August 2014 Singer Featherweight sewing machines are once more popular, especially with quilters because they are easy to transport to retreats. So when I spotted the little green box in a large bin at a local thrift shop, I immediately thought of Marti ( The Next Fifty Years ) who posted her "new" machine in January. From the photos, I knew Marti didn't have many attachments for her machine. I recognized a few of the attachments (a ruffler, a rolled hem foot, a zipper foot, a seam gauge, a spool spindle) in the box, and the others can be identified  here . The box of attachments is on its way to Marti. I hope she has fun experimenting with them.

A small bit of yarn (too small to be of use) remains from a wool, thrift-shop sweater. The sweater's yarn was used to make two helmet liners, one neck gator, and six hats. All were made for the troops.

Angel Wings , an Oddball Shawl (top right), landed briefly in Wyoming this week. I used the mohair I found at a thrift shop earlier this summer to knit my section. Between the Angel Wings and Rainy Days (bottom right) shawls I have used one and a half balls of the mohair. I have five more skeins and will use it again when the shawls return to me for another round of knitting. Update: September 19, 2008 Angel Wings arrived in my mailbox on Thursday so I could add another section. This time I used a pale gray yarn that I found in my stash. I think the yarn has a bit of mohair in it as it has the typical halo and is very soft. Update: November 5, 2008 Rainy Days returned to Wyoming on November 3, 2008. This time I used a pale gray mohair yarn from my stash. This shawl is very, very soft. Update: March 10, 2009 Rainy Days is nearly finished. Update: July 6, 2011 Angel Wings  is finished - FINALLY Rainy Days is finished - FINALLY I can't belie...

Yesterday, a small group of knitters and recyclers met on Main Street for a Earth Day Knit-in. The woman who organized the gathering is an avid recycler and a talented artist. Two years ago, Kathi began rescuing clothing and turning them into works of art. She planned a recycling show for the community and challenged people to create something from the cast-offs. She gathered clothing and rented a storage unit; and then doled out the bounty to crafters. I cannot even imagine how many tons of clothing were kept from the landfill due to her efforts. For her recycling show, Kathi turned blue jeans into 3-D sculpture and tailored a covering for a collapsible gazebo out of blue jeans. She turned sweatshirts and T-shirts into tote bags. Kathi made a skirt entirely out of labels cut from garments and turned old clothing into stylish and modern garments. For today's Knit-in, Kathi brought a huge bin of 1 inch strips cut from T-shirts. As we sat in front of the ReStore (a place where salv...

Every once in a while I go through the bulging notebooks on the bookshelf and dream. These books are where I file my "someday" projects, projects that I collect but rarely knit. I have similar files on my computer in copious folders, categorized and labeled. Someday, they may be used, someday. Recently, one of the projects actually made it out of the notebook - an Aran knit stocking "An Aran Christmas for Him and Her,"   Knit 'N Style (December 2007) The yarn is 100% wool which I reclaimed from a thrift shop sweater several years ago. Even though I rarely knit cables, I enjoyed knitting this project. In fact, after finishing "His" stocking, I cast on the "Hers." The cuff is more lacy on Hers and the inside of the cables is also lacy.  The finished stocking is large - an 8 inch long foot, and 20 inch long leg.

One reclaimed wool sweater is finding a new purpose as hats, helmet liners, and a neck gator for the troops serving overseas. These two hats are for a hat drive at High Prairie Quilt Shop in Parker, Colorado. I hope to knit at least two more before the first of June. The pattern link is given on the shop website. I made the ribbing 1 1/2 inches long instead of the 3 row rib, given on the pattern. These three items were sent to the Citizen SAM project , based in Illinois. Scroll to the bottom of the Citizen SAM page for the gator and helmet liner patterns. These items will no doubt be subjected to rough conditions, so I attached some extra yarn to make necessary repairs. I pray that these items made from a thrift shop sweater will protect the soldiers from harm and bring them safely back to their families.