How much am I actually spending on yarn?

Hello, my name is Tammy and I'm a fiber addict. And not the cereal kind.

I love Blue Faced Leicester. I love Merino. I love silk. I love mohair. Camel. Yak. Angora. Mink!

Any kind of luxury fiber makes my little heart go pitty pat. Yes, I can hear the gasps at the thought of how much I actually spend on yarn. I'll admit it...a lot.

I could tell you stories about how natural fibers don't aggravate the psoriasis on my hands like acrylics do (true by the way), tell you I think I'm worth the indulgence (true again. Why work so hard if I can't indulge my hobby?). But the truth of the matter is...I'm an addict.

And nothing gets my blood pumping like a good deal on my favorite yarns.Sometimes the stars align and I get the good deals. Not often, I'm usually the one who buys just before something goes on sale for half price. But not this time heh heh.

Last week, I was haunting Discontinued Brand Name Yarns. It's a great site but because they're a liquidation site selection is always hit and miss. If you sign up for their email list they give you codes to save even more money! *happy dance*  This day, armed with my 33% off code, I was cruising the site and landed in the hand painted yarn category. I think my heart actually stopped for a beat or two when I saw Hand Maiden Marrakesh, a silk/camel blend. I didn't even notice the color, I just hit 'add to cart'.

Take a breath, it's all good. Then I saw Hand Maiden Silk Lace right beside it. O. M. G! Get the defibrillator! I couldn't hit 'add to cart' fast enough, wanted to scoop those before someone else saw them! Picture the seagulls in Finding Nemo...mine, mine, MINE!!!!!!!!

So now I had them in my cart. Whew. Still didn't know what colors they were, that part didn't register. But I added my discount code and needed revival again. $17 for the Marrakesh. Regular retail? $42. That's right, FORTY TWO DOLLARS!!!!! FOR SEVENTEEN!!! Already riding an adrenaline high, I checked the Lace Silk. $15. Regular retail? $40! I had to hold my happy dance to check out. Even with the shipping, which is more than reasonable, I still got these luxury skeins at HALF PRICE!!!!!! SCORE!!

I didn't think I'd ever come off the endorphin high because as anyone who knows me will tell you, I have a love affair with Hand Maiden yarns. We sneak around behind my husband's back so he doesn't know the true extent of our union. Me and Mini Maiden? That's a weekend rendezvous in Paris to me. 

So with my deal in the bag, now the came the hard part. Waiting for them to arrive. 

While I did, I became curious how my favorite yarns stacked up price wise to regular yarns available in places like Michael's and Hobby Lobby.

For those who don't know Hand Maiden is a Canadian Company. Check them out. They're awesome. They also do a more economical line called Fleece Artist. And by economical I don't mean cheaply made. Hand Maiden to Fleece Artist is like a BMW to a Cadillac. Both luxury cars, one's just way more fancy. That's what they're like.

So, I went to the Hobby Lobby site and looked up Kroy Sock Yarn. This is considered a good quality yarn, 75% wool, 25% nylon for long wearing. $5.99 for 1.75oz/166 yards. Sounds reasonable. High wool content...don't know what kind of wool and for non yarn geeks, the breed of the sheep does greatly effect the quality of the wool, but there is a high percentage. 

Popped over to Colorsong Yarn who only carry Hand Maiden/Fleece Artist yarns and looked up a similar sock yarn. Blue Faced Leicester Socks.  80% BFL wool/20% nylon for long wearing. Pretty close, although BFL wool? Is divine!!!! So soft and squishy you can't believe it's actually wool. I love it. But I digress...$19.95 for 4.06oz/355 yards.

At a quick look that seems very expensive compared to the Kroy, but let's break it down.

Kroy - .04 cents/yard, $3.42/oz

Fleece Artist - .06 cents/yard, $4.91/oz

In my head two cents a yard more for something that I won't just enjoy but will absolutely, crazy stalker love is worth the investment! And with the bigger skein from Fleece Artist you can do hats and shawls and mitts, oh my!

So as you can see, I've found a new way to validate my love of luxury fibers

Hello, my name is Tammy and I'm a fiber addict.

P.S. For the curious, the yarn arrived. Here's the colors... *drool*

P.P.S. Links for the curious:
            www.discontinuedbrandnameyarn.com
           colorsongyarn
           Hand Maiden Fine Yarns

Infinity Scarf Pattern

Well I promised my friends in my Crochet with Us! Facebook Group that I would post the pattern recipe for the Infinity Scarf I'm making so without further ado, here it is:

I used Hand Maiden Mini Maiden in Stardust, which is a wool/silk light fingering yarn that I won’t gush about right now or you’ll be reading all day, with an “F” (3.75mm) hook, but you can use any yarn and appropriate hook that you want. When in doubt, check the yarn label for a hook recommendation but remember that’s just a guide line. Be a rebel! Go up or down a size just to see what happens. Or be really crazy and change by 2 sizes. Heh heh. Damn the man! He can’t tell us rebel hookers what to do!

Pattern is easily customizable. Just chain a multiple of 11 + 4. Want it longer? Just keep stitching. Want it shorter? STOP! J

This is a simple two row repeat pattern. The only tricky stitches are front post double crochet (fpdc) and back post double crochet (bpdc). If you’ve never used either stitch, this is an excellent pattern to learn them and get comfortable with them.

Here we go:

Chain 37

Row 1:  3dc in the 4^th ch from hook, *sk next 2ch, (dc in next chain, ch 1, skip next ch) twice, dc in next ch, sk next 2 ch, 3dc in the next ch,** 3dc in the next ch, rep from * across ending last rep at **, dc in last ch, turn

Row 2:  Ch3 (counts as dc), sk 1^st dc, *3dc in next dc, sk next 2dc, bpdc around post of next dc, ch 1, sk next ch-1 sp, dc in next dc, ch 1, bpdc around the post of next dc, sk next 2dc, 3dc in dc, rep from * across to turning ch, dc in 3^rd ch of turning ch, turn

Row 3:  Ch3(counts as dc), sk 1^st dc, *3dc in next dc, sk next 2dc, fpdc around the post of the next dc, ch 1, sk next ch 1 sp, dc in next dc, ch 1, fpdc around the post of the next dc, sk next 2dc, 3dc in next dc, rep from * across to turning ch, dc in 3^rd ch of turning ch, turn.

Repeat rows 2-3 for pattern.

Easy huh? When it’s as long as you want it, slip or whip stitch the ends together and voila! A simple, yet fancy looking infinity scarf.

Enjoy!

Tamsin Juby

BF Crochet Creations

PS: Share! Share the pattern, share your finished object, make the world a brighter place! But please, if someone asks where you got the pattern, tell them it was from me, or better still, send them here! (but you don't have to, I'm not pimping my blog or anything. ;) ) I like thinking of myself as a skinny Santa Claus gifting the world with probably the only talent I have. Thank you kindly.

PPS: Yes, the “thank you kindly” means I’m Canadian eh.

What to make, what to make, what to make

So I have got A LOT of chunky/bulky weight yarn in my stash. Beautiful, soft boucles in various colors, some thick acrylics and a few odds and ends. I've been searching like crazy for just the right patterns and frankly it's making me a little crazy because I can't find just the right pattern. I want a sweater type garment. Something with a little flare and definitely no turtle or high neck! My neck is only two inches long and anything high necked makes me look funny. So since I can't find what I want even though I'm not entirely sure what it is I'm looking for, I'm going to design my own.

First off. I want to use my bulky yarn. I can't call it chunky because that leads to my darling brother making jokes about alpaca soup as I found out the hard way. :) But since I don't want the sweater to be overly thick I'm going to use a big hook.  Probably M or bigger. With a half double crochet stitch that should make even bulky yarn lacy.

Second, I want an asymmetrical hem. So out comes the scrap paper. 

There. That's the hem I want. 

Now the bodice.... Hmmm.... Something not to heavy. Time to pull out my crochet bible. 

500 different stitch patterns. It's wonderful, isn't it?

So let's try something fairly open.... This one.

Third, make a swatch. This will tell me how many stitches and rows in a four by four swatch.

Now the fun part. Pull out my horribly colored dressmaker's mannequin and take some measurements.

With all this information I'm ready to start. I know right? All this work before I even start?! Custom design isn't easy.  Calculator, paper, pencil. Time to do some math.

Tune in next time to see how all this works out. I haven't a clue so it could be amusing.