Bargain Knitting.

My series of quick knits also includes one for me! A Star Crossed beret in Malabrigo Worsted - Velvet Grapes.



The yarn was a gift and I have been "saving" it for something special. I thought I might not need a winter hat this year since the weather has been so mild and almost warm - apparently May was the warmest ever on record - and of course we are moving soon. But then the cold arrived! Brrrr.

M3's kindy was having a jumble sale a couple of weekends ago and I needed to help set up which meant standing outside in the cold at 8am. The night before I whipped up this hat so I had something to keep me toasty warm.



Terrible picture! I really am quite thrilled with my new hat. Love love love how soft and squishy the Malabrigo is and the pattern was super easy and super quick. Definitely another satisfying instant gratification knit.

While at the jumble sale I managed to score:


A looks-like-it-has-never-been-used skeiner still in its box with instruction booklet included. It works perfectly and definitely makes winding up yarn a breeze. And a bargain at $2!! There was also a knitting machine at the sale - unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) DH had arrived by that point and firmly put his foot down and said no. I might have pushed it if we weren't moving but we certainly dont need more stuff to pack and sort.


I have often admired my fellow blogger's ability to find the coolest things at op shops and jumble sales. I asked Deb what the secret was and she said to go often. Sounds simple really and I wondered if part of the reason I never found anything good while op shopping was simply because I didn't do it regularly! Ha. So M3 and I have been making op shopping one of our weekly outings.

At the moment we're in a puzzle phase so lots of our bargains have included cool puzzles -


Mickey Mouse and friends


We're in a dinosaur phase at the moment also so this was a great find for the costly sum of $3

and this one from last week's visit. Possibly the world's ugliest puzzle...

Yes that is a chimp dressed in a kilt at a ski shop. Yep.

Another bargain included two balls of Jo Sharp DK for $2/ball. M3 informed me one morning when we were walking to school (in the cold) that "but I don't have a scarf!!!" Most distressed and almost accusingly I might add. I asked her what colour and she said blue, so I turned my newly aquired Jo Sharp wool into a baby hitchhiker for her:



I added one stitch to the bindoff (that makes the little points) so that it stayed reasonably long and narrow for her - more scarf than shawlette. DH thinks it looks like a dinosaur tail which fits our little dinosaur-enthusiast too.



She is very cute. Having watched me take multiple shawl photos - she told me I must take one of her and the scarf with "arms out" - they do learn fast don't they?

So bargains galore. Nothing better than finding a bargain and then putting it to good use. Hopefully we'll find some more good things this week!