Good Friday on this beautiful Good Friday! Last week I took the opportunity to walk into Michaels. I just wanted to see what the prices on yarn were like since the last time I was in there. In all honesty, Michaels has never been my go to craft store, they have always been more expensive. I love that the now carry what was JoAnn’s brand yarn for the same price as JoAnn used to sell it for $3.99. As for their other yarns, woah! Carron Cinnamon Swirl Cakes were $12.99, as lovely as they were, the price was too high for me. Well not only have they now added new colorways, they added new prices, a 2 dollar increase at one time making it $14.99 each. I do appreciate that they sell cotton thread in store and a wide color range to boot! However you will pay for it. Not too many years back you could get #10 cotton thread for less than $4, now $6.99 and the huge cones for table cloths and bedspreads are $26.99. I guess the point in my sharing is that as prices in materials go up, the prices in finished projects have to go up. (And if you can order, the best pricing comes from places like Hershners.)
Over the course of my life I have found a creative outlet in many crafts. When I was a young teenager I dabbled in wood working by making footstools. My Dad taught me as he is incredibly talented in building things. At the time one of the local lumber yards would have a pile of “leftovers” unusable random sized pieces of lumber. Usually they were shorter. I built my first one that I painted a reddish orange in all its crooked glory. The second one was much more carefully nailed together, painted an almond color and strategically places decorative handles. See I made this one for my Granddaddy who was a carpenter. I wanted him to be proud of how I made it. I was proud (especially of its straight lines) of it! I think he was, because it was used to hold his newspapers, books, etc over the past 25 years.
On the crochet front I have been making a star stitch lap blanket. For several days it has been in time out as I started adding the border and it began to ruffle. I think if you ever had this happen you can understand the frustration I feel after getting 3 rounds of the border in. Meanwhile I started an amazing granny dress pattern. Not crazy about the colors, but the finished project is going to be gorgeous. You may wonder why in the world I would say that I am not crazy about the colors, I am using some of my tent sale yarn that was limited in colorways. There will be someone out there that will fall in love with its muted colors. Will post updates as it progresses.
It’s a great day to soak in all the beauty around us!!