Another Great Thrift Store Find

I haven't been spending a lot of time online lately, or had a lot of time to take pictures and write. So, while I am halfway done with my butterfly dress, pictures will have to wait for another (and sunnier) day!

This weekend may be the busiest and most important weekend in a long time, and I am beginning to get stressed out. It also doesn't help that I want this damn dress finished, so I am going back and forth between massive amounts of work, and massive amounts of singing.

Right now it's looking like this:

• Friday Night; Keynote speaker for the annual Hillberry symposium, the symposium of English Department theses
• Saturday morning, 11-12:30: emergency rehearsal for Bach Choir. Our concert is may 9th and due to a conflict with the hired concertmaster we had to program another song to fill time. We got it 3 weeks ago!
• Saturday afternoon 1:00-4:30: The Symposium! My presentation is at 1:45, and is called "Lesser culture, silenced voices: how the Gothic novel became a tool of female subversion"
• 4:30-7. Young Vocalist Competition Winners Concert and reception. Singing!
• 7:30- Fancy dinner for the English majors
• Sunday morning- Go out to breakfast with my mom for her birthday
• Sunday at 3:00 MY FREAKING RECITAL!
  
• Sunday at 5:00 go to Bells and RELAX.
  

Okay, I just started to hyperventilate a little bit while writing that. So moving on...(must start knitting!)

Last week , when Eric and I were thrift shopping on a rainy Monday afternoon we found what may have been the best thrift find ever.

A Fuji women's roadbike, in nearly perfect shape. The seat is brand new, as is the chain. Ditto brand new brake pads, and wonderfully working breaks. Having just put a new chain on my other Trek hybrid bike, I know they are not cheap. Neither are seats.

So imagine my amazement and delight when this bike was priced for...
...$30. How could I not buy it? I am loving having it--it's fast, light, and like I said, in great shape. Whoever had this bike before took wonderful care of it, and I feel so lucky to be its next owner!

Now if only it would stop raining so I could go riding! I guess I really should be writing my thesis presentation...ugh.

Toys and necessities every college student should have

I've been meaning to post this for a while but somehow life manages to get away from me, and weeks have flown by faster than I would like!

I am an avid thrift shopper. It took me a while but I have scoped out all the thrift shops around me, and know which ones have the best sweaters (for the wool) and which ones have the best kitchen appliances. Today, I found a wonderful bike for $30, which i promise I will blog about tomorrow!

A month or two ago Eric decided he wanted a typewriter. We bundled up (since it was in the middle of a blizzard as became the standard in the Midwest this winter) and headed to Goodwill. After about five minutes Eric had found several typewriters, and I found my eyes locked on a certain item.


There, surrounded by old curling irons and outdated technology was a large, plastic box in that familiar shape that can only mean one thing. I beelined across the messy store and $15 later owned my first sewing machine.


It's an old Signature machine made by Montgomery Ward in the 1960's (although feel free to correct me on this information!) And, even though it is old and clunky, and a little dusty, it's built in a way that the new machines I'd be able to afford on my college student budget just simply aren't. A $200 machine at Joanns or Meijer would last me a year or two, but I'm pretty sure this beautiful 40 year old machine could last another few decades.



I've been using this machine like crazy. Like any good college student I instantly employed it to make some extra money, and have been hemming pants and repairing tears for other K college students.

But the really great thing is just having a machine like this! And you can't beat $15. Thank you thrift shopping!

A Bouquet of Baby Hats

I just launched a new line to my etsy shop. I am so excited! The idea first came to me on a bus ride from London to Canterbury over a year ago, and was reignited within the past few months.

With the idea of and inspiration for baby hats burned in my mind I dove into my stash, came up with various odd-balls of yarn, and started knitting. All colors; all sizes; all sorts of baby hats flew off my needles.

And now, here are the first 18 hats listed in the shop!




The whole idea was to have a gift for babies that was fun, funky, and original. For $50 (including shipping) people will receive a beautiful and original gift ready to go! Each basket has 6 hats nestled tissue paper, creating a "bouquet" of baby hats in similar colors, although each hat is unique.



Let me know what you think I can do to make these even cuter! Like I said, the idea has been percolating for a while but I am still struggling with the best presentation for these adorable hats!

(The listing is here!)

Spring, Hurry UP

I've currently got a baby kitty rolling all over my keyboard, climbing on my knees, and nibbling on my fingers so excuse any typos. Roo has gotten very affectionate.

So, it's April 7th, and this is the second day we woke up, looked out the window, and instead of seeing budding trees and birds, were greeted with the sight of snow.

SNOW!?! Oh Midwest. Oh Global Warming.

Luckily it's been warm enough for the past few weeks that I finally got to wear my Whisper Cardigan!


I love this sweater. I fell in love with the pattern instantly, but as the knitting progressed I began to question the fit, shape, and overall style. But when I cast off and put it on, I knew it was a winner. I don't think I've ever worn my own knitting this much.
The yarn was a Valentine's Day present from my boss. It's Artful yarns fragrance, and is a wool alpaca blend. SO soft, drapes wonderfully, and is quite warm for such a small cardigan.

I made some pretty big modifications, the largest being a yarn with 16st/4inch which was a much larger gauge than the pattern called for. I cast on 60 stitches instead of 90 for the sleeves, and kind of fudged the rest. This did mean I had to pull out the entire body once, but I'm glad I got to use this yarn!

I also hemmed both sleeves by knitting them an inch longer, and inserting a purl turn row. You can see how they flare just the littlest bit, which I prefer over rolling.

I also began and ended every row of the body, which is plain stockinette, with 3 ribbed stitches, and increased after them. This gave it a nice, neat border that also doesn't roll.



And to finish? A crochet cast-off that makes the whole thing nice and tidy.

Overall, this pattern was a huge success. Easy-peasy, cute, comfortable, and so wearable! Once it stops snowing, I'll be wearing it everywhere.