Sunday, June 26, 2011

Cheap Thrills


I found these goodies on a recent thrift store trip.  I spent all of $4, and I came away with some minor treasures.


I got a bag of the tiniest white buttons, some fine crewel embroidery wool, and this ceramic hand.



The hand rides that fine line between creepy and cool.  I keep thinking one day I'll find one of those hands that are meant to display and store jewelery, but so far no luck, but this one isn't a bad substitute.


I'll use this hand, which is life size (hence the creepy element) to hold beads and buttons.  Remember Thing, that hand in a box on The Addam's Family?  Like Thing, it can be my crafty helper.

As long as it doesn't move around the house on its own like Thing.


I also finished this Deirdre shawl, a free pattern  by Linden Heflin on Ravelry.  It's a fairly plain knit, in that androgynous style so popular these days. 


It has a very simple lace edging, which I'm not sure I did right, but I think it looks fine nonetheless.  I had to knit the lace section twice when I dropped a bunch of stitches in the last row and couldn't pick them up properly, so I ripped that part out and re-knit.  


It was that or toss the whole thing in the back of the closet, and I've run out of room back there.


The yarn is two skeins of Deborah Norville Serenity sock weight in "Teal Tease."  It's a great bargain for a wool, bamboo and nylon blend, and it comes in some nice self-stripping colors.   I'll put this one aside until the fall, or perhaps save it for a gift.


10 comments:

Debra Dixon said...

I think the hand is ubercool. I started a hand collection but didn't give it the attention it deserved; puls, hands were hard to find.

Love the shawl. Is that the same shawl in all the pics? Just lovely.

beth said...

Cheap thrills are right up MY alley!! You found some fun things! And....I love the shawl you made. Beautiful!

floribunda said...

Your new shawl is beautiful -- I especially like the photo with the light shining through!

dee said...

the shawls are gorgeous. Such beautiful lacy patterns.

I love the idea of having Thing in the sewing room. So funny! Wouldn't it be great to have an extra hand for the many jobs in sewing. It could pick out threads and un-sew. That alone would be worth a lot to me. I spent an hour yesterday frogging some blocks sewn in wrong order. Of course, I could pay attention to what I was doing but where's the adventure in that?

Finn said...

Your new shawl is just lovely. Looks like the perfect thing for cool summer evenings. And what great fun your thrifting treasure are! I for one, like the hand. Oddity like that speaks to me, rather tongue in cheek. Hope you are having a lovely summer. Hugs, Finn

Judy S. said...

What a pretty shawl, Barbara. It's really interesting how that yarn patterned over a larger area. Another pattern for my list! Now if only I could knit faster. When you get tired of the hand in your craft room, you could use it as a soap dish!

Susan Elliott said...

Love your sense of humor Barbara...Personally, i really like Thing and don't think it's creepy at all...but think Thing has that same skin disease as Michael Jackson....

And that shawl would look terrific with a pair of jeans, a cool belt and a solid color turtleneck...definitely with denim. And ripping out lace is no easy task! At least that pattern had a stockinette row to rip back to....

Happy Summer!

Magpie Sue said...

A person could easily end up with quite a collection of shawls, couldn't she? This is another lovely one - that I wouldn't mind having in addition to the other two I already own. :- )

That ceramic hand is *wonderful.* I'd like to find one like it!

Kay said...

I also love the hand--I can imagine it holding all sorts of things. Soap would be a possibility too.

allie aller said...

Your knitting is truly amazing...and those little buttons are so hard to find new, and useful in lots of small scale CQ applications...nice score!
But as for that hand....I dare you to display it in your freezer for a week. My bro had one like it (actually, he had praying hands), and he kept them in his freezer. The effect was amazing. Hope this isn't too weird!

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