A YAY, and a couple of questions

Hi,

I got extremely lucky last night and found a complete like-new set of Addi Interchangable Lace needles and the whole kit was about $70 below retail… that’s a YAY! since they’d been on my wish list for several months.

Now a couple of questions on completely different topics;)

Is it considered impolite to take a small knitting project along to a very informal evening at an acquaintance’s home? Her husband and mine work together but she and I don’t know each other well at all.

And second, what’s a fast and inexpensive way to build up my stash?

Inquiring minds want… ok, maybe I just want to know:teehee:

Well, congratulations on the bargain Addi Lace needles.
I’d say that unless the other person is a knitter, you’ll probably be misunderstood when you pull out your knitting project. For the first, get-acquainted meeting, I’d leave the knitting at home.

Congrats on your find. Have fun!

Will you and your husband be the only guests at these people’s house? If so, I say leave the knitting at home–unless you’re [U]really[/U] good at knitting while looking at other people and talking. If someone came to my house (even someone I don’t know well) and pulled out something else to do while we were visiting, I would consider that rude. Of course, I consider it rude when people [U]I’m[/U] visiting watch TV rather than turn it off and talk. That tells me they don’t really want to speak to me all that much.

And building up a stash is often not a very “inexpensive” thing to do–especially if you’re looking for some of the higher quality yarns. There’s surfing the Internet for sales, looking on eBay and Ravelry, and looking at thrifty stores and garage sales. But while you [U]may[/U] find some cheap yarn in this way, it’s probably not going to be “fast.”

Why not focus on getting the yarn you need for the next project?

Many of us have stashes, but we’re not particularly proud of them. At some point–like, when you realize you [I]could[/I] and [I]should[/I] be using your stash for the rest of your life, and yet you don’t [I]really[/I] have the perfect yarn for that next project–well, you come to understand that stashes aren’t all that great. Yeah, it’s nice to go pull out some yarn and start knitting immediately, but it takes up space and is a waste of money if you don’t eventually use it.

Besides, you’ll build up a stash soon enough because you’ll have leftover yarns from all the projects you do.

Yeah, I agree with the other, leave the knitting at home. You might bring it along after you’re better acquainted, but some people don’t understand that you can keep your hands busy while your mind is still fully engaged in visiting with them.

Check out thrift stores, they often have a lot of yarn that’s maybe $1 per ball if that, or a bag for a couple bucks. Or you can often find a crocheted afghan for $3 that you can rip out and use the yarn. If it’s multiple colors you’ll get a lot of small balls though and it needs to be in colors you like, but sometimes you can get one that’s a single color that’s not a baby pastel. The senior citizen’s thrift stores are often the cheapest, but other can be very inexpensive too. I found 7 balls of knit picks Shine worsted for about 45 cents each; that store also had sugar n cream for about the same, and some Louisa Harding yarn and NZ wool very inexpensively.

I want to live in Montana with Susie! Would love to know where you get these deals. My church has a thrift store. I knew one of the workers and she showed me garbage bags full of nice yarn. But they’re stingy and only put out a few at a time. And that’s mostly remnants that you can’t even get one full skein’s worth out of. All the thrift stores in my town are stingy with putting yarn out. I’m envious when I hear about deals like this.

The place I scored the Shine which had the other yarns was at the Salvation Army when I lived in Wyoming. At that time they had tons of yarn, some really really good stuff. A month later there was nothing. The Sr Citizen’s thrift where I live now has yarn for 25 or 50 cents each, depending on how large a ball/skein it is, and they have a quite a bit usually, though mostly bits and pieces, not enough for a large item unless you want to mix colors. The other stores sell it for a little more and not as much selection; I haven’t seen many really nice yarns, though I did pick up a bag of what I think is wool in dk weight, about 5 oz, for $2.50 at one.

I agree. Leave the knitting at home till you at least know her better. I generally don’t take it to things where I’ll be a guest unless it’s a very quiet gathering and they know you can pay attention and chat while knitting.

I’ve bought yarn on sale and often my stash has built up because I always buy one or two extra when I make a project so I don’t run out and then not be able to find the dye lot. So I’ve got a lot of single skein or two sometimes and they make great small take a long projects or stripes. I often use them for charity projects like hats.

A big stash isn’t really a necessity. I find myself trying to come up with uses for all the scrap I have left over, or the multiple skeins of red and black red heart junky yarn! I’ve taken to crocheting cat blanket, but just end up buying different yarn cause the colors in my stash don’t really go well together!

I was fortunate and recently picked up enough yarn at a thrift store to make a sweater or a small blanket, or whatever. I always look in the thrift store’s craft section when I go, and once in awhile I get lucky.
As to the stash, I’m almost ashamed to say, mine keeps growing!! I started seriously knitting a little over a year ago and while most of what I have is bought with a particular project in mind, it will be years til I finish them all. My husband is already complaining it will be 10 years before he sees the sweater I’ve promised him!

I’m with the other gals as to not taking a project with you to someone’s home that you are not really good friends with. There are a couple of gals at the hospital where I work that often bring knitting with them to a meeting. I think that’s pretty rude from the perspective of those who are running the meeting.

Thanks, Everyone. I left the knitting at home and we had a marvelous evening and very stimulating conversation. :clink:

I received my Addi’s and will be giving them a try this weekend :happydance:

Work has been so insane this week that I have done ZERO knitting. It’s about all Ive been able to manage to get home and fall into bed so I can do it all over again the next day.

As to the stash… I’ll just see what develops. I haven’t really worked on very many different things and have just been picking up what I need for each project. Thing is… I absolutely abhore, hate, and despise shopping in stores. :zombie: I prefer online where I can make my purchases without needing to worry about what hours a brick and mortar store is open. Shopping for yarn online is kind of difficult doncha know.

Anyhow. I’ll be back to knitting baby-girl-this-and-that for the foreseeable future :knitting: