Yarn Paradise Weekend, Part I:
Once in a while, I check in to craigslist for the Nashville area to see if there’s any knitting goodies available on the cheap. Usually, I just find someone’s odds and ends of acrylic or something, seems like craigslist isn’t the bargain paradise here that it might be elsewhere. But I hit the jackpot last week - I only wish I had found it sooner…Lucky me, I happened on a posting from a woman in my own town who closed an LYS in another state some years ago. When she originally posted, she had some 5,000 skeins of yarn she was willing to let go for $1-2 per skein/hank. So I contacted her to see what she had left, and agreed to come see her stuff on Saturday…which I did…although she was down to around 2,000 skeins of yarn, and almost completely out of wool, alpaca, etc., she was rich in cottons and finer acrylics, so I didn’t mind so much. I left her garage [I][B]$65[/B][/I] lighter in the wallet, but with 47 skeins/hanks of yarn and one set of needles, at an average cost of $1.35 each. That’s enough to make [B]FIVE[/B] different sweaters, plus a set of 40" sz 0 Inox circulars. See my yarn p0rn below…
full bag of Sirdar Snuggly - acrylic/nylon, not cotton, but soft and nice…and I LOVE the bright red color. Not sure what I’ll do with it, but it was too good a deal to pass up!
full bag of Patons Berber Cotton, discontinued, but just a beautiful colorway; not going to work for the sweater I had intended it to, but I will think of something, I’m sure!!
full bag of Patons Rio cotton blend in a colorway that DH will love to wear, as soon as I find the right pullover pattern for this yarn.
11 skeins total of Reynolds Tucson cotton blend, which I will use to make the peasant-look sweater in Spring 2008 Interweave, I think
7 hanks of Rowan California Cotton, which appears to be organic/color-grown, and is also discontinued. Probably going to make the Hexacomb Cardi for a very slender friend of mine.
Plus the sz 0 circular needles, which, even if I never magic loop a sock with them, they are the handy lifeline this ambitious newer knitter really needs to keep in the project bag!!
Yarn Paradise Weekend, Part II: late last week, my cheapie yarn winder arrived from Joann, and my DH started grabbing the tools and wood in the garage, instructions for Crafty Diversion’s home-built swift in hand. I had asked him to see what he could do to reduce the footprint of the swift, because we are stuff-stackers and flat surfaces in our home tend to be at a premium…here’s the result…note that it still needs to be stained and hubby is further tweaking the design.
The picture isn’t the greatest, but note that my ball winder fastens to the swift, not the table, so that I don’t scratch my nice table. And you can’t see it, but there’s a little I-hook on the flat surface through which to thread the yarn before putting it through the tensioner thing on the winder. This is to help reduce yarn-burn on my hands. He is SUCH a keeper of a DH…which I guess I already knew, since the swift is a gift for our 19th wedding anniversary on April 1st. 
Aaaaah
