364 Thrifty days till Christmas

On Christmas Day and Boxing day I did NO crafting. I had been knitting and sewing presents right up to 8.30pm on Christmas eve, and wanted to sit back and think about what to do next, as I have previously mentioned Hubby and Dad's birthdays are both in the next week, but I didn't think I had a hope of getting anything else made for them! 

I have spent those 2 days 'off' pouring over the gorgeous books I got for Christmas, mainly baking books, and a wonderful history of British Magic that has seen me having a sneaky lie-in for the past 2 mornings while I read.

Anyway, to get to the point, last night I was bored stiff without a project to get my teeth into - I wanted something easy, pretty, and thrifty. 

Now while this particular project didn't start out thriftily, I think it has ended up thrifty, and it is the principal behind it that counts! 

A couple of years ago when my purse seemed to have a little spare cash in it every now and again I indulged myself with 1 ball of Noro knitting yarn. As anyone who has bought or looked at it will know it is NOT cheap. A jumper can cost over £150 to knit in it.

I started to knit a shawl with my 1 ball, but I soon ran out and had to buy another 2 balls, they ran out and I bought another - by this time the shawl had cost about £40 and was still too small to put around my shoulders! 

I cast the damn thing off and left it for 18 months in a cupboard, discussed with myself for spending all that money on something so useless!

About 6 months ago my Mother insisted I let her pull the shawl back, which she did, and since then it has been sat in 1 giant ball - staring at me menacingly. 

Last night I started to knit it into a swirly scarf. I am LOVING IT!!! and can tell it is going to end up really long so it will wrap round many times. And who knows, I may even sell it and try to recoup some of the expense!

There is not much recycling of wool these days, acrylics are relatively cheap to buy, and not as many people knit from necessity, but my Grandma would often pull back a jumper that one of my uncles had grown out of and knit something up for my mum, she would knit sleeves from shoulder to cuff so if the cuff became worn or frayed she could unpick it from the cuff and replace that bit, she re healed and re-toed socks and never threw out anything that could be re-used.

So, if you have some yarn hanging around that needs knitting, get on with it, if you have something you made but don't like, pull it back and make something new! 

My twirly scarf pattern is available for free (there is a tab at the top of the page) or click on the picture!