Our local thrift shop had a bag sale yesterday. Now, I don’t usually frequent this particular thrift shop, because they think that their stuff is worth a lot more than I think it’s worth. You know. But they were having a bag sale. For those of you not familiar, a bag sale is where you cram all you can into a brown paper bag and get it for like, five dollars. (Only from a particular section of the store, of course.)
So I went with my neighbor (she ended up only buying one thing, and not even from the ‘super sale’ section – like I said, really pretty poor selection for high prices) and what did I find but a complete set of encyclopedias! Of course, as nearly as I can tell, they were written in the late 70s, but as a kid you don’t go to the encyclopedias to read about current affairs of state and technological advances. You go to learn about birds, and volcanoes, and trees, and China. (Okay, the China entry might be a smidge out of date.) My parents have a set of encyclopedias, and I can’t even remember how many reports and science projects were written using their pages. My parents’ set is a few years more recent than my set, but who cares? I shoved just over half of the set into one bag, the rest of it into another with room to spare, and got a complete set of encyclopedias for ten dollars. (I also shoved in a Tom Clancy book for Greg and one other thing – a sweater.) It was a nostalgic indulgence, but why not?
I found this sweater in there, really the only one in that section worth dealing with.
It’s the wrong size, style and color for either me or Greg, but the bright crayon-box red is perfect for a little hoodie for Max. That’s my plan. It’s 100% cotton (for some reason we don’t see a lot of wool sweaters down here in Texas…) and barely worn at all. It’s perfect for unravelling, I’m really excited to start. This will be my second ‘reclaimed’ sweater: the first was a plush acrylic sweater that was being passed around my family because it was nice, but way too big for anyone to wear. I ended up with three big ‘ol balls of yarn similar to TLC Amore (nice stuff) and I’m currently crocheting it into a skirt!
When I told Greg what I was planning to do with the sweater, he said we should teach Max Red Hooded Sweatshirt by Adam Sandler. He’s such a kook.
Ahhhh. Someone who shares my sense of adventure.
Your Crochet Me pillow was very sweet. I think my DD is going to make it in different colors for little girl’s bed.
Hey, I too just bought a set of encyclopedias from the used book store, only mine was $30 instead of your great deal. My set was from the late 80’s. My boys are only four but they are asking a million questions a day( I have twins so it is doubled) and I figure the encyclopedias will help.
nice haul melissa! make sure you post all that yarn after its unravelled! i would love to see how much yarn is in there:)
Sometimes I’m amazed at how unimaginative I can be. I’ve unravelled handmade items, but it never occurred to me to unravel a cotton garment. Going to have to try that one!