corn-thrift

It's the first day of Fall! My very favorite time of the year. The leaves have already been changing here for a few weeks, which always suprises me. (How does that happen when it's still summer?!)

When I was little, our church had a huge picnic every year and there would always be sweet corn being shucked and boiled in huge batches. My friend Sarah K and I would start making corn husk dolls for ourselves (inspired by the directions in the American Girl's Guide To.... I forget the rest of the title), and then other kids would come over asking if we could make them one too...sooner or later, we'd have made a whole army of corn husk dolls, and would finally have a few to keep for ourselves. I kept a tiny little family I'd made one picnic for about 5 years. When we moved from NJ to NY I found them still intact!

Yesterday I passed on this Great Knowledge to some of my little siblings:

This season has been consistantly good as far as corn goes. There's a farm stand near my parent's hous that we've been buying as much as 4 dozen ears a week from! Fantastic, sweet butter and sugar corn. Ah! I'm probably getting a few dozen tomorrow.

My little siblings (and Mr A) and I made about ten dolls, including this mommy with a baby in a sling:

This morning I cast on for Orangina by Stephanie Japel of Glampyre fame. I'm using a calm raspberry color of Rowan 4 ply cotton (shockingly enough, what the pattern calls for!):

This will be my first pattern in lace.*

Yesterday Sarah D (formerly Sarah S) and I went thrift and yarn shopping at The Salvation Army and Spin A Yarn, respectively. After reading Stitch N Bitch Nation, we've been wondering about thrifting a sweater for yarn. She got me this pure wool sweater to play with. The sweater isn't all that amazing looking, so here's a close-up of the flecked purple goodness:

Can't wait to do something with it! Imagine, enough yarn for a sweater for $3.50.

Also, I must admit that I'm an enabler. Sarah D normally has incredibly good control when shopping. Sarah D normally is a stablizing influence on my shopping habits. Sarah D has had a craving for Noro since shopping with me last time...I wasn't going to let Sarah D walk out of Spin A Yarn with anything less. She was a few dollars short for getting 2 balls of the chosen color, so I helped her out a little (that's what friends are for, and after all, she was only a few dollars short because of the thrifty sweater purchase). So, for the first time ever, Sarah walked out with what she'd been craving, at the moment she was craving it. Bought it full price. It made me feel good to see her get exactly what she wanted. Shopping!!!!!





*After two days of working on the lovely Orangina (or Raspberina, as I should call mine), I have only managed two repeats. Please don't ask me how many times I've had to cast on. Please don't ask if I'm just about to rip out those two repeats. The scene is too ugly for blogging. A moment of silence______________Raspberina will rise again! I shall cast on again tomorrow...

Lesson learned (AGAIN): When one is still a reletively new knitter, one must read directions carefully and not assume anything, unless one would like to spend the better part of two days frogging and casting on. Otherwise, carry on there, good fellow.