Yarn Swap!

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Lovely TNK member and knitting instructor extraordinaire Sangeeta was gracious enough to host a Yarn Swap & Sale this past Sunday. Below are a few photos from the event:

Sheddy and Robin H. perusing Robin's offering of books, magazines and patterns

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Various and sundry yarns for sale or swap

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Deb and Robin C. peruse another table of great yarns for sale

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My contribution: crap yarn (acrylics, fun fur, etc.)

I unloaded all of my "undesirable" yarn at Sunday's event. There weren't many takers, which came as no surprise, so 95% of it went into the donation box. Sangeeta is going to sell Sunday's leftover yarn on ebay to raise money for the Heifer Project. Definitely a worthy cause - thank you so much for your efforts towards it, Sangeeta!

I must say, it was definitely freeing to get rid of my crap yarn. I freed up more room in my yarn bin for more quality stuff, and freed up my psyche from the guilt and clutter of yarn I would probably never use. There's something very Feng Shui about that. Not to mention that if all goes well someone on ebay will love it and have a use for it, and the money then goes to a good cause. Definitely a win-win-win situation.

Speaking of unloading yarn, I have another friend who is taking leftover and scrap yarn donations for another worthy cause, so if you find yourself reading this and wishing for a place to unload yours, please contact Syd - her email and mailing address are in her blog's sidebar. And if you don't have any leftover yarn but are still feeling charitable, Syd is also hosting the Think Pink Challenge, which is looking for knitters, crocheters, weavers, and/or seamstresses to create 1,000 pink scarves by October to support Breast Cancer Awareness.

Oh, and as long as we're discussing unloading yarn, if anyone has any tiny bits of leftover sock yarn that they'd be willing to give me, (or sell me), I'd love to get some to knit for this:

Mini Sock Blocker keychain. Thanks again for this, Liz!

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But I digress. Back to the yarn swap festivities:

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Sangeeta's pile-o-goodies

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Someone else beat me to Sangeeta's alpaca yarns before that picture was taken, but I did score a few other goodies from her pile.

And finally, the best part of any party -- hanging out in the kitchen with the drinks, food, and other party-goers:

Robin C., Susan, Deb, Sheddy and Robin H. And look at those pies!

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More knitters, including the Yarn Lounge's Melanie (3rd from Left) and her mom (far Right)

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Although I was able to declutter and unload much yarn at the event, don't think I walked away empty-handed:

Score!

That's, top-to-bottom:

* ~500 yards of a Cynthia Helene superwash worsted-weight merino in a tealy-jade color. (I'm open to suggestions for a pattern/project for that pretty yarn).

* One ball of Elann's Esprit cotton/elastic sock yarn, (very similar to Cascade's Fixation), in red -- will probably make flip-flop socks with that.

* Three hanks (~280 yds) of Classic Elite "Imagine" cotton/rayon (sportweight? - 5.25 spi) in "Springwater" colorway. (Again, I'm open to suggestions for use).

Here's an extreme close-up of the Imagine:

for your yarn pr0n viewing pleasure

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All of the above yarn was acquired for less than $15!

But wait, there's more!

Patterns, Books, Magazines, needle-case - Oh my!

The items on the far right -- needle-case and Stitch 'n Bitch Nation came from Sangeeta's pile. Everything else came from Robin H.'s pile o' goodies. Thanks, Ladies!

Look, Ma - my DPNs!

I have immediately put my needle-case to good use - storing my growing collection of DPNs. In addition to the few sets of larger DPNs I already owned, and thanks to helpful suggestions from both Liz and Grumperina, I recently purchased a set of Susan Bates sock needles in sizes 000, 00, 0 and 1, each size in a different color, (although I have a hard time distinguishing the silver from the gold). Now I'm ready for almost anything!

All in all, it was a fun and worthwhile evening, and so a special thanks goes out, once again, to our lovely hostess Sangeeta! (And shame on me - I didn't get a single picture of Sangeeta on Sunday! I'll try to remedy that if she comes to TNK tonight.)

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