Tag: herrschners

A Box of Yarn

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life, Writing

I’m obsessed with yarn.  I love yarn.  I came home tonight and here was my order from Herrschners.  A friend gave me a gift card from there so I handed it to Vicki and said, I need crochet cotton, you know the colors, and whatever is on sale.

This is the result.  Now most people see just a bunch of yarn.  I see smiles, hugs, and appreciation.  I see hours of enjoyment as I listen to a book and crochet.  I see dishtowels, pot holders, dish cloths, scarves, make up pads and more.

There is so much potential in this one small box and so much happiness for me and for others.  I am sitting here saying I will not pick up the new yarn and make stuff because I already have four projects in progress and I need to finish at least one or two of them before I start new ones – right?  Maybe…

The colors are exciting.  The textures are exciting.  The hours of just enjoying myself with the goodies in this box are exciting.  One might assume I am a little excited about this box.

It’s a little box and a little thing but I know it will bring a lot of happiness.  The items made from the yarn in here will be useful and appreciated.  I can’t wait to dive in and play around with the goodies.  I have to wait … I keep telling myself I have to wait.  I have other projects to finish before I start with the new yarn.  I must resist the temptation – am I convincing anyone else?

Tonight I’m supposed to be working on a manuscript.  I have two I’m working on that are in progress.  I should work on writing and not crocheting.  I could pull up the next JD Robb book and listen to it while I work on one of the projects.  Maybe I would finish the project so I could play with the new yarn tomorrow.  But I have those two manuscripts.  Oh the war of responsibility and the desire to play with new yarn.

I’ll be good.  For now.  Maybe…..

Falling in Love – again – With Crochet

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting

Crocheting is amazing and beautiful.  I love it when I set out with a plan and it works out.  I’m working on a project (gift for a student worker) and I don’t have a pattern.  It is coming from somewhere in my odd little brain. 

After several false starts, I got a pattern worked out that I liked.  This is going to be a two-step project but I had the colors on hand for the project and I am loving how it is turning out.  Granted I’m done with the first step and I’m pleased with the initial results.  Now hopefully the rest goes as smoothly and as easily.  I’m going to try a couple of different techniques to see how I feel about the look of it. 

I’m using Herrschners Worsted 8 that I got this year for my birthday.  The yarn has a beautiful texture.  It’s soft and warm.  Additionally the colors are vibrant and striking. 

Since I’ve been writing so much, I’ve not had yarn in my hands.  It has been good to feel the yarn slide through my fingers as I crochet.  The indentation on my index finger is back as well.  I wrap the yarn around that finger.  I never notice the indentation being made but I’ll look at my hand and there it is. 

While I crochet, I’ve been listening to audio books.  This is a matter of killing two birds with one stone – or more to the point getting two things done in the space of the same amount of time.  I can listen to a book for hours while I make gifts.  The audio book allows me to get lost in the story while I’m crafting.  I can keep my eyes on my work while I listen.  I love it. 

Yarn is wonderful… Yarn on sale – HEAVEN!

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting

Recently, Vicki asked me to make a few things for her to give to her co-workers.  They are small items and I don’t have a problem.  She emailed me the colors and I went to my lovely wall of yarn.  I pulled out all the colors I had but I discovered I didn’t have them all.  This meant I had to go yarn shopping.

As you saw in the last post I also made a scarf for Ana and in doing so I used up one of my colors is Sashay yarn.  I love the colors of that particular scarf.  I actually wrote down the color so I would remember it the next time I bought yarn. 

It became obvious to me that I was going to have to go yarn shopping.  The types of yarn – ruffle and crochet cotton – I needed do not go on sale often.  My thought was I’ll start with what I have all the colors for and see how far I get.  Ana came to visit and after seeing her with the scarf I realized there was a lot I wanted to try with that same color.  The ruffle yarn is $5 – $6 per skein and crochet cotton is about $2.25 per skein.  This is an investment. 

I get emails from all my favorite craft stores – Michael, Hobby Lobby, Joann Fabrics, Herrschners – letting me know about specials and sales.  Herrschners runs yarn sales all the time but I hadn’t seen any with these two items in particular.  Then I get a Michael’s email – I’ve just been deleting without looking at these (it’s a time thing) but for some reason I looked at this one.  Good thing I did – they have both these yarns on sale. 

The other issue then is money – I was looking at my budget and thinking I really can’t afford to go get a lot of yarn.  I’ll have to keep it to the bare minimum.  This is just sad because if there is a sale on crochet cotton in particular I want to buy all the colors I can because I go through them quickly.  In my head I was considering payments for the week and having this internal debate about being good and not buying yarn and splurging and buying yarn. 

As I realize I am of course going to do the responsible thing, I got a payment for editing.  Perfect!  I can now splurge a bit on yarn.  It’s been a crummy week for me – sinus infection, lack of sleep, weather induced pain for my arthritis – I’ve been a lot grumpy this week. 

Last night I determined I was going to stop at Michaels on the way home from work.  Their store is not user friendly at all.  From the door that doesn’t open automatically to the narrow clutter filled aisles, this is a store that is difficult for me to get into and move around.  I took my scooter though and grabbed a basket – that was not fun – but I get back to their yarn corner and just had fun.  I grabbed all the colors I needed (except for one that I’m not sure they even make).  It was fun to look at the colors and think of the things I would make and who would like what colors.  I think I rolled around the two aisles several times looking, adding up money, and enjoying selecting the colors. 

I didn’t buy one thing that wasn’t on sale.  I saved $21.  I didn’t break my budget.  I got five skeins of the ruffle yarn and twenty plus of the crochet cotton.  I picked some colors for specific people, some because I knew I was out, and some just because I liked them. 

When I left the store, I felt wonderful.  My mood was happy and I was looking forward to working with the yarns.  I even started one of the projects for Vicki last night.  Now I have to get the colors organized for my projects for Vicki and the rest need to be added to my wall.  I do think I’ll be using one or two of the ruffle skeins this weekend too. 

My weekend plan – after the errands are done – dvds, crochet hooks, yarn… heaven!!!

Danger! Beware!! Yarn Sale!!!

by eileentroemel, posted in Uncategorized

Finally I have a moment (or half a one) where I can put some thoughts together.  It has been a very busy period for me.  Here it is nearly two weeks later from the last time I was on here – I can’t believe that much time has slipped by. 

Work has been frantic and by the time I do work and school I’m so tired I can barely get through the night.  Registration this semester has been more stressful and difficult than in previous semesters.  I thought maybe it was just me but I talked to a couple other people and they agreed.

This last weekend I got talked into going to Herrschner’s for the day.  For those who don’t know, they are a huge mail order catalog company with a store in Stevens Point Wisconsin.  I crochet.  I crochet a lot when I’m stressed.  I like to have one big project going – like an afghan (currently Stephanie’s star shaped with an 8 mile circumference) and small projects to fill in when I want something quick to finish and feel like I’ve accomplished something. 

I have lots of faculty and student workers to make gifts for.  This gives me a target for making all my little goodies.  I’m not going to say what I’m making them for the winter holidays but they will be crocheted things most likely.  Herrschner’s was having a HUGE sale on yarn.  Instead of doing homework on Saturday like I should have I snuck off to this sale.  Stevens Point is a two hour drive so it generally turns into a most of the day event. 

Friday I printed off their internet page with all the sale yarn listed.  I circled the ones I was interested in.  Saturday we asked and they honored the prices.  I got skeins of yarn that normally cost between $7 – $10 each for anywhere from $1 – $3.50 each.  I was thrilled for the savings but also I will get to work with yarn I don’t normally buy.  Some of the yarn includes silk, chenille, fleece, and alpaca.  I’ve been wanting to work with all of these for quite some time. 

While I didn’t get homework done, I did enjoy wandering through the yarn and touching everything.  Yes I touched all sorts of yarn.  There is something about the textures, softness, and colors that just gives me a thrill.  Other women have a thing for shopping for clothes – my thing – YARN… 

Best part of the day – my husband didn’t complain at all because I spent money on yarn!!!