Today's score
Today I went thrift store shopping with my friend James. We hit the three large thrift stores in Virginia Beach, Goodwill, Salvation Army, and the DAV thrift. My big goal for today was to find more sweaters to frog, but none of the stores had any winter wear out yet. I guess this makes sense since it is summer and no one is buying sweaters, but I am used to Kentucky where the thrift stores carry sweaters year round. I decided instead to focus on the vintage cookbooks (only 1950-1959) and vintage craft books (1960-1973).
In the first store I found Patternless Fashion Design (1968) which is a sewing book focused on designing clothes based on measurements.
Since I can't stand patterns I already do this, but I am not very good at sleeves and inseams; I am hoping this book will help me work through that. Another great find was the Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Cook Book (1959). The highlight of this book is the section on throwing a luau Trader Vic style and the "tempting buffets from India and Mexico." I am not sure what India and Mexico have in common, but it made for a fun couple of pages. The last book I bought was The Complete Book of Knitting. It doesn't look like anything special from the outside, but is is surprisingly full of information. In addition to the typical how to knit and basic techniques, it also contains 200 stitch patterns and a section on reading patterns in several other languages.
The next two thrift stores were short on craft books, but contained lots of craft supplies. The Goodwill had tons of knit kits, but they were pretty basic so I left them for someone else to discover.
Instead I bought a Oscar the Grouch needle point kit from 1972. I don't actually do needle point, but the kit was a dollar and James convinced me that it would be easy. Then we moved on to the DAV thrift where the craft section was overflowing with yarn, notions, sewing patterns, and needlepoint books. Everything was bagged so if you wanted one ball of yarn you had to buy the bag it was in containing several other balls that you might not need. This is an annoying thrift store practice and I wish it would stop. Anyway I ended up buying a bag of yarn (it's used so it doesn't go against my yarn fast, at least that's what I'm telling myself). I need to measure and wash the skeins, but I think I am going to dye the white and then make a big bag with these. I'll keep you posted.
Now, on to my favorite part of the entry, the score of the day. It was a tough call, but when I got home and sorted everything out it was clear that the score of the day was...
You are looking at 69 full and 38 partial skeins of embroidery floss along with 8 embroidery needles all for $1.98. This is pretty much a lifetime supply for me and I plan on putting it to good use as soon as possible.
After thrift store shopping we stopped by PF Chang's for lunch and then went to the Asian grocery where I bought lots of fresh tofu, some basil and Mah Jongg. Now I'm off to Jackie's for a girls night staring Madonna.
In the first store I found Patternless Fashion Design (1968) which is a sewing book focused on designing clothes based on measurements.
Since I can't stand patterns I already do this, but I am not very good at sleeves and inseams; I am hoping this book will help me work through that. Another great find was the Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Cook Book (1959). The highlight of this book is the section on throwing a luau Trader Vic style and the "tempting buffets from India and Mexico." I am not sure what India and Mexico have in common, but it made for a fun couple of pages. The last book I bought was The Complete Book of Knitting. It doesn't look like anything special from the outside, but is is surprisingly full of information. In addition to the typical how to knit and basic techniques, it also contains 200 stitch patterns and a section on reading patterns in several other languages.
The next two thrift stores were short on craft books, but contained lots of craft supplies. The Goodwill had tons of knit kits, but they were pretty basic so I left them for someone else to discover.
Instead I bought a Oscar the Grouch needle point kit from 1972. I don't actually do needle point, but the kit was a dollar and James convinced me that it would be easy. Then we moved on to the DAV thrift where the craft section was overflowing with yarn, notions, sewing patterns, and needlepoint books. Everything was bagged so if you wanted one ball of yarn you had to buy the bag it was in containing several other balls that you might not need. This is an annoying thrift store practice and I wish it would stop. Anyway I ended up buying a bag of yarn (it's used so it doesn't go against my yarn fast, at least that's what I'm telling myself). I need to measure and wash the skeins, but I think I am going to dye the white and then make a big bag with these. I'll keep you posted.
Now, on to my favorite part of the entry, the score of the day. It was a tough call, but when I got home and sorted everything out it was clear that the score of the day was...
You are looking at 69 full and 38 partial skeins of embroidery floss along with 8 embroidery needles all for $1.98. This is pretty much a lifetime supply for me and I plan on putting it to good use as soon as possible.
After thrift store shopping we stopped by PF Chang's for lunch and then went to the Asian grocery where I bought lots of fresh tofu, some basil and Mah Jongg. Now I'm off to Jackie's for a girls night staring Madonna.