I've been reading the online newsletter from CraftStylish and found this link to reclaiming yarn from a thrift sweater. LOL! Let me tell you how many years ago I used to do that....ummm....1969 or 1970. I have a photo somewhere of the sweater I knitted. I loved it. It was a burgundy color, sort of nubby and mohairish, which was unusual then and I wore it with a pair of burgundy wool-blend slacks. I don't remember where I got the original sweater - either from some hand-me-downs given to me or the second-hand store in the little town I lived in. I painstakingly unraveled the sweater and washed it, rolled it into balls (didn't know how to make a pull skein ball then) and then knitted it up.

We really take a lot for granted these days. I could not afford yarn back then. The baby sweater I made for my first baby (back when you didn't know the sex of your baby) was from yarn I purchased with a Christmas gift certificate to J. C. Penney's. Yep, they had yarn back then.

Anyway, I loved that sweater. It had short sleeves - probably because there wasn't enough yarn for long sleeves. LOL! I wore it for 5 or 6 years before giving it up. What strikes me now is that I did that out of necessity and creative drive. The writer of the article seems to be doing it as a fun challenge and to recycle.

I still buy a lot of stuff from the thrift stores and garage sales. It's less out of need and more for the fun of it. I love it when I find things that go together or that I can remake into something cool. Part of it is the creative drive and part of it is the satisfaction I feel from "recycling". I have nothing against new purchases, but this is probably MY best way of going "green" and doing my part in keeping the environment healthy. I don't get nearly the same pleasure from going into a store and shopping for something new. It just doesn't do anything for me, but take me into a Goodwill or Second-Hand store or a real flea market (not the commercialized cheap stuff kind), I am in HEAVEN!

I rarely find good yarn or thread though. I find that kind of odd, so when I do find it, I'm dancing all over the place. LOL!

Oh Look! Cupcakes on a stick!

Yeah...I'm surfing for Christmas gift ideas. I'll never make the cupcakes on a stick but I would love to see someone else make them. OR .... how about some TATTED cupcakes on a stick????

And where are YOU looking for inspiration today?