My Relationship With Yarn Clearance Sales

I have a love/hate relationship with the words ‘Yarn Clearance Sale’. I love seeing the words as they immediately get my blood flowing and my excitement rises at the thought of what new yarns I can purchase. I hate the fact that I’m going to deplete my bank balance even more with yarn that I probably don’t need but I must have it. Sound familiar? Do you feel like this too? Sounds like we’re all suffering from the insatiable need to own more yarn than we could ever use in a lifetime which is a perfect segue to my next few pictures. I’m going to show you just a couple (okay maybe a few more than a couple) of photos of some more yummy yarn.

Now officially the following two lots of yarn weren’t purchased during a sale. They’re both from Zen Yarn Garden and because I’ve been buying two skeins in each of the ART WALK Series, I really can’t break the cycle can I?

The seventh offering in Zen Yarn Garden’s new ART WALK Series features a painting by Andy Warhol entitled “Blue and Pink Shoe“. Written on the painting is “you can lead a shoe to water, but you can’t make it drink.” Perhaps that is true but we like to think that a gorgeous shoe painting has been successful in inspiring Zen Yarn Garden’s dyer to pick up the dyes and create a beautiful colourway!

Andy Warhol’s pioneering Pop Art defined a decade and a culture, distinguishing him as one of the most influential, creative and prolific artists of the 20th century. Originally the most sought-after commercial artist in New York, Warhol (1923 – 1987) is most known for his multiple images of Campbell’s Soup cans, Coke bottles, dollar bills and celebrities, which exalted the beauty within ordinary objects and familiar images. Working out of a studio called The Factory, he invented the silk screening process which enabled him to mass produce a single image in his signature style. Warhol was also a talented filmmaker, music producer, commercial illustrator, author and magazine publisher. [quoted from Art.com]

The yarn is Serenity Silk Single which is a 4ply / fingering 75% merino / 15% cashmere / 10% silk yarn. This is the picture of the yarn from Zen Yarn Garden’s website.

And of course, a picture of Andy Warhol’s Blue and Pink Shoe.

Another little treasure that Zen Yarn Garden released a month or so ago is the absolutely gorgeous Pumpkin Pie Spice which is dyed on Serenity 20 a 70% merino / 20% cashmere /10% nylon 4ply / fingering yarn. When I first received the email from Zen Yarn Garden with the pictures of this yarn I instantly knew I had to have it so I contacted Sue at Yarn Glorious Yarn, who is the only Australian distributor, and she ordered some in. Thanks Sue!

This is the photo that came in the email. Could you have resisted it?

Now onto my delicious yarn clearance sale items which came from Yarn Glorious Yarn in Brisbane.

The Fibre Company Canopy Fingering which is a 50% alpaca / 30% merino / 20% bamboo light fingering / 3ply yarn. This colourway is Kingfisher. I bought four skeins of each of the next two colourways. There were AU$8.50 each.

This colourway is Yerba Mate.

And this colourway is Blue Quandons. I bought the last two skeins.

The Fibre Company Road to China which is a 65% alpaca / 15% silk / 10% Camel / 10% Cashmere Aran / 10ply yarn. The colourway is Autumn Jasper. This yarn is so incredibly soft and sumptuous. It cost AU$8.00 for each skein.

The following yarns were purchased from Spotlight. I had gone out to pick up some handmade soaps from my favourite handmade soap maker Vivianne-K and I thought ‘why not just drop into Spotlight for a quick look’. Big mistake!!! But look at the prices!

Five balls of Cleckheaton Country which is an 8ply 100% wool. Colourway is Blue Skies and they were AU$2.10 each.

Six balls of Cleckheaton Country which is an 8ply 100% wool. Colourway is Lipstick and they were AU$2.10 each.

Five balls of Cleckheaton Country Naturals which is an 8ply 85% pure wool / 10% acrylic / 5% viscose. Colourway is Forest and they were AU$2.10 each.

Ten balls of Moda Vera Pure Wool Printed which is an 8ply 100% pure wool. Colourway is brown/charcoal and they were AU$1.20 each. I realised when I arrived home that I’d only been charged for one ball and not 10. The checkout girl waved the scanner over one ball and then forget to hit x 10 on the till. Maybe that’s because she was overwhelmed by all the wool on the counter.

Two balls of Moda Vera Kendra which is a 12ply / bulky 70% acrylic / 20% wool / 10% nylon. Colourway is Yellow and they were AU$3.59 each. This yarn will make nice strong market bags.

Four balls of Moda Vera Kendra which is a 12ply / bulky 70% acrylic / 20% wool / 10% nylon. Colourway is Green and they were AU$3.59 each.

Six balls of Moda Vera Chiquita which is a 44% acrylic / 36% sequins / 20% wool. Colourway is Cream and they were AU$1.20 each.

Six balls of Moda Vera Chiquita which is a 44% acrylic / 36% sequins / 20% wool. Colourway is Purple and they were AU$1.20 each.

Five balls of Moda Vera Taylor which is a 5ply / sport 56% polyester / 44% wool. Colourway is Brown and they were AU$1.80 each. I’m thinking of making the Glitz at the Ritz shawl with this yarn. What do you think?

Nine balls of Moda Vera Gelato which is a 4ply / fingering 50% acrylic / 50% cotton. Colourway is Green and they were AU$1.79 each.

And finally, the following yarns came from the Lincraft sale which was offering 40% storewide. I’m using these yarns to make crocheted market bags.

Nine balls of Lincraft Cosy which is an 8ply 100% wool. Colourway is Xmas. They were AU$3.59 each.

Three balls of Lincraft Cosy which is an 8ply 100% wool. Colourway is Naturals. They were AU$3.59 each.

And three balls of Lincraft Double Knitting which is an 8ply 100% acrylic. Colourway is Apricot. They were AU$2.09 each.

You’ll be pleased to know that I have already used some of the yarn and will feature these projects in future posts.

And so we come to the end of another yarnful year. I hope you’ve enjoyed my posts showing you all my knitted projects as well as the odd one or two yarn purchases. I also hope I’ve inspired you to knit some of the projects. One of my readers did contact me as she had made the In Threes Cardigan which I showed you here. She emailed me photos and the cardigan was beautiful!

I’ve posted approximately 115 stories since November last year; I didn’t realise I could talk write so much!

Have a safe New Year’s Eve and a healthy, happy 2014 full of yarnie goodness! Until next year…

Melanie

BTW, On the right hand side of the home page of my blog there are lots of interesting links. I’m not sure when you receive my weekly posts whether you see these links. If not, what you can do is click on the Home button which is at the top left hand side of the page. This will take you to the home page where you can view all the links plus the most recent post. One link also takes you directly to my Ravelry home page.