<$Monday, July 9, 2007$>
Frugal Knitting: Yarn Bargains Can Lead To Great Gifts
| First things first: my post on Financial Housecleaning made the list in this week's Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted this week by Broke-Ass Student. ~~~ Over at Get Rich Slowly, Mrs. J.D. guest-blogged about How To Escape the Gift Trap and listed several solutions for the gift-giver on a budget. This topic has a lot of relevance for me right now, because I'm working on planning out my gift list and budget for the rest of the year. Yes, I'm planning my Christmas list in July. No, I'm not really one of those people--at least, not typically. But my solution to coming up with gifts that fit my budget that my giftees actually appreciate (or at least claim to...) is to knit for them. It doesn't always save money--knitting can be a pretty expensive hobby. It does, however, allow me to enjoy one of my favorite pastimes while creating something beautiful for someone else's lasting enjoyment. Although, that doesn't mean I can't do that and save money. By shopping around, I can find bargains on yarn, tools and notions that allow me to work with quality materials on a Red Heart budget. Today, for instance, I needed to shop for materials for a sweater I'm planning to knit for my sister. If I simply bought the luxe yarn specified in the pattern, at $8.95 a ball, the sweater would end up costing me over $160! I love my sister, but, as if! Instead, I did a little shopping around and found a comparable yarn for only $2.49 per ball, which will bring the total sweater cost (minus notions) to just under $45. Still more than I would normally spend on my sister (or she on me), but like I said, it also feeds my habit, and this particular birthday gift doubles as a congratulatory new baby present as well. I still get to work with a high-quality yarn, and better still, my choice is machine washable, which I know will mean much, much more to my sister than the brand name of the yarn. What second-time-mommies have time to hand wash their delicate fabrics, anyway? Of course, considering it took me about four months to knit my husband's Christmas sweater (which I naively waited until October to begin), and considering I've still got a whole list of Christmas knitting to do once this sweater's out of the way, I'd better get started. In July. But at least I won't get caught in the middle of the Christmas rush this year. Do you have any hobbies that can double as gifting alternatives? If so, I'd love to hear about them in the comments. |
