Crocheting with Dollar Store Yarn

 

Not too long ago, I was checking out Dollarama's craft section when I found what seemed like a treasure: a soft, seemingly decent quality, chunky ball of yarn in a colour I loved. The only problem was that there was just one, and it didn't have a label. Sigh.

I know, I know-- dollar store yarn. The thing is, I'm allergic to animal fibres. I'm also not super familiar with all the alternatives. I do know that cotton doesn't work for every project, and bamboo can be hard to find in stores (and never seems to come in colours I like). So, acrylic is my go-to. Problems with acrylic aside, it's soft and I love working with it. And as someone with fairly amateur knitting/crocheting skills, I appreciate not spending too much on my experiments.

Anyway, I couldn't put that yarn down, so I decided to risk it and figure out something I could make with it. The colour matches a hat and mittens I already have, but I didn't think the yarn would be enough for a scarf, so I decided to see if I could find a pattern for an easy cowl to make.

I also tried finding more of the yarn at a different Dollarama, and ended up finding what looks like the same kind of yarn--but only in two other colours. Since the pattern I found is for a striped cowl, I went ahead and got the other colours (a black and a blue so light it almost looks white). And then I decided to use the new yarn to make a practice cowl first.

Oh, and it turns out the yarn is "Knit It!" Cable Knitting Yarn in 100% polyester (I'm honestly not sure if that's the same as acrylic or not). 

So I...

• Used the new yarn meant to supplement the original yarn without it
• Used knitting yarn in a crochet project
• Used the wrong size hook (a 6mm instead of an 8mm) because that was the biggest hook I had, and I didn't feel like getting another one

See why it's better that I don't use really nice yarn? Here's how it went...

The sad beginning (I thought I did something wrong, so I re-did it. It looked the same): 

 Looking a little better as I added in the second yarn:

Coming along. Look at all those ends that need weaving in (the one thing I hate about crocheting/knitting):

 

Looking much neater now. It also ended up narrower at the end than when I started out. I have no idea how that happened. 

It's cowl shaped!

 

So, what's the final verdict?

Working with the yarn was fine, mostly. I noticed it kept losing strands as I went. Not a lot, but it does make me wonder how much the cowl will shed over time. The yarn also split (separated from itself) as I was crocheting. It didn't bother me, and doesn't seem to have affected the cowl, but I know that's not generally a good thing. 

I really like the feel of the finished cowl-- it's soft and cozy. But it's also stiff. I hope the yarn will "relax" a little after I wash the cowl a couple of times. I also expect it'll pill like crazy.

I think this yarn would make a nice blanket with some good weight to it. But again, the pilling would be a problem (not to mention finding enough yarn to make a blanket in the first place).

Based on my very limited experience with it, I think dollar store yarn (at least this one) is perfectly good for a quick and easy project, like this cowl, or for anyone who wants to hone their skills before investing in better, pricier yarn. Have you tried dollar store yarn? What was your experience with it?

By the way, don't forget to get my books! I promise I write better than I crochet (links below)...

For anyone interested in making their own cowl, here's the (free) pattern I used: Sweet Bee Crochet 

Cheers,

Aspasia 

Get My Books 

Love Lies Bleeding

Bleeding Heart

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(Links take you to all available stores. Books marked * are free everywhere other than Amazon. Love Lies Bleeding and Bleeding Heart are also available in paperback.)

 

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All photos by Whimsy Bower/Aspasia S. Bissas

 

 

 

Happy Canada Day!

Photo by Brett Sayles, pexels.com

Happy Canada Day to all Canadians, no matter where they find themselves on 1 July!

Did you know that Canada Day is not our independence day? It's Canada's birthday (happy 152nd!) July 1st marks the anniversary of Confederation, or the day the first four provinces officially joined to create the Dominion of Canada.

Long weekends are also the perfect time to catch up on your reading (how else are you going to digest all that BBQ?) Take advantage of Smashword's sale and get my novel Love Lies Bleeding for half price (and Blood Magic, as always, is free). Stop by my official website and say hi too! Support Canadian indie writers and have a good day 🍁

If you want to learn more about Canada, watch this short video by a couple of resident experts:

Bandana-rama

 

Like so many ideas of dubious merit, this one began on Pinterest. A simple image with an excited caption about making an "easy" tablecloth by sewing bandanas together. So cute! Well...

Okay, so it's not a particularly difficult project but it's not as easy as it seems on the surface. Bandanas, as it turns out, aren't an ideal medium. They're not a uniform size or shape (at least the ones I used weren't), and the fabric isn't the best quality--ridiculously prone to wrinkles and warping. On the other hand, the resulting table cloth really is cute--perfect for a picnic table or other casual setting.

Want to make one? Here's how...

1. Buy bandanas. You can find them pretty cheap at Michaels, but you can find them cheaper elsewhere. I got mine at Bandanas Canada. Yes, this country doesn't have a local store comparable to Mod Cloth or Spoonflower (to my endless chagrin), but we have a dedicated bandana store!

2. Wash bandanas in hot water and dry them in the dryer on the hottest setting. Why? To pre-shrink them and lose some of the excess dye. You need to pre-shrink because otherwise your project will be ruined the first time you wash it. They will also bleed dye, so either keep washing them until the wash water rinses clear, or make sure to buy colours that won't ruin each other when they're washed together (it's probably best to avoid white bandanas in your tablecloth).

3. Iron. And get used to ironing. It turns out looking at bandanas wrinkles them.

4. For my tablecloth I used nine bandanas in total: three rows of three alternating colours. This size will comfortably cover a picnic table. You can make it bigger if you want to use it on a bigger table or as a picnic blanket, but I wouldn't go too much bigger.

5. Time to sew. Pin right sides together (be careful--it's not easy to tell right and wrong sides apart; at least, not until you've accidentally sewed a right side to a wrong side, at which point you will suddenly clearly see the difference and then have to fix it). I used 1/2" seam allowances and that worked well. Sew three bandanas together to make a row. Repeat two more times (or however many times needed to make enough rows for the size cloth you want). Then sew rows together (pin right sides together first, then sew long edges with a 1/2" seam allowance). When pinning two rows together before sewing, make sure to match seams (where two bandanas have been joined), not the outer edges of the bandanas. Uneven outer edges can be fixed but if the seams don't match up, your patchwork effect will be ruined. Don't forget to keep ironing as you go--wrinkled fabric does not a good result make.

6. Final step: finish the outer edge of your table cloth. I'd been hoping to skip this part since bandanas already have finished edges, but the lack of uniformity of the bandanas meant the outer edge was noticeably uneven. If yours is also uneven, fold under enough of the edge to straighten it out. Iron edge (pin in place if you need to). Sew (I topstitched with a 1/4" seam allowance for this part)--just make sure the needle catches the folded under edge as you go. That's it. Snip any loose threads and iron one more time (don't worry--it'll be wrinkled again before long).

I tried decorating the table with some nice glassware but it didn't look right. I finally realized it was a little too fancy for such a casual cloth. So...

Much better. No real lemons on hand, so I broke out the plastic one. There's nothing quite so hopeless as trying to evoke summer on a grey January day in Canada. I don't think we've seen the sun for a week.

Have extra bandanas left? You could try making pillows (place two bandanas, right sides together, and sew on three sides. Turn right side out. Fill with a pillow form or stuffing. Sew fourth side closed by hand).

You could make a quilt, although I wouldn't put too much work into it, given the quality of the fabric. Still, it could be a fun casual project. The three by three bandana configuration seems like a good size for a double bed (but measure to be sure).

Bandanas cut in half diagonally could be used to make bunting.

Two or three bandanas could be used as the basis for an apron.

Do you have any more ideas on how to use bandanas in crafts? Let me know in the comments.

[Follow me on my official site: AspasiaSBissas.com] 

Misha Collins Is the Fifth Element

I'm not one to gush over actors or celebrities--nothing against them; I just don't generally care about what they get up to offscreen. Occasionally, however, one of them piques my interest and I go looking for more info. That's how I found out about Misha Collins.

For anyone unfamiliar, Misha Collins is an actor--you might know him as the angel Castiel on Supernatural. I'm not really a fan of Supernatural (I'm missing the "Super" in the Superwholock fandom, alas), but I do like a few of the characters, particularly Castiel. Over time I found out through the internet grapevine that Misha is kind of a wacky guy on social media, so I started following him. I wasn't disappointed (it turns out he's a genuinely good person, as well as funny). From there I decided to check out his imdb profile and what I found out about him kind of blew my mind.

Misha Collins:

-Is a published poet (published in respected journals, such as the Columbia Poetry Review). You can watch him sharing one of his poems here:



-Has co-founded an amazing charity organization, Random Acts, which does things like building schools and orphanages, while also encouraging people worldwide to do good on their own. Random Acts has also started a crisis support centre, along with the "You Are Not Alone" initiative, to help Supernatural fans cope with all sorts of mental health issues they may be facing. [Update: As of 2025, the Initiative seems to be gone, but there is an excellent Random Acts Support Network for anyone in need.]

-Runs the world's largest scavenger hunt, GISHWHES: the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt The World Has Ever Seen, which has helped him break five (!) Guinness World Records.

-Does an online cooking show with his son (I think his daughter might have also joined in more recently):

 

-Is a certified EMT

-Goes on Buddhist meditation retreats at monasteries around the world.

-Did I mention he built his own house, including cabinets and most of the furniture in it? The pictures here aren't great but you get the idea, and it doesn't suck.  [Most of the photos seem to be inaccessible now, but this is a great article with photos about Misha's wood working and crafting.]

Bonus: Was the inspiration for "Mishapocalypse" on 1 April 2013, when Tumblr users switched their user (and other) pics to pictures of Misha.

I'm sure further research would uncover more worth sharing, but I'll leave it for another time. And why am I sharing this, anyway? Because awesomeness needs to be shared, so it can inspire and beget more awesomeness. Don't you feel better knowing people like this exist in the world? Actually, the more I found out about Misha Collins, the more I started thinking he wasn't quite your standard human. Which led me to the conclusion that, much like Leeloo in The Fifth Element (a movie you should probably go watch if you haven't already, even though it's Misha free), Misha Collins is at least a, if not the, Fifth Element, which is to say...

 

2025 Update: Somewhere along the line I did become a Supernatural fan, and now I even review the episodes on The Junkyard (see a list of my reviews here). I also wrote a short bio of Misha. He continues to be good people.

[Edited to update links and info. Follow me on my official site: AspasiaSBissas.com] 

Provence: Lavender

I think I've been dreaming of visiting the lavender fields of Provence for about twenty years now. Maybe longer. Since I first saw pictures of them, they (and Provence itself) seemed like a magical, beautiful place. You can find lavender fields in other places, of course: England, Canada (Quebec and BC), the U.S. (Oregon, Washington), but I don't think it's the same. With surreal blue skies, cypress trees, castles, hills, and Roman structures (some still in use so they can't be called ruins), Provence really is magical. While I'll probably visit other fields (I'm a bit lavender obsessed), I will always go back to Provence, as often as I can. I think you should too--especially since the lavender fields there are disappearing as farmers replace them with grape vines. Wine is nice, but I wouldn't travel halfway across the world to look at fields of vines (although I did end up seeing plenty of those too).

By the way, if you do ever find yourself in Provence and want to take any special day trips (lavender fields, wineries, chocolate or olive oil tasting, historic sites...) I highly, highly recommend Provence Authentic. My guide, Elodie, was fantastic--knowledgeable, helpful, enthusiastic, and great company. She also spoke excellent English. Having a guide makes good sense anyway--you'll get to see and learn about things you wouldn't know about otherwise. Not having to worry about driving or parking is a bonus; despite having survived driving in Greece (where you have to watch out for falling rocks, hairpin turns beside cliffs, and Greek drivers), I found French roads intimidating. My only complaint with Provence Authentic is that they don't operate in other parts of France--I'd love to take Elodie with me on the visit I'm planning to Giverny!

The fields we visited were in the Luberon region of Provence. The fields all bloom at different times from late June until August, so if you're planning a trip, do some research to find out which fields will be in bloom.

At one point I had to laugh because it does seem a bit strange to travel so far just to look at fields of flowers. But they were so beautiful (and smelled lovely too), it is totally worth the trip.

The flowers are darker in this field because the blooms aren't fully open yet.

Note the castle on the hill in the background. I'm definitely bringing my telephoto lens on my next trip.

 

 

 

This farm was called "La Savonnade." Savon is soap and the lavender in the fields I saw is a type called Lavandin, used in soap and cleansers. The higher quality lavender that's used to make essential oil grows in the mountains and wasn't blooming yet while I was there.

The mallow blooming in the middle of the lavender was growing wild all over. Years ago I bought mallow plants for my garden.

This field contained only a single row of lavender. I'm not sure if it was planted just to mark a boundary or if there's a long term plan to plant the entire field with lavender.

I'm not sure what kind of plant this is (my guess is some sort of grass gone to seed) but I thought it was a pretty contrast to the lavender.

Elodie spotted this ladybug

This field with the neighbouring house and garden is perfection. This is where I want to live.

We spotted this rather large snail on the road--such a pretty shell.

Before we left we moved it to the grass away from the road. Happy trails among the lavender, little guy.

Next post: Beautiful Provence

Missed one of my posts about France? 

Zen and the Art of Provencal Cookery, Part 1 

Zen and the Art of Provencal Cookery, Part 2

Zen and the Art of Provencal Cookery, Part 3

Zen and the Art of Provencal Cookery, Part 4 

Zen and the Art of Provencal Cookery, Part 5 

Zen and the Art of Provencal Cookery, Part 6 

Provence: Maison Trevier 

Provence: Carpentras 

[Edited to remove dead links. Follow me on my official site: AspasiaSBissas.com]

Paisley Renewed

I'm not normally a fan of paisley--it's just not a pattern I love. But this version by Mini Moderns
has won me over. Why? Take a closer look...

I love the concept and the attention to detail (the only way I could like it more would be if the little houses were Victorian style). If I wasn't pathologically opposed to wallpaper I think I would order this right now. I could see it as an accent wall or for a craft- or laundry-room. It could even be striking cut into large pieces and framed as art. The post where I originally found this suggested it for a small powder room. It comes in other colours too. Yay for creativity and whimsy!

[Edited to update link info. Follow me on my official site: AspasiaSBissas.com]