Auction Acquisitons

auction items

I love an auction, be it silent, F2F onsite or online.  And the recent fund raiser for Sisters of the Road was no exception.

I like auctions for a purpose more than just those for buying stuff because then I can feel good about spending money.

I start out with an idea of how much I want to give and place my opening bids. Then I wait to see where I am outbid and where not.  When I am outbid I have to think about how much I want the item. Sometimes I really really do, so I bid back.  Sometimes I was rather lukewarm, so I let it go and either save to bid up on some other item or add a couple opening bids.

This time I had to let a couple ticket offers that I really liked go by. They just got too high.  But then that is another way to feel good even about losing.  The organization gets so much more because I tried a couple times to get an item, this time tickets.

But what you see here are the four things I managed to stay first on. Maybe next year I’ll get one of those tickets.

It is an annual event–maybe you can try next year.  There are plenty of items that can be shipped as well as events and services that are donated by Portland businesses.

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Scarf time

Autumn prompts me to get out unfinished scarves. First this pink one:

entrelac experiment

The bright pink yarn was left over from a Code Pink project, but seemed appropriate for a child scarf. I set it aside.  Then I found a pattern for a lace shawl (I can handle lace) that also was structured by entrelac (new to me).  I’ll post the name of the lace shawl when I get working on it.

It was clear I needed to learn, so I googled entrelac and found instructions and started. It really didn’t make sense till I had done several rows–it was just a lot of one line directions, and I had trouble keeping my place. Suddenly I saw the pattern of it all and could almost knit without directions.  Occasionally if I am attending more to talking than knitting I forget which end to attach the new knitting to and have to unknit a rectangle, but it is also an easy pattern to unknit.   All this to say if entrelac overwhelms you, keep at it.

So I had it all figured out–why waste it. Back to the scarf goal for the yarn…no reason not to make an entrelac scarf, so I did. It is actually finished now–I just forgot to take the photo with the fringe.

And the gray scarf:

gray scarf

I had heard of the knitting group at Sisters of the Road and one week headed out.  Only I left in such a hurry I forgot my knitting. So I was invited to look through donated yarns. I found this nubby lace weight yarn–unlabeled, so it is a mystery fiber, but I think it may be synthetic because it didn’t hold its blocked shape. I needed something to do while talking so opted for a stitch I’d used previously: yarn over, knit two together forever (except at the end of a row where the last stitch is knit-one).

I will certainly never purchase nubby lace yarn!  Keeping the tension loose enough for stitches to slip like they need to was a challenge.  And it is less than perfect–but I am not a perfectionist, and once worn somewhat gathered, its flaws will hide.

The scarves are in the Sisters of the Road auction; the remains of both yarns are in the knitting group stash, well were.  The pink was claimed immediately.  The gray yarn ball doesn’t look like any has been used, so there is enough for another scarf.