Eleventh day yarn along

On the eleventh day I'll crochet, and read, with Ginny and friends.

Yesterday I was browsing through the Kindle library for something on organizing. Not that I need to read how to organize, because I do just fine on my own, but I needed some inspiration. As soon as I saw the title of this book (The American Frugal Housewife, free here), I knew it would be good, and it was free. Free inspiration! The first paragraph of the introduction is:

"The true economy of housekeeping is simply the art of gathering up all the fragments, so that nothing be lost. I mean fragments of time, as well as materials. Nothing should be thrown away so long as it is possible to make use of it, however trifling that use may be; and whatever be the size of the family, every member should be employed either in earning or saving money."

I love that mentality. Of course, the author of the book, written in 1832, goes on to say that knitting socks is much less expensive than buying, which is obviously not true, obvious to anyone who has bought yarn or socks today. But, I love the idea of using every little thing, and every bit of time. I have always said my time is free.

I'm sure there are many parts of the book that are outdated, but I'm just as sure that much of the book will be inspirational to me. I think there is much to be said for teaching children how to be frugal. American children today think nothing of breaking and dirtying things, and wearing out their clothes. There's always more, right? I think it's good to teach them why we should take care of what we have.

Ironically, just last week I started a scarf using scraps of yarn left from other projects. I didn't have enough black to make the scarf, so I pulled it apart and started over, making a blanket for my Joshua's bed. I ordered some more black, but will also use up all my colored scraps on the rows in between. Cotton and wool, it's all good and will be warm when it's done. It's all single chain, every other row will be black.

I'm waiting on my knit picks shipment of yarn, so I'll just work on my scraps in the meantime. And think about frugality.

Join Ginny for some more knitting and reading.