Thrift Store Finds

I had one of those days when it would be appropriate to speak of “Stash Enhancement Experience” as SEX. I went to the thrift store for my weekly visit. The anticipation is addicting. When my daughter was younger we played a game during the drive there. I would start by asking her,”Can't you hear the treasure calling you? It is saying, “Come and find me”. She would continue to sing - speak it during the rest of the drive. “Mom, your treasure is calling. It wants you to find it.”

It was easy to find a toy, dress up article, or book that would make her feel she had found her treasure. I always found something to treasure too. Threads, yarns, buttons, doilies, beads, fabric – I could always find something.

Sometimes, I would have a great find. Once, I picked up baggies full of Peaches and Cream cotton yarn. There was 10-12 full skeins in a bag that was marked $2.99. There were about 15 bags. I stashed all of those bags in my basket.Then I agonized, did I have enough money?, I would ask. Then I would put half of them back. I would then ask, can I afford not to get them? Finally, I loaded them all in my cart and headed to the checkout line. When I got there, the cashier told me that it was my lucky day. They had a special going – 5 bags for 5 dollars. I got out of there only paying a dollar a bag. That was a great treasure find.

There is also my favorite story. I went into a thrift store with my husband. He is always in a hurry and doesn't like to take his time looking through stuff. In their household bins, I found several bags of crochet thread. There was 6 skeins in a bag and the bag was priced at $1.99. I don't remember how many bags there were but I picked up 2 of them. At the time, I was giving embroidered pillow cases out for Christmas gifts and I could use the thread to crochet an edging. I wanted to pick up more, but my husband starting saying, “You don't need more.You have tons of that stuff. You could open a store now. Let's go – I don't want to spend all day!” I wanted them all, but I walked away with the just the two bags.

When I got home, I put the baggies in my crochet thread bin and that is where they sat as I was not quite ready to use them. One day, several months later, I decided to organize my crafts and I ran across those 2 bags. I opened the bags and found that each skein had the beginning of a project tucked inside. Imagine my surprise as I pulled out the first one and unfolded the project to see a $100 bill tucked inside. As you can imagine, I went through the rest of the skeins and each one had money in it. I ended up with $900. Later, my husband told me that he stopped back in the store to see if they still had any bags left. Of course, they did not.

Well, Friday was one of those kind of days. When I got to the household section of the store, I found bag that had a number of spools of metallic thread. I smiled and thought to myself that I found my treasure today. I looked again and there was another one. I found 10 of these bags. They were each $2.99 but I had a 20% off coupon. This meant that each bag cost $2.40. Each bag had specialty threads. This time, I took pictures.



What I started with.



This was my metallic

thread stash before today's find.



Balger Threads



I knew that I had quite a bit of new threads, so I pulled out a drawer and emptied it. I now needed a dedicated drawer. I opened each one of my bags and sorted them. As I started to organize and put away, I found these Balger threads.



Add Kreinik



  

Then I added the Kreinik spools.

   

DMC added

  

That is not all. Next I put in the DMC spools.

and more

I wasn't done yet. I found these metallics too.

still more

There is still more!

This picture includes some suede,

some satin, some corded,

and even some glow in the dark!



even more

This picture has some variegated threads and some thread that I am going to crochet with. The four spools in the middle. I think they will make very pretty flowers. There are threads that I believe are used in Candlewicking. One states on the package that it is fuzzy thread to use for beards and other fuzzy items. There are sequins, Gutermann thread and Scroll Frame Knobs.

I took one final picture of my metallic stash.



Look at my stash now!



Once I started this blog article, I found that DMC Light Effects belong here, as well. Naturally, I have each one of their bundles too.

Here are some interesting links that I found.

DMC Light Effects Color Card

DMC Light Effects Free Patterns

Needlework Tips for Light Effects

Secrets of Blending Filament

Tips for Stitching with Metallic Threads

Thread Conversion for DMC Light Effects to Kreinik #4 Braid

What is Corded Braid?