Blog: Pam's Pennypinching With STYLE

Pam's recounting of how her ancestrally thrifty habits have helped her in modern life in ways none of her foremothers could have imagined!


Showing 2 posts in the Craft Tips category for this blog.
EZ Furniture Finishing
Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Hubby found some nice raw pine shelving left out on the street for garbage day - which he rescued. After spraying it for bugs & leaving it out in the garage for a few days, we brought it in & I decided that being broke, I would again apply my ultra-inexpensive furniture finish - Plain baby oil!

I have done it once before on an oak cabinet I was given years ago - and the finish has stood up well.  It's not shiny, but rather a matte finish  - but it brings out the wood, which I like & it's CHEAP & NON-TOXIC!

You just have to apply until the wood won't absorb it anymore! Don't know how many coats I have put on - but I have been doing it for 2 days, and it's almost done. It's great, because I could work with it in the living room, without fear of fumes or much mess...Good for any child's room, I would suspect....You have to have plain, unfinished  wood to work with first, though...I like even cheaper wood myself rather than laminate.

The pine has darkened to a honey color - which I prefer, actually - a few nails & it will be ready to install.  Don't think you can paint over it easily - but you could always sand it down....

Cost - ZERO  - due to FREE shelving + baby oil I had on hand -

I like that sort of project!  .

P.S.   You can also use baby oil to touch up/refresh the finish on your other furniture.  Wood is from a living thing & it needs some nourishment every once in a while or it will have a tendency to crack....

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Funky Budget Knitting
Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The media is all over with images of Fall - mostly to sell back-to-school stuff - but somehow the impending change in seasons makes me go back to my knitting.

Can't say I am much of a technician - I really like just to knit straight in front of the TV - But I have produced some lovely multi-colored shawls & scarves.

The trick to it on my nonexistent craft budget is to pick up balls of yarn from thrift shops & THEN determine what I am going to make, rather than vice versa (the way I learned to knit from my mother).

I have discovered a technique, if you can call it that - of combining yarn - which comes out more like folk weaving than traditional knitting. I have discovered you can get very interesting effects by knitting with more than one yarn on large needles.  I find that I enjoy combining the colors out of my thrift shop yarn cache - and contrasting the colors and textures in blocks (or stripes) of row - and every once in a while adding some fun fur or other specialty yarn (also from what I have on hand - some of it came from the Dollar Tree last season when I stocked up.)

I had a brilliant orange yarn - almost the emergency color - and it was too much on its own - so I mixed it with beiges, and maroon, and off greens among other colors - and the end result is very nice.  I wore it to an outdoor event & got compliments on it from strangers!

I adore shawls for the weather here in S. California - where is it always cooler at night - & a shawl is an easy thing to carry with you if you are staying out until the sun goes down.

Still looking for some VERY simple squarish patterns to make kimono-like sweaters... There are lots of free ones on the net, which I have been collecting.

Almost finished with my newest project - a fuzzy pink/green/grey melange - Making it long for some reason so I can throw it over my shoulder....I can just knit for HOURS while watching the tube.  Makes on feel useful.

And rather than even spending $3/4 a ball of yarn - I usually pay $.50 to $1!!

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Author:
pamphyila
L.A., CA USA
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