Treasures...

I went for a stroll through a local op shop the other day.

My ten dollar budget, all in coins, jingle jangled in my pocket as I slowly walked along the shelves anxious to discover hidden treausure.

I was specifically looking for balls of wool as often these charity stores have bags of them donated by people who simply have no use for wool anymore.  

Well, sometimes you decide to visit on just the right day, don't you?! 

 Springy green pure wool skeins at $1 a pop were hidden under mountains of ugly acrylic yarn, but I only bought two because I thought that would be enough for nice tea cosy, but when I got home I wondered whether a spare may have been wise. 

Needless to say I'll go back and retrieve a third ball today.

But the wool was not the highlight of my treasure hunting.

The hankies photographed above with the wool were!

I'm still pinching myself at securing this exquisite lace 'kerchief for a mere 50c...

The other two hankies were also 50c and very sweet as well...

A final 50c purchase was this tiny little vintage style frame which I believe is destined to display one of my embroideries...

I arrived home rather chuffed with my little bag of treasures, and still with $6 in my pocket for next time.

Budgeting is coming along well with our drastically reduced income, especially as here in the tropics it is mango season and we buy them from roadside farmers for between $8-10 a bucket.

There's about 15 - 16 mangoes in a bucket so as you can see they are a staple in our diet at the moment...

 ...especially for breakfasts...

...along with plums and peaches and nectarines which are also in peak season so very cheap to buy.

I've been making my own granola for years now, and with the fruit and a dollop of vanilla bean yoghurt it has become our every day breakfast.

I'm also using the mangoes in smoothies, juices, 2-minute ice-cream, and as the base for a salad dressing.

The funny thing is, I only discovered I liked mangoes a year ago. 

For over five decades I thought they were ghastly, and then one day last January I just 'liked' them. 

Strange, huh?

 

Last bit of news for the week is the completion of the sixth design for month 4 of the Stitchery Club...

 All information about joining is HERE.

Update on the wool situation with THIS cardigan I intend knitting for Blossom:

I have been absolutely blessed by your advice, both in comments and private emails, and have decided that it cannot be knitted up in cotton as I'd lose all that lovely soft drape, but I also cannot afford good yarn at the moment so Blossom and I have agreed that I'll put the project 'to one side' for now and review it when Mr E is once again employed.

For the time being I'll feed my need to knit by using up some scrap yarn I already have, and hunting down a nice tea-cosy pattern for my op-shop skeins.

I hope you've enjoyed our first week of A Year of Gentle Domesticity. 

I know I have, and all your encouraging comments along the way have inspired me, so *thank you* ever so much!

Till next time,

hugs