My name is Katelyn, a 23-year old college graduate working and playing in the fine city of San Francisco. A Connecticut native, I taught myself how to knit my senior year of high school and quickly became completely obsessed with it. To the dismay of many of my teachers, I churned out scarf after scarf during class, during lunch, and during study hall. I easily amassed a hefty collection of "unique" creations and way too many Harry Potter scarves. I dragged a big crate of yarn 800 miles with me to college in Greensboro, North Carolina and continued to "teach" myself the art of knitting with the result of a steady stream of janky beanies and glove-like things. I instituted several knit nights at the dorm and worked hard to build my army of college-educated knitters. Along the way, I picked up a hook and a copy of Debbie Stoller's Happy Hooker and got busy with my newfound obsession with crochet.
After graduating, I packed my life into two suitcases and flew across the country to find a life for myself in San Francisco. I was jobless and homeless and happy. On my first official day living in San Francisco, I woke up, Googled nearby yarn stores (obviously), and found my way to ImagiKnit. After passing by sex shop, after sex shop, after Pottery Barn, after the breathtaking Castro Theatre, after sex shop, I found ImagiKnit -- the biggest, greatest yarn store I had ever been inside of.
Two days later, I was hired.
Over a year later, I'm still working full-time teaching and selling yarn at that big, great yarn store. Every day, I surround myself with amazing fibers and colors and textures and ideas and designs.
I was always a thrifty knitter. Or at least in the mindset of a thrifty knitter. I still believe 100% that we all deserve to splurge on something beautiful every now and then. In college, my hard-earned funds would either be invested directly into the Red Heart sale section at A.C. Moore or into the billion skeins of Noro Silk Garden to make the most gorgeous Lady Eleanor stole of all time or the trillion skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca to make the world's coziest and most gigantic triangle shawl. Having become so familiar with the incredible variety of choices at a typical local yarn shop, I can't help but realize that you can use beautiful, natural yarns without spending a fortune. You can choose between the $40 yarn recommendation or the $20 yarn substitute. You can knit with high quality materials and still have money left over to eat. You can!Let me give you the tour.
Knitting Thrifty will be divided into price categories. You can search for projects under $10, $15, $20, and so on. You can also search specifically by project, or craft, or yarn. There will be posts dedicated to using up scraps. There will be posts about yarns I like. There will be posts about projects I've designed, projects I've made, projects I want to make. There will be posts about the occasional (necessary) splurge.
I look forward to knitting with you, my thrifty friends.
