A Frugal But Quality Gift

 

My grandnephew Bug turned 11 in the summer of 2024, and of course a sweater must be knitted for the occasion. 

 

 

 At least fifteen years ago, a woman who worked at the company where I then worked gave me three bags of Bouquet Sock & Sweater fingering yarn in burgundy, blue, and gray, saying she would never use it. In the years since, I had made two boys' sweaters and three pairs of socks from that yarn. When I happened to catch sight of it in my box of fingering yarn late in 2023, I realized the colours of that nice quality yarn were just right for Curtis, and decided to browse Ravelry for a pattern that would use up the last of it. I soon zeroed in on the handsome pattern depicted above, which is 50-06 Fana genser, by Sandnes Design. 

The finished sweater. I didn't have the right quantities of the three colours to make the sweater as it was designed, so I had to tweak the colour scheme a little, but I was quite satisfied with the result. I think I like it even better than the sample photo. But I did not use up all of that sock yarn as I hoped. I used 104 grams of the blue, 61 grams of the burgundy, and 50 grams of the gray yarn, for a net stash decrease of 215 grams. After making three boys' sweaters and three pairs of socks out of that yarn, I still have 180 grams of the blue, 136 grams of the burgundy, and 105 grams of the gray left. Oh well, it will keep, and in fact I am currently working on a project for which I am using some of the gray yarn.  

Along with the sweater knitted out of gifted yarn, Bug also received the mechanical dinosaur kit (purchased from Dollarama), and the packet of Harry Potter buttons (purchased at Value Village) you see in the photo above. (As I wrote last year when Bug got a thrift shop Harry Potter notebook as part of his birthday present, I won't buy new Harry Potter merchandise because J.K. Rowling is a transphobe, but I think buying it at thrift shops is fine.) So this was a frugal but quality gift.