Dongdaemun Haul

I had to go to Dongdaemun Shopping Town today. I had a lot of stuff to get. So that I didn't get off track, I wrote down everything and checked things off as I got them. Shopping at DST can be a bit daunting. It's five or six floors of wholesalers selling everything from yarn to fabric to ribbon to beads to pretty much anything you need to do your crafting. The problem is that it is huge and not always organized the best way. Plus, wholesalers can either be very helpful or downright rude. The plus side is that it is usually very cheap. Browsing at Michael's craft stores in Canada last time I was home, I was astounded at the high prices.

Anyway, I have very distinctive "good" and "bad" shopping days at DST. Today was a really good day. Everything seemed to work out just right and most of the vendors were very helpful. It was such a good day, I took pictures of my goods (I'm pretty excited when I do that).

I got another bag of yarn for my vintage cardigan. This purchase hurt a little bit because I was sure one bag (ten 50g balls) would be enough. But I'm on the ninth ball of my first bag and still have to finish a whole sleeve, two collar panels, and do all the sewing up. I brought an extra ball with me to see if I would be lucky enough to get the same dye lot. I was amazed when the guy went away and came back five minutes later with a bag of yarn of the same dye lot! I thought for sure I wouldn't be that lucky because I bought the yarn some time ago. Score.Next up was purse handles and fabric to line my crochet squares bag. I brought the bag with me so that I could hold it up to potential candidates. A woman in the basement had some perfect handles (I'm still not sure how I'm going to attach them but I'll figure it out). On the top floor after a lot of looking I found the most amazing fabric to line my bag. Of course, it was some special designer quilting fabric and a little pricey, but I only needed 1/2 yard, so it wasn't too bad. Here is a sneak peak. I guess I'll be doing hand sewing for this as I don't have a sewing machine.Next on the list was some aran or chunky weight yarn to attempt my little experiment. I'll call it project Etsy. Well, I found the yarn I was looking for. It's very nice...not a cheap yarn. There are a lot of chunky acrylic yarns in Dongdaemun, but they are not suitable for knitting anything nice, especially baby things. Most of the baby yarns are very fine. But this stuff seems to be very good quality and although it doesn't come in a wide range of colours, the colours they have are really nice. To top it off, the vendor was very nice and did the unthinkable -- she let me mix and match colours. Usually, the wholesalers make you buy a whole bag of one colour, which can get pricey if you need a lot of colours. Anyway, I'm happy with this yarn even though it is a little expensive.As I was shopping for this stuff in the basement, I had one eye on the lookout for lace weight yarn. The last stuff I bought (lilac coloured stuff you may have seen in a previous post) was okay, but it turns out it is cobweb weight -- not lace weight. I'm not too upset about it because it was 6000 won. I'm going to wind multiple balls and knit it doubled and make the best of it. Anyway, I saw a guy selling cones of yarn way back in the basement and he was willing to listen to my broken Korean. Finally, I wrote down what I was looking for (2/28 count wool) and he actually had it. He even had me sit down and did the burn test for me, I guess to prove that it was wool and not acrylic. So, I added a gigantic cone of wool to my bags. Here is the label, too.Oh yes, I also had to find some elastic thread to do some shirring on a dress I'm knitting for Grace. I cast on for this dress last night because I suddenly realized that Grace has absolutely nothing handmade to wear this summer. Plus, I may be getting photos done and it would be really cute if she had a knitted dress to wear. It turns out, the elastic thread was not hard to find at all and it cost 2000 won for a whole spool. Here is the dress in progress with the thread.Up on the top floor is where you find all the accessories and bits and bobs to embellish your crafts. There are beads, ribbon, crystals, lace, quilting stuff, buttons, and pretty much anything. Keeping in mind project Etsy, I picked up some stuff for embellishing.I had loaded bags by the time I left, but it's all stuff that I am going to use. I made sure to collect name cards from most of the vendors, so if anyone wants shop numbers, just let me know.