By SUSAN DROMEY HEETER, Budget Vogue

Greetings, Budget Voguers, how are you? What have you been up to aside from surviving the relentless snow from Winter 2026? Snow, in my neck of the woods, hung around but far from being undriven, the piles looked like dirty ashtrays. But now, it’s time for all of that tactile precipitation to depart, to go away, time for shovels and ice scrapers to disappear.  Thank them for their service and watch them retire only to be replaced by sunblock, beach towels, colorful Adirondack chairs.

And color is the word of the day, color returns in full force soon, I’ve been sneaking ahead by having an affair with color, with texture, with creation.  I’ve returned to knitting and am obsessively creating baby hats.  Friends are now having grandchildren and the joy I have found in picking up my needles is the same some of  you have when you plan your gardens.  I’ve never enjoyed dirt on my hands, am way too impatient to weed and so, have found the creation of tactile, wearable goods something so deeply and utterly satisfying, I glory in any finished product.

One of my favorite places to knit is in Spinning Yarns of Dover. The owner, Margot, makes me laugh harder than anyone and helps when I’ve a question or two.  I invest in her most fabulous yarn as I don’t have time for acrylics and itchy, unnatural texture. Yuck. Working with scratchy knits is akin to eating low fat cheese cake. Why bother? So, I own the most glorious wool, the most spectacular cashmere, the brightest cottons, needles that simply glide.  Plastic needles? Horrors.

And to pick up my projects is glorious, so much more satisfying than scrolling through the news, reading about spectacularly unhinged men.  Stitches take time, are dropped on occasion but always make sense.  More often than not, this world does not.

And while I certainly have not stopped thrifting, I look at the crafting sections of shops and often am delighted in full skeins someone has donated.  I recently found several brown skeins of cotton and knew immediately they would make perfect tree trunks for my knitted trees. Pure joy. 

It’s time for color, Budget Voguers, and time to create and put scrolling by the wayside. It’s all too much; creation and craft soothe and is a glorious bang for a buck. Knit on or garden on or paint on but do get on, Budget Voguers.  Winter has ended, color is back.

Susan Dromey Heeter writes from Newmarket and often from the road where she celebrates thrift shops and delights in FREE signs on the side of the road.  She writes of all things frugal and fun, second hand as opposed to Amazon deliveries.  Follow Susan @BudgetVogue63 on Instagram.  Dromey Heeter ADORES reader responses, stories and questions. She can also be reached at dromeyheeter@gmail.com.