the saddest yet greatest thrift store find

My last thrift store experience was probably one of the weirdest for me. Before I tell you about it I must tell you a back story on it.

Every Februrary the school that Seth taught at held an auction to raise money. I was volunteered to make something to sell at the auction last year. I had a hard time coming up with something and became frustrated when I couldn't think of anything I thought someone would want to buy. I browsed patterns online for hours. When I came across this panda pattern on the lion brand website I thought why not? It looked easy and fast.

I started working on it the day before the auction but it ended up taking much longer than I expected. Maybe I'm a super slow crocheter.... I don't know. But I finished him and I wasn't too pleased with the way he came out. He was pretty wonky. He sat funny because I must have not put his little legs on evenly. But after looking at it for awhile I thought it was kind of charming with his imperfections. Surely some kid would fall in love with him, right?

Well the night of the auction I was super excited to see how much he would go for. It seemed as though everything was going pretty high and then I took a look at the bids for my panda... there weren't any for a long time. Finally someone bid on him for a couple dollars. I was relieved he finally got a bid. I was a little bummed he only went for a couple dollars but at least he was going home with someone.

I thought that was the end of that story.

We ended up moving from that town in June & I missed the local thrift store there. Everything goes for super cheap.

This weekend we visited Seth's parents and we were going to go through our old town on the way home so we thought we should stop into our favorite thrift store! I was excited!

I browsed all my favorite aisles and then I got to the electronic aisle. I noticed something that didn't seem to belong in the electronic aisle. I spotted a cute crocheted panda. I thought "hmmm, that's cute. I used that same pattern once" but upon closer inspection I realized that he was much more familiar than that. He sat a little funny... He WAS the panda I made from that pattern.

After realizing that I became super excited about finding it again but then quickly remembered he was supposed to be loved by some kid that has already tired of him.

If you have been reading my blog for a while you may remember the post where I wondered what would happen to my creations when I was gone. Would they end up in thrift stores to be sold for cents or would they be cherished by those who recieved them? I didn't think I would find the answer so soon!

Well I couldn't leave him behind. I ended up buying him back for a dime. He now sits in the kitchen window where he makes me smile when I walk in the room.