scavenger

Have you ever gotten a phone call from someone saying that their grandma/great aunt/friend/co-worker has passed on and left behind a cache of crafting supplies? And that they would like you to come by and look through it for anything you might use before they donate the rest or put it at the curb?

And you have twelve heart attacks because, whoa, free craft stuff!

But then you try not to get your hopes up because it might just be a ziplock bag of tangled up old embroidery floss and a few partial skeins of red heart acrylic (nothing wrong with that, just not necessarily a treasure).

That is what happened to me yesterday. My mom called to say her friend's m-i-l had passed away and she left a lot of stuff behind. And her friend was going to donate it all unless we wanted it. Hoo-boy! LOOK AT THIS STUFF!


This photo does not do justice to the treasures we found. Though I felt terrible pawing through the knitting/embroidery supplies of a deceased person, my mom's friend just kept shoving things into my hands. We left behind more than we took - this elderly lady had been very, very big into angels and beading (her work was absolutely exquisite), and I'm not too interested in that style of stitching just now - and we still left with the backseat of the car filled with stuff. This photo is just my haul...Mom has her own big bag.

There are knitting and sewing books, needles in many sizes that I have been wanting to pick up, some lovely yarns including Galway wool and some Plymouth baby stuff, old Sew Beautiful magazines...and this:


This is one of two "Floss-Away" organizers, filled to the brim with brand new skeins of DMC floss, each in its own bag, numbered and organized.


This woman was on the ball. I can't imagine I'll ever have to buy floss again. For the record, I didn't dare ask to take these. My mom's friend said, "you'll take the floss, Kate!" and carried them to the car. How could I argue with that?

I did not take the gazillion pieces of aida cloth and linen she had, because I'm more interested in things like embroidering Daughter's clothes right now, which I told her. And then I mentioned I wanted to learn smocking. Her head snapped up and she said, "Oh! I have two pleaters upstairs! I made my daughter's first communion dress. Well, when I'm ready to go through that stuff, I'll call you."

And my head exploded.

Do you all know how much a good pleater costs? More than I have to spare, I can tell you that. And this woman could actually teach me how to use it!

One of my favorite finds was this yarn:


It is space dyed merino/cashmere blend in the most beautiful berry colors (by Punta Del Este). A scarf has been started but the needle was pulled - the pattern is kind of not so great, and maybe she figured that out and quit. I'll be ripping this and using it for something else...maybe a lacy scarf? Who knows, I might just fondle it for a long time till inspiration strikes.

Well, I would love to go roll around in all this bounty, and play with needles and threads and yarns, but the groceries will not put themselves away. Speaking of groceries, we are fortunate to have the most wonderful grocery store in the universe here in WNY, but the last two weeks when I have made my shopping trip, their air conditioning has been not so much working. Do you know how gross it is to get to the checkout with actual sweat running down from your armpits? Not fun, people. Not fun at all. And it is over 90 degrees outside, so you can imagine the situation, no? Ugh.