# A bitter sweet fiber story!



## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

I was shopping at a Trader Joes and I got onto the topic of fiber with the cashier. The nice man mentioned that the lady before me was on a fiber run of the local shops..they stop at each shop and buy something, then onto the next. I am not sure why he told me, but it was funny. I then told him I spin yarn and am a fiber girl myself. However, doing that kind of tour doesn't fit my budget. He laughed but then he asked if he could tell me a little story. I told him sure... A relative of his had this happen:

A lady married a wealthy man (this man's uncle) and they had no children. One day, they found her with a yarn catalog on her lap, she had passed away. When the bank account was checked, there was no money in there or in savings. They began looking for the money and found receipts for some storage units. When they let themselves in, they found them full of yarn! She had spent tens of thousands of dollars on yarn. All of the yarn was sold to recoup some of the money for the widower who was unaware of his wife's addition to yarn.... 

My husband made a wise crack about me but truthfully, I have been downsizing yarns lately. I just need to make sure I get all yarns I don't feel I will use out the door! The danger of the stash is for those of us spinning, now that I do this with a wheel is.....hoarding our own handspun yarns!!

This story gives true meaning to the motto of the fiber forum:

"Where death by fiber is such a comfy way to go!"


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## DW (May 10, 2002)

LOVE the story.


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

When I went back home to be there for my mom's final days..it was so odd not to see those two sticks in her hands clicking away.

None of us had dicussed her yarn collection.. brother in charge just pointed them out for me to take.

And her unfinished products.. 

I have yak yarn.
And musk ox yarn
Camel yarn
Yarn from every country she visited.

She would collect from each country
Tea cup, saucer, and dessert plate.
A piece of lace
And yarn .

North to Alaska... weird but important to me.

Every year a new sweater for everyone.
That was mom..


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## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

Another story....

I am at my daughters helping out in Washington for two weeks. For those I have not updated, I have been out in Colorado with our sons as they attend college classes so I flew out here. 

I took a walk around the little town which turned into a comfortable 3 miles....and found my way to the senior center thrift store. Oh yes, I like to go there and intended to. Timing truly is everything...as they say! I took a look and found only one partial skein of wool yarn for a buck....I was thinking cool, that is nice as it was enough for a small project..pretty color too. The lady next to me was choosing yarn for washcloths and towels she makes. She was asking me to help her because she needed them to be washable. I explained what was acrylic and cotton, which was all they pretty much had in the baskets. She was going back and forth on the colors....then a lady walks up..and invites her to look through the boxes that were just donated...

BOXES...... MY MIND PICKED UP ON THAT! So I ask if I can look also and told the lady that I was interested in wool and natural fiber but the lady beside me was looking at mainly acrylic with some cotton. Then I also heard the lady explain that a local senior has just passed away and her family brought these boxes of yarn in so that the thrift store can sell it. The proceeds go back into the Senior center which is very nice. 

The story:

I am handed two plastic bags in front of their open hallway storage closet as I bring a box marked wool onto the ground to sort, one look and...I WANT IT ALL! There is silk mohair lace weight, alpaca, merino sock yarns, lots of different wool skeins and partials...along with more mohair wool blends and one big ball of Cashmere. I fill both bags....while my daughter calls me on the phone. I know they only take cash and I just had my card and 2 bucks. So I ask my daughter if she can loan it to me. She walks in, sees the bags full and hands me $60. That is more then I intended to spend but I was told I would get a "bag deal." Their thrift store shelf space is very limited so these boxes don't even fit in there. So I walk up to pay and am headed off by another gal who says I can't buy it. So I have to find the lady who said I could. Of course I don't see her anywhere. Then the lady says rather curtly, "you can't just help yourself to yarns from the knitters bag and buy them." "They are used for the homeless." I had to explain three times that it was from boxes in the closet that a family had just brought in for donation to the thrift store side...finally she gets it after I repeated it. Then I ask about the price and told her I was handed these two bags and told about a "deal." I didn't know what that meant. She asks me how much did I have in mind. So I told her and she says "no." "What is in the bags?" I show her the top of one, explain that there are partials and full skeins mixed in together. She says we don't charge for partials.  Then tells the cashier to charge me a buck a skein. The lady makes a face and says to me.."most of these are partials." I start taking out the full skeins to be honest as I was prepared to pay for it. She gets impatient with the whole thing, pushes the yarn at me and says...."put it back in." "How about we do this"...I am patiently waiting for a high dollar figure because these are very premium yarns....one is marked $15.75, another sock yarn I know sells for $25 each. She smiles suddenly and says...$10 for both bags, is this fair? I told her I had offered more and she says "no." "We do not charge for partials and a lot of these skeins are not complete." So I am just standing there dumbstruck....and showed her the 5 connected stainless knitting needle sets, one wooden set and two long aluminum sets that are in my hand...I have 8 sets there total and she charges me another $6. I walk out of there with a $17 total! I had walked into a craft store with my niece recently and I know that the connected needles there were just like what I bought but they were $17 a set! So I know this is a ridiculous deal. I really did offer them alot more to begin with just for the yarn but that is that they arrived at. I figure I can make good on that bargain by bringing in some things to donate there later.  This is the best deal on natural fiber I have ever gotten! Literally it fills up a bin! So now...I have to figure out how to get my clothes and yarn back home. LOL My daughter was so amused at my euphoria as I hand back the rest of the $60 cash, she insisted on paying for it!


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## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

A picture paints a thousand words..ok here we go...You will see the alpaca ball but there are skeins also in this. The 5 mohair silk lace weights really had me excited....for airy lace scarves! The colors are a little subdued with my phone pics. I got all of this for $10!


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## MOgal (Jul 27, 2002)

you made out like a bandit, Romy!

My husband went to Italy years ago on business. He visited a yarn store on my behalf and brought me home several skeins of wool. He kept describing all the luscious colors they offered but he didn't buy them. He was good hearted and thoughtful to buy me _anything_ but it is the honest to goodness UGLIEST yarn I've ever seen, a variegated tan, gray and white that just looks muddy when knitted up. I keep thinking I'll overdye it but wonder if the colors will still show through. I tease him about the sales lady in Italy who saw a "mark" coming in the door! She generously told him they had more of that awful stuff if I wanted to order extra later. Overpriced, ugly and international shipping on top of all of that? I don't think so. 

I do appreciate his being so thoughtful though.


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## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

MOgal said:


> you made out like a bandit, Romy!
> 
> My husband went to Italy years ago on business. He visited a yarn store on my behalf and brought me home several skeins of wool. He kept describing all the luscious colors they offered but he didn't buy them. He was good hearted and thoughtful to buy me _anything_ but it is the honest to goodness UGLIEST yarn I've ever seen, a variegated tan, gray and white that just looks muddy when knitted up. I keep thinking I'll overdye it but wonder if the colors will still show through. I tease him about the sales lady in Italy who saw a "mark" coming in the door! She generously told him they had more of that awful stuff if I wanted to order extra later. Overpriced, ugly and international shipping on top of all of that? I don't think so.
> 
> I do appreciate his being so thoughtful though.


'

My hubby is especially thoughtful and yours was too!...while in the thrift store, he tells my sons to not rush Mom, she needs to look at the yarn section...that is her special place....LOL When I don't buy anything, he looks at me disappointed..."didn't they have anything you wanted today?" I am selling off a large amount of yarn locally to destash my Acrylic....being that I am spinning Alpaca and still have Romeldale to finish, along with about 200 skeins of Icelandic and mohair...good grief! He really doesn't care..you should see my closet...LOL I organized it recently and even I was shocked! Yes that bin was a bonanza of hiqh quality yarns..I am finally at the point of being able to use only natural fiber..except for projects others want machine washable.  I am sorry about the color of wool...wouldn't it work for some great socks though? Was it soft? I like to mix my colors, that might work well for that blend! You could work with another color at the same time....


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