The Grail

I have a weakness. Ok, so I have "another" weakness. Besides yarn. I have a weakness for estate sales. I don't know what it is about going through other people's discarded stuff. Now that I put it that way, it does seem rather...icky. But I do it anyway because it's fun.

I'm always on the lookout for a bargain and last weekend there were a few sales that caught my eye. For a few bucks and a little bit of time spent digging, I walked away from the first one with a huge enamel tray for dying fiber, a couple thousand yards of slubby lace weight cotton linen blend yarn and some purple aluminum knitting needles. I do love the old aluminum needles...and PURPLE.

I had very little time for the second sale, but they specifically listed yarn in the advertisement. Would anything be left by the time I got there? Would it be green variegated acrylic? Like I said, I didn't have much time so when I spotted three boxes and a basket piled up in a corner, I pulled them out, stacked them up and asked, "how much?" I did do a little poking about before asking what she wanted for the lot and had a hunch that I wouldn't be disappointed. Was that Koigu? Did I see a Rowan label? Addi turbos? Seriously? $30. For all of it.

Now, mind you, a lot of the yarn was a tangled mess. There were about 6 UFOs still on the needles, 4 socks in progress and several other bits of abandoned swatches that had been ripped off the needles and tossed in a heap. (Remind me to tidy up my stash and swatches.) Even though some of the yarn was tangled beyond comprehension, it was surprisingly clean. No funky smells. No chewed up pieces. Clean. I set the tangles aside and concentrated on the intact skeins with labels.

Berroco, Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Lorna's Laces, Blue Sky Alpaca. Each time I pulled a handful of yarn out of the box it was a new treat. Then I dug a bit deeper and my hand touched the Holy Grail. Cashmere. Oh. My. God. Cashmere. So much for pulling skeins out one at a time. I dumped the box on the floor and out rolled two more hanks of the same creamy lace weight 100% cashmere. 1200 yards total. I had to take a shower.