Surprise, surprise

Don't you love a good surprise? I know I do! Yesterday evening, our doorbell rang while we were prepping dinner. (And by "we" I mean Mr. Neoclassic. I was in the kitchen keeping him company.) When I opened the front door, I found a plastic bag of yarn skeins. When I looked out to the driveway, I spied a good friend wrestling another bag of skeins from the passenger seat of her car. In response to my befuddled expression, she explained:

"I emailed you but then just headed over. I didn't want you to say no. I purged my yarn stash and this is all yours to play with. Or to give away. Or to craft with. Your choice."

Oh, and when I say plastic bag, I don't mean store sized. I mean giant lawn and leaf bag sized:

Sandi explained that when she shops for her project yarns, she does so at the second hand shops where the skeins are bundled together and priced per bagged grouping. Usually, there's no rhyme or reason to the yarn groupings and she'll purchase three weird skeins to get the one really nice wool or certain color/ texture she's aiming for. Thus, the gigantic stash of skeins.

While Mr. Neoclassic continued dinner preps and we chatted with Sandi over a beer (surely that's proper payment for yarn, right?), the girls had a ball (ha ha) creating spiderwebs of yarn throughout the downstairs. They've claimed some of the more fuzzy yarns for crafting purposes. Zydeco even found a dark gray one to use on a crochet scarf he started months ago. Some of the cotton ones will become dish cloths and washcloths. Most of the fuzzy types will go into the Girl Scout art supply bin. Some will be offered to some of my local fiber loving friends, as well as a delightful retiree I see at the YMCA each week. Ms. Fran made a sweet afghan for Jazz's dolls last summer and is always happy to chat with us as we enter the Y. She crochets endlessly while waiting on the bus and sells her blankets and hats to supplement her income.

Of course, most aren't labeled with brand or fiber content.  And so the fun begins. As I sort by color, I'll be testing for content. I found some good guidelines here and here. Zydeco will be close at hand, I am sure, since flames and burning will be involved. He's got a future in pyrotechnics - we just hope he keeps it legal :)

Sandi - thanks so much for thinking of me and gifting me your stash.  I am not sure Mr. Neoclassic feels the same level of thankfulness since he'll now have the stash taking up space in the storage room. But it makes me happy and that makes him happy - right?

What surprises are you thankful for today?

Song title from Tree63