Guild Gold

Part of my recent 'inheritance' was two big, black trash bags, full of yarn, that had been in the rafters of my MIL's garage for 10? 15? years. Mom was a prolific, talented knitter during the years when my kids were little, but her failing eyesight put an end to that pastime years ago.

  

Today I went through the bags, sorting the usable yarns, tossing the scraps, and getting just a bit teary-eyed at the labeled leftovers - 'Vickie's sweater', 'Meg's clown doll', 'Matt's sweater' brought back some good memories.

  

These were considered good yarns when they were purchased back in the 80's or 90's; not so much today. Most are acrylic of one form or another - the "Virgin Orlon" tag on one skein made me giggle. I did find a little bag of brown angora and a tiny spool of gold paper-like yarn that will be joining my stash. The rest is destined for the Ways and Means table at my weaving guild.

 

More stuff destined for the Guild -

 
a bag of miscellaneous weaving tools and a box of books
  
that were gifted to the owner of my favorite yarn store by the son of a deceased weaver. They followed the usual path for donations of this sort, from Lois, to me for transport and sorting, and on to the Guild. I go through everything - which I love doing - checking the books for value (out-of-print books can be very pricey), and deciding what will be auctioned, raffled, or placed on the ways-and-means table, the Guild's equivalent of a five-and-dime.  Occasionally, I'll find something unusual or valuable, but not this time.
 
So why do I love sorting through this stuff? There's the thrill of the hunt; my compulsion to organize stuff; and first dibs on little things I like. The small wooden shuttle, in the bottom box, and the bobbin lace bobbins, in one of the cigar boxes above, will be moving in with me. With a suitable donation to  ways-and-means, of course.