Out of the Blue

So the rain finally stopped for a couple of days and I decided to work in the yard. Lately, it's hard for me to drag myself away from knitting/spinning/rolling little balls of yarn to trade and go outside, but it's also hard for me to drive into my driveway and see a garden filled with dead ornamental grass that should have been cut down weeks ago. I took care of that, then moved on to start to tidy up the long garden that runs beside the driveway. This will take longer, but I contented myself today with cutting more dead grass and stalks from last summer.

Here's something I saw while I was out there. Pretty, huh?




The tulip and the rhody blossom I photographed last week are opening nicely in the slightly warmer weather we have today.

While I was out there chopping away, a man came down the driveway with a big box. This was a BIG box. Here it is in relation to Buddy. Yes, Buddy did wonder why I was trying to make him sit or stay next to a big cardboard box that didn't smell interesting to him. The neighbors probably did, too.



Anyway, I had no idea what could be in the box. I hadn't ordered anything that large - but it was indeed addressed to me. When I saw the return address, I knew what it was. I also quickly finished my yardwork and hauled that big box into the house.




Some history: About two years ago, my husband told me that some people he had met at an out-of-town conference were in town and would I be willing to fix brunch for them at our house. Now I am a true introvert and, while I do enjoy entertaining, don't normally jump at the chance to get up early (not a morning person) and fix food for strangers. DH, who never met someone who wasn't a potential friend, talked me into it.

So I fixed the meal and waited for them to arrive, deciding of course to be a gracious hostess, but not really looking forward to the event. Well, they arrived...they were nice...the wife was a knitter...no more information is necessary. We hit it off immediately and even had time to make a quick trip to my LYS before they had to leave for the airport. We were both obsessed with dishcloths at that time, and got to sit and knit for awhile together. A totally fun morning!

Since then, we hadn't really kept in touch besides a couple of emails at the beginning. Recently, DH was in contact with her husband and mentioned that she might be interested in my blog. Well, she read it and then emailed me to tell me that she had enjoyed finding it and catching up with what I had been doing. Also, she wanted to tell me that she had given up knitting in favor of quilting (imagine that!) and....here's the good part....she was planning on packing up all of her yarn and sending it to me. Now you know the reason for all of this history. The box I got today was full of yarn!





It was so much fun to open it and look at everything. There's a huge pile of wool and wool blends; some I've tried and love, like Cascade 220 and some I haven't tried, like Pastaza, Lopi, Silky Tweed, and even some Noro Silk Garden. I can see a few sweaters, hats, mittens, and scarves and also lots of charity knitting with the partial skeins.


There's also an assortment of acrylic (good also for charity knitting and baby items) and novelty yarns. A couple of patterns and a pattern book, Nicky Epstein's Fabulous Felted Bags, rounded out this wonderful gift.

Whew! Looking at all this yarn can really wear a person (or dog) out.



I can't thank you enough, Carolyn, for your kindness and trouble in packing all this up and sending it to me. It really made my day and I appreciate it so much.

This sudden yarn windfall coming right before my trip to visit The Loopy Ewe might be fortuitous. Now perhaps I won't need as much of a yarn fix? Oh wait, no sock yarn in the big box!

P.S. After blogging for almost two years, I just realized how to upload more than one photo at a time. What a day!