Fresh Supply for the Stash

Woohoo!  We went shopping today!  Hubby, Missyboo, and I decided to take a Sunday drive that was multipurposed.  It got us out of the house and into the sunshine, we tested out my new GPS system from Christmas (pretty cool!), and put in a re-stock for my stash.  Along the way, we found a new site to explore later in the year - Gillette Castle State Park in Connecticut. 

I had seen a posting in one of the online groups I belong to concerning a "bin sale" of yarn at the Connecticut Yarn and Wool Co. in Haddam, CT.  You would be able to pick out all your own yarns to fill the bin for $300.  That made me curious to see what kinds were available.  The "bin" was one of those really large-sized Rubbermaid type bins, and if I heard the man right, you kept the bin also!  The store carried lots and lots of wools and all-natural wool blends to choose from. In almost any variegated color you could imagine.  Mostly from a local farm a couple miles away.  All hand dyed.  Along with some cottons, mohair and a limited amount of bamboos.  But, ooooh, the colors on the bamboos!  I think I'm glad I didn't see the bamboos until after I had made my purchase! (I'm still wiping the drool just thinking about them!)

I didn't buy a "bin"ful since the choices to pick from were limited to discontinued colors, changed dye processes, and returns.  There was very little solid colors to choose from, and not enough hanks of closely matched dyes for a full garment.  I would estimate 99% of the choices were the wools.  I have to be careful on that part since Hubby has a wool allergy.  We don't know if it's to the lanolin and other oils, or to the wool itself.  But I did buy some yarn that was a blend of cotton, silk and lambs wool, and some cottons.  I told him I would make a small swatch for him of the blend to wear for awhile in the waistband of his jeans to see if that combination bothered him.  Fingers are crossed it's the lanolin and oils in "adult" wool!

But I think I did get a pretty decent deal.  I came home with 15 new hanks of cottons and wool blends in an assortment of color, yardage from 200 up to 350/hank.  If you made a minimum purchase of $79, you could fill (read stuff!) a small shopping bag to the brim from the "choice" yarns for free.  So my new stash averaged out to about $10/hank counting in my freebies.  I was happy.  I have enough to make a top for Missyboo, and a sweater for Hubby and me.  

Missyboo was in loooooove!  We had found a real honest-to-gosh castle and she was there to see it!  But it's closed for the season.  My niece is coming to stay with us for a while this summer, so we told Missyboo we'd come back when the castle was open for tours.  Everything was all smiles again.  She was quite excited to "discover" a small picnic area that included a stone fire pit and very small enclosed garden box.  Gillete Castle was home to early 20th century (boy does that seem weird to say!!!) actor William Gillette, who was best known for playing Sherlock Holmes on the stage.  It was completed in 1919, and in his will, he insisted that it not fall to "some blithering saphead who has no conception of where he is or with what surrounded."  It became a state park in 1943.  What gorgeous river views!!!!!  We'll be sure to take the camera with us in the summer!

When I first opened my Christmas present to see my hubby had gotten me a GPS system for my car, I wasn't quite sure how to take that.  Was that his "polite" way of telling me to "get lost"?  Did he figure I couldn't find my own way out of the driveway?  Or, were we supposed to get out on the road to "sightsee" more?  (what, with the price of gas these days?!?!?!?) We had never used it until today.  It was pretty cool!  It only gave us directions for one wrong turn the whole trip, and then it immediately took us around the block to get back on track.  Hubby set it up last night so it would be ready to go first thing this morning.  He has the time on the darn thing set wrong.  Now we have to take the battery out and start all over again with the set-up.  Teehee, snicker snicker, and he figured I  would be the one to get lost?!  LOL  I really don't care if the clock reads the right time or not, but I do know it will be plugged in on the way to NH for the conference in July!

All in all, it was a most excellent trip today!  Have a good night.  :-)

Comments

[Dee]

Yummy yarn!!!
Bring some to the meeting so I can oggle too! LOL