Mum's stash

Over the Christmas break Mum asked if I wanted her wool stash. Of course I said "Yes". At the time I wasn't aware that 4 grandchildren had spent there time rummaging through it over the last 20 years, and most was on a tangled mess. So after 3 nights of working through the twisted maze of  yarn, I now have a lovely collection of bits and pieces to add to my stash. There is hardly a complete ball of any one yarn, so I'm going to have some fun working out how I can best use these. There is an absolutely mix of odds and sods.

 Not only did she have odd balls, but she also had a blanket bag full of UFOs.

I have to be honest, not all of them were Mum's. I had a quite giggle to myself, when I found a UFO of mine from the late 1980's.

I'm grateful that she has given them to me, and do understand why she has lost interest. You see she had a fabric and yarn shop for 25 years, and is totally burned out when it comes to craft. I consider myself lucky to have been encouraged to develop my creative urges, but it is only in recent years that I have come back to patchwork, knitting, crochet etc after working in the business myself for a couple of years in the late 1990's. It sounds like great fun to be surrounded by all this wonderful fabric and yarn. Don't get me wrong, it was. But we were making things to promote sales of the stock, so there was always a tight deadline, and "making" was all done out side of business hours. "Making" when you are inspired is fantastic. But "making" when you have to, can be a chore.

So the next time you drop into your local independent fabric or yarn shop, admire the beautiful fabrics, feel the gorgeous yarns and take a moment to appreciate what is involved in running such a lovely and creative shop in your area. Please support them.