Thursday, January 08, 2009

Wool, wool, and more wool

1. Wool


My friend Candy is awesome: she's a master thrifter, and, to my great fortune, she's not a knitter. She recently sent me 14 balls (!!) of Captain Bob's Aran Wool, split up into three taped-up plastic bags (i.e., as packaged at whatever garage sale/church bazaar where she found them). At first I thought the little price tag on each bag said 5.00, but then I realized each one said 50¢. (I wasn't exaggerating -- Candy's a master thrifter.) The ball band reads as follows:

CAPTAIN BOB'S genuine ARAN WOOL for fisherman knits SCOURED Made in Ireland for Eaton's 100% pure new wool Color: Bainin Dye Lot: 996 Code 172 .79 APPROX. 2 ozs. BALL

I must say, though, when I think of an Irish fisherman, I don't think of somebody named Captain Bob. Captain Bob seems better suited to selling fish sticks or suspenders than to Aran wool, no? Anyway, very exciting! All hail Candy, thrift queen!

2. Wool


Behold the giant wool ball! This cost $5.99 at my local Value Village last month. My little scale only goes up to 1 pound, so all I know for sure is that this is way more than a pound of wool. It's lightly twisted 2-ply, and I'd says it's either sport or DK weight. No idea of brand or yardage or anything. Just very happy for the yarn karma that allowed me to find this giant woolly bundle.

3. More wool


Another recent thrift score was this lovely big wool blanket, whose label reads "BALBIRNIE Pure Wool Only / Made in Scotland." It's the second cream-with-blue-stripes blanket I've thrifted in the last few months. Hmmm. Do I smell a new collection? (Uh-oh...)

22 comments:

Seanna Lea said...

You get such great finds. It makes me want to go out and look for my own thrift store finds (which I used to do for clothing ages ago). I'm not even sure where I would begin!

knithound brooklyn said...

Nice finds. I see some dyeing in your future!

Nadia said...

I agree with the dyeing comment -- let the colours go wild!

Sherry said...

What wonderful finds...especially the Aran wool...regardless of whose name is on it! I've only been quilting for a year and a half. My goal is to one day make one of those wonderful fisherman sweaters for ME!

Leslie said...

Oh, thrifted finds are the best! I'd love to find some wool blankets...

Anonymous said...

Lucky! (Imagine breathy Napolean Dynamite voice here)

Shaina said...

Great finds! Do you have any steps you take with thrifted wool to make sure it's m*th-free? I'd like to thrift more wool but I'm a little worried by it.

Unknown said...

Wow! Fantastic finds!

anna said...

oh man those are some rad thrift finds!

i stumbled upon your blog a while back and i see you live in mtl! i just moved away in may (graduated from mcgill) and oh my goodness miss it so much!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the great thrift yarn haul. You could take the Value Village wool to the grocery store (a la Lily Chin) and
weigh it in the produce section.
My friend bought a blanket like yours at a garage sale, and it had
a few moth holes. She made a carcoat/jacket out of it. It looked
fabulous.
Marlyce in Windsor, Ontario

Steph VW said...

Hee hee - Captain Bob? Perhaps it's the official yarn of Ravelry? That's hysterical.

Nice haul - love the blanket. Reminds me that I should make a pit stop at the VV again - I love collecting good wool blankets there!

Veronique said...

Ooh, whatcha going to make?!

shannon said...

total score! all around...

Anonymous said...

Great finds! I love a nice cream colored yarn. What are you making?

northernknitter said...

Don't you just love those thrift store finds ! I lucked out in Moose Jaw this summer at the Sally Ann - 15 balls of vintage "made in England for Eaton's Aran Yarn for fisherman knits" for $7 the ballband looks very similar to your Captain Bob. circa late 1960's or 70's ? Now to find the perfect pattern!

Anonymous said...

what will you knit with that lovely wool?

Anonymous said...

Ooooo! I have Blanket Envy. That close up of the label shows it's texture so well (the blanket's texture, I mean). I would love to be curling up under that on my sofa with my knitting!

Anonymous said...

Oh, my. I'm so envious. I have total wool envy.

Thinks too much said...

Gwarsh. Master thrifter. I consider that the highest of compliments. Thanks. XO.

Anonymous said...

Those are some awesome wooly finds. I'm very jealous.

Knitting Linguist said...

Wow -- that is some serious thrifty, woolly goodness!

Auspicious.Q said...

THRIFT WIN! This is definately one to blog about. ;-) I like that it is all white/undyed too.