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...)