Secret Stash

Last night I was oh-so despondent and this morning I'm oh-so very happy. Last night I thought I was almost out of wool. When I say, "almost out" I don't really mean all the wool on my multiple shelving units, or the wool in the big box that is for sharing when teaching classes, I mean I thought I was almost out of undyed wool. When I say "undyed wool" I don't mean the two raw fleeces I have yet to scour, or the two scoured fleeces I plan to drum card soon, or the undyed Corriedale rovings for felting or the Icelandic roving for the study group, I mean undyed, commercially prepared, combed top. Last night I thought I only had a half pound left. So you can understand why I was despondent!

This morning, however, as I was packing for a spinning class I noticed a lovely carry-all that had been tucked away. I figured it might be handy for lugging teaching supplies and samples. Lo and behold it was a secret stash of combed top - a stash so top secret it was unbeknownst even to myself!

Wahoo! This happened once before when I surprised myself with a 1/2 pound of lustrous alpaca roving but, that was a long, long time ago. I dashed to the scale to quantify my delight:

TwO-PoInT-SeVeN-FiVe-PoUnDs! That's over 44 oz. That's eleven 4 oz braids I can dye. (I'm really having fun dying 4 oz braids.)

Best of all, Claxton was still asleep when this discovery was made. I had just spoken with Mr. Clax last night about needing to make a very large purchase in the very near future - and, make no mistake I still do. But, Claxton needn't know about this discovery... for good reason:

Seven years ago I accidently left my purse on the roof of the van and Claxton noticed it. For seven years, whenever we go anywhere or return from anywhere or think about going or returning from anywhere Claxton says, "Do you have your purse?" Three years ago I stopped carrying a purse so he started saying, "Do you have everything you need?"

Exhibit B: Five years ago I caught a great sale on taco seasoning packets (10 for a dollar). Ever the thrifty shopper I purchased a few dollars worth. When I got home there was CLAXTON unpacking and putting away our groceries when he comes across the packets.

     "Why would you buy all of these?" He askes.

     "Because they were on sale, they're handy and they really jazz up our bean dishes." I say.

Claxton lifts the lid on my Grandmother's old ceramic cookie jar where apparently I had been storing several taco seasoning packets. Again, this was five years ago, we have long since used up all of the taco seasoning packets from that dark day of my "crazy shopping" episode and still, to this day whenever I bring home any type of seasoning packet, be it gravy, chili, fajita or the infamous taco Claxton always says, "Are you sure we don't have 500 of these tucked away somewhere?"

I rest my case and whisper to you now, the secret stash of wool has been carefully tucked in with the regular stash and we shall never speak of it again.