Saturday, November 26, 2005

The World's Most Expensive Sock Yarn

See this innocent ball of Opal? Yeah, it's vintage. Yeah, it's pretty. But is it worth more than $500??

Here's the story....

Last week I decided to join
Cara's Jaywalker Knit-a-Long so I shopped the stash that ate Ft. Lauderdale. I wanted something unique cause I have a special recipient in mind. And I came upon this REAL EXPENSIVE skein of Opal.

You see, about 2 years ago, I signed up to participate in the "Great Stash Redistribution Project" but I was reading more and more disappointing reviews of huge boxes of Red Heart and the like transversing the nation! And my yarn snobby soul grad student's budget said "NO WAY am I spending my yarn $$ to mail a half ton of Red Heart to Outer East Jabip, Nebraska!" So I bowed out.

Then to my delight I was contacted to join the "Snob Stash Redistribution Project" so join I did! SNOBBY.YARN. ROWAN!!! The SSRP guidelines were you could only put in "a projects worth of yarn - no snippets and left over ends, Rowan and other 'snob-worthy' yarns, and only high end acrylic blends like Rowan Calmer or All Seasons Cotton." NO RED HEART. NO LION BRAND HOMESPUN , NO POUND OF LOVE :::::shudder::::: I was so excited, I even agreed to "donate" stuff to start the box off. I donated a Philosopher's Wool Cardi Kit - $200, ten balls of pure French Angora - $200 and two hanks of Charisma New Zealand Wool - $40. Posatge to mail all this to South Dakota - $30

Now, dear reader, you know JUST where this is going don't you? (yes, there is a sucker born every day and her name is DEBI!)

Again, the snobby yarn morphed into lots of acrylic, kitchen cotton and the like. Then the box totally disappeared never to be heard from again!! (why do people sign up and act like this?? - sheesh!!)

To try and make things right, the organizer started a new box....which finally arrived about a month ago. I had earmarked some new donations which then allowed me to "double dip" since I had already donated a bunch of stuff. I put in some Bryspun DPN's, some Addi Turbo Circs, the book "Style at Large" and 4 large skeins of Shetland yarn- enough for a shawl - that totalled an additional $100 or so. What was in the box? It had improved from the dreck that it started out as but still it was small lots of many yarns I've never heard of, lots of novelty acrylics, some cottons in odd colors and a very few "name brands" like a bag of 20 odd balls of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran and some cotton/silk blends.....

And what did I take out of the box? One skein of Opal Sock yarn! ~~~

Yarn donations and mailing costs: $500 plus

Skein of Opal yarn: $15 (or $500 - $15 = $485!)

Lessons learned: Painful but priceless!

But the good part is the yarn is lovely, I think it looks great in the Jaywalker pattern and in honor of the special person I'm making them for, I'm changing the name from Jaywalkers to L.A. Walkers (hint hint) and she's definately worth the world's most expensive sock yarn!

Today I got the most amazing package! My friend La (who lives in L.A. - imagine that?) sent me all sorts of comfort type goodies for my ongoing "still living in a hovel without doors" distress....chocolates, candles,chocolates, herbal teas, chocolates, yummies for Pumpkin....oh, and did I mention chocolates? AND THE MOST AMAZING YARN!!!!


LOOK! PUMPKIN YARN!!!


She hand dyed this lovely sock yarn to match my P-Man!! How cool is that??? La, I'm overwhelmed and amazed and crushing on you, big time!! I can't wait to make some Pumpkin Yarn footies for me!! And look, it's P-Man approved too...... (please excuse my cement living room floor!)


One second after this shot, he did the "Bite, hug and kick like crazy with your back legs because you're so happy" cat dance so I know he loves it! And isn't it s great match??** Thanks La for the unique and gorgeous yarn and for being a great friend to both me and the P-Man!! (tell the furries and Mr. La thanks too!!)

I finished the Neighbor Thank You socks which are on the blocking board drying as I write and the dreaded Ocean Lace Stole has grown slightly despite days of knitting so both will be available for their close ups next week Mr. DeMille!

Enjoy the weekend and knit lots everyone!!

** in person, Pumpkin's actual color is much more orange than brown as it appears here and in person the yarn and the P-Man are a much closer match!

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

here I am...RECOMMENTING I love ur yarn...I want some!!!

Alison said...

Pumpkin yarn, how wonderful! The skein of Opal is pretty.

Anonymous said...

I think you have horrible luck when it comes to SP's, sock exchanges and the like. Next time you think you'll give it "one more chance"... run... run far... run fast!

I love the Pumpkin yarn and the P-man is as handsome as ever! He is such a cutie!

Beth said...

Next time, before you sign up for an exchange of some sort - ask your friends first. We'll make you say NO! ;) Unless we're suckered in too... but damn, that's cool yarn!

Anonymous said...

Nice pumpkin yarn. I like how it matches the kitty!

savannahchik said...

Great yarn! I love that it's dyed in pman colors. He's such a doll and he's been through a lot too -- a little yarn in his honor is certainly not out of the question!

As for the swaps -- please -- run far in the opposite direction!

Ada said...

Fabulous Pumpkin Yarn.
And for the swap... please run far if you ever see anything like that again.

Ada said...

PS: but the expensive jaywalker looks great!!

Laura said...

What a great story! As I am very new to this internet knitting community, I feel I have learned a very valuable lesson from you! So thanks! :)

That Pumpkin sock yarn is so nice. Can't wait to see the socks!

Suzanne said...

So sorry to hear that Stash Redistribution did not go so well. You are too generous! I wonder who took all the good stuff? I wonder who took their good stuff too?

Pumpkin has an evil yarn twin! I love it!

Anonymous said...

I had fun trying to match that yarn to the pictures of P-man, that came across more orange than he is on my sucky monitor.

I'm looking forward to our girls-only visit sometime early 2006! I sure hope we can pull it off. I'm sad that the timing wasn't right for meeting up with you this time.

Hugs

Anonymous said...

Wow - that really, really sucks! But at least you'll get some ROCKIN' Jaywalkers. Or L.A. Walkers. They look great! I'll post your update on Friday.

Thank you!
Cara

Hunter said...

It's not just you. I don't do swaps either due to a very bad experience.

I'd rather send someone nice something they don't expect or buy myself something that I know I want.

Pumpkin is looking very happy. Isn't it amazing how the furry ones just roll with things? Tigger is enjoying the rain we're getting today. (From the safety of his nice dry couch inside, of course.)

Aloha,
Darilyn

Sharlene said...

Beautiful pumpkin yarn! That is a sad, sad story about the stash redistribution box. I will take the warning to heart. Next time maybe you can just offer your yarn up for a straight trade on your blog. If its one-on-one and you get to pick the trade you'll probably have better results. Sorry to hear that happened to you though.

Anonymous said...

I signed up for those SRP and the SSRP, but I never ever saw either box. In the meantime I ended up destashing anything that I had that I might have put in them anyway. For awhile I would get emails (widely space emails) giving me progress updates. Another thing that should be small and among friends. I hope LA appreciates those socks!

Anonymous said...

Well, you've certainly cured me of any thoughts I might have had about participating in some of those swaps! How discouraging! But the purple sock yarn is quite purty and love the Pumpkin yarn. Will look forward to seeing what you make of it. Dorothy (Missouri Star)

Agnes said...

I have never taken part in projects like that ... not even Secret Pal ... mainly because I loathe going to the Post Office, but also because I know there are people like what you described out there ... and I know I would get pissed off.
You have a smashing freaking cool friend in la ... but you deserve the love!
Any progress on the restoration of your appartment? Hope things would go faster now.

Liz said...

I'm really digging the regia yarn, as "cheap" as it was, hehe.

Thanks again for the call last night, I was in a MUCH better mood. Oh, and my phone battery died too, hehe.

Liz said...

Yeah yeah... I meant Opal. :)

Anonymous said...

Wow, I have a skein of that Opal colorway. I had no idea how valuable it was. ;-)

Irma said...

The color of the yarn is great but the story is even greater!

Anonymous said...

What a great story! I hope the bad karma comes back to bite those that took the first box and put junk in the second one. The ideas of the swaps sound good, but it never seems to work in practice. BTW I received a beautiful pair of make up socks from Sockapal2za yesterday. my resolve to take part in another one is weakening.

Lorette said...

I think I would be afraid to knit with yarn that expensive! ;-)
So what are you making Pumpkin from that yarn? Maybe he needs a handknit sweater?

Acornbud said...

What lovely pumpkin yarn!
I always wondered about those swaps. I'm sure they must work sometimes. The socks are coming out great and a real tribute to your generosity:)

chris said...

Oh no! I feel so awful for you about what happened with the Stash Redistribution Project. It's so sad that things like that happen to good people like you. That Opal is might expensive, but the LA Walkers really look fantastic in it! And your new pumpkin yarn is GORGEOUS!! P-Man is such a cutie, too. :-)

Michelle said...

First off I think the opal yarn is knitting up beautifully! Second, I LOVE your kitty :-) I gave up swaps last year when I spent a good $50.00 bucks , time and thought into my swap box only to recieve FUN FUR(barf) when I stated in my info that I didn't like anything of the sort! Everything else in the box was kid crafts I ended up giving most of it to my 8 yr. old. Oh well I guess what we consider snobbery isn't the sam eto others lol

Anonymous said...

I love reading knitting/yarn blogs. But is it really necessary to viciously demean a state in our great country? It makes you look like an elitist snob.

zinku said...


I think this kind of Exclusive yarnshould be introduced to everyone.