Three bags full

The "got done" list has had some pretty major things on it this month. Foremost among them: "Moved from Texas back to southern California." For the most part, that's a hallelujah-level accomplishment, but I do miss my Austin knitters terribly. Every day, in fact. Even more than my colleagues at school, and  collectively and in their way, at least as much as my husband, my knitters have been my steady source of moral support and entertainment and friendship and inspiration for the last five years. I'm rather lost without them right now...I know that'll get better with time as I establish some new routines and networks here, but in the meantime Saturday mornings will find me feeling wistful and bereft.

Despite that, I know I'm in the right place, because I received an unmistakeable sign shortly after we arrived at our new home. I essayed a casual stroll to the end of the street one late afternoon with an eye to cadging some of the bountiful crop of apricots on a neighbor's tree, which didn't pan out, sadly; I'll have to steal my fruit from someone else if I'm going to learn to make jam this summer. Three doors down from us, though, I found some curbside treasure. Three big green tin buckets overflowing with plastic bags of vintage angora and camel-blend yarn--can you believe it? There was a For Sale sign out front, and a pile of other tempting things like tacky old paintings in cheap frames, so I strongly suspect this was someone's attic stash, untouched for decades. It's all DK weight and in immaculate condition--the bags are rather dusty but the yarn inside is perfect and it's evident this wasn't a smoking household. I dashed home for some grocery bags and nabbed the lot.

The labels are intriguing, too--does anyone out there know anything about a Brix-Schulenberg yarn mill in North Hollywood, circa sometime long ago? Google's been no help, and LA phone and business directories from the late 1930s don't have any businesses by that name. I may go downtown and check the microfiched directories from later decades at the LAPL when I have a free afternoon. This yarn seems like it must have a backstory, doesn't it? It certainly has a cute angora bunny on the label, and it's just as soft as can be...and I have maybe three sweaters' worth of the stuff now. So much for my pre-move de-stashing efforts!