Donations

Last Tuesday when we got to Norris to dismantle the AVL and move it to Maggie's, there were a few bags on the table.

We never know what we'll find when we get to Norris. For years, when someone decides they don't want something fiber related or someone dies, they bring the things to us. We go through the bags and decide what we can use. We find homes for everything. Sometimes we'll have some bags of old jeans. We like those! Those are cut up and put into rugs. Sometimes it's old patterns or notions. We get alot of fabric that we can use to cut and weave into rugs. We just don't know what will be there.

This time there were a couple of gallon ziploc bags full of something. We didn't have time to look at them, so I just put them in my car to go through at home. Part of one of the bags is in the picture above. Someone had been very organized! The bags were full of those little packets of extra buttons that come on clothing. I spent several hours going through all those little packets and finding the buttons. It's interesting to think about the person who gathered all these buttons. What were they like? What were their interests? We'll never know who it was, and I really don't care. I do know that they went on at least one cruise because there was a button in there from a cruise line. Also, they liked blazers because there were several gold buttons, interesting shapes, from blazers. The only evidence of date was a receipt from 1991.
I am really impressed with this person. They were so organized. I'm not sure where all those little extra buttons are in my house. Instead of just throwing them in a drawer or throwing them away, they put them in a bag for "someday".

The other picture is the small amount of buttons that were the result of taking all the buttons out of the bags. Also kept the little bits of yarn that were with the buttons. You never know when you'll need something little like that. The majority of the buttons are ordinary but very useable. Some are gorgeous colors that will blend well with other buttons that I have at home. Many of these will end up on the handwoven garments that I make.
So, for those that call us hoarders, we're really not. We've always been the ones that recycled what we could and use what we can. I'm tickled with this collection of odds and ends. We won't be at Norris next Tuesday, but we will be the first Tuesday in January. We never know what will be waiting for us when we get there! We may go months with no donations but then we'll get some very neat things to add to our stash of supplies there.

By the way, I did recycle all those little envelopes, just like always!