Unexpected yarn acquisition

On Friday afternoon, I got a text message from a student friend of mine saying she left a bag of yarn by my office door.  I texted back to say thank you -- I was out of the office at the time.  When I got back, I saw a big trash bag of yarn waiting for me.  I was stunned.  It was full of the "good stuff" -- Malabrigo, Madelinetosh, Wollmeise, and other unlabeled odds and ends. There were a couple of in-progress items too, including a piece of a Beatnik sweater.  Two completed shawlettes were in there,  and a partial one:

It's beautiful, right?  I wasn't sure what the pattern is, so I posted this pic on Instagram and asked my internet knitter friends for help.  Within 5 minutes I got a reply saying that it's a Vulpix by Stephen West. Eureka! 

Now, I should also say that another knitter friend was also gifted a big bag of yarn from this same student.  We're not sure exactly why our friend is doing such a huge destash but we're definitely reaching out to make sure everything is okay. 

That being said, it was hard to figure out what do to -- should we hold on to these bags of yarn for a while to be sure our friend won't change her mind?  Or should we assume that she really wanted to unload this yarn for whatever reason(s) and think good thoughts of our friend as we knit happily with it?  We had some trouble deciding the right thing to do, but ultimately made a choice.  Today at our Sunday knitting group, we spread all the yarn out and encouraged folks to choose what they wanted.  It was fun to see what we all gravitated toward, as we chose yarns with particular projects in mind.  Some of it will become a "Find Your Fade" shawl.  I've chosen some Madelinetosh Merino Light in order to knit a Vulpix -- I love that pattern but I'm not really an "orange" person. So I'm going to reknit it in a darker gray and red. The cotton yarn went to a friend who is busy knitting dishcloths and dish towels.  A new knitter friend is now the proud owner of some beautiful brightly-dyed yarns that will be pretty amazing for the colorwork techniques that she's exploring.  Most of the yarn has found new homes and whatever is left will be offered up at a future knitting group.  It feels like the right choice, and we think our friend will be happy to know that we're taking good care of her stash.

But first .... I really need to *finish* some stuff before I *start* some stuff :-) 

Until next time,

-mz