Thank You - But Whodunit???

I received a package in the mail from Stephanie today. Way back when she received the box of stash in the purloined stash swap, she found a small package addressed to me in the box. Since she was shipping the box 'across the pond' she was worried that the box might be opened by customs, so she took it out and kept it until the box returned home, and then mailed it to me. I still don't know who put it in the box, but whoever you are - thank you so much! That was so sweet of you. Aren't the stitch markers beautiful?
Here is a closer look.

Return of the Purloined Stash

The purloined stash has finally returned! And just look at all this lovely stash! It traveled from Maine, to Georgia, to Florida, to Ohio, to Texas, to Montana, to Oregon, to Ireland, to the UK, and back to Maine. It traveled a total of 14,405 miles and took 6 months to complete it's journey. 45 skeins of yarn were swapped - and, oh the adventures it had to tell when it arrived home! If you would like to read about these adventures (and see what writing talent we have in this group) click on the Purloined Stash label below and it will take you to all of the previous posts. They will be in reverse order - so start from the bottom and work up.

The Travels of the Purloined Stash

Across the United States Across the sea to Ireland
Ireland to the UK

The UK back to Maine

Leaping Leprechauns arís (arís - Irish for again!)

Well, as you all know the stash did indeed arrive in London. For those curious cats who want to know how I got the stash away from HimsElf here's the low down.

I lured him with the offer of his very own Aran jumper. I helped him try it on: a few adjustments to size were required. I told him to hold still while I put the pins in place (thee hee, foolish Elf).

Here's the result - I pinned him to the fence and made away with the stash box. Those charity squares that Fia-Knit knit sure came in handy, just as well she hadn't posted them to Jane yet. But wait, I'm not totally heartless. As soon as the stash was safely at the post office I gave HimsElf his very own Aran picnic blanket so that he could soak up the sun.

And for me, well Fia-Knit gave me a plentiful supply of fishy treats...oh heaven! The stash... I believe Ripley has the full account of what happened to it in London but my money is on the Wombles!

Your feline friend, Bella.

Leaping Leprechauns indeed!

Well, the stash did arrive safely in Ireland but how it got into the house is still a mystery to my owner and I'm not purring! No way, no matter what luscious loose strands of yarn she tempts me with. There were no severed heads in the box but delicious yarn. After many days of petting the yarn, difficult decisions had to be made - take it all or just some! Why do they take so long over yarn decisions?

She eventually re-packed the box and got it ready for the post, took it out to the garden to get good light for a photo and went back inside to get the camera. That's when it happened. Hims-elf arrived and tried to steal it, but I had a steady paw on the box. Hims-elf had to bargain with me. He offered me his crock of gold in exchange - I knew she would never part with yarn no matter how much gold was on offer but it was me hims-elf was dealing with. So we haggled for a while in the sunshine and when she came out it was a done deal. What deal? As I said, I don't purr and tell. So now you'll all have to wait to see if it ever arrives at it's next destination or have I a life's supply of fish treats?!

Bella, your feline friend.

Leaping Leprechauns!

The purloined stash has arrived in Ireland! (hope there are no severed heads in the box!)

For Your Eyes Only

(The members of an unseen orchestra softly play Aaron Copeland’s “On the Trail” from Grand Canyon Suite. They could have played “Hoe-down,” but American members will recognize this as the lovely piece of music that has been appropriated by the U.S. Beef Council for their “Beef! It’s what’s for dinner,” TV campaign… so it might not provide quite the same ambience. A small dog works at his desk mulling over a really silly report. He munches on dog biscuits as he works. He doesn’t know it, but soon his person will put him on Milk Bones Lite and—sadly—this is his last night of full- flavor biscuits.)

It was a dark and stormy night … No, no, that’s not right! I was born a poor… No, no that’s not right either. Stop being a Jerk and start over:

It was a wonderful day in the neighborhood when the members of the Sylvan Loop Irregulars received word that the Purloined Stash was continuing Westward Ho! from a secret location in an undisclosed Rocky Mountain State.

Quickly, Irregular members Larry and his sister Darryl, and his other sister Darryl and—yes—his other sister Darryl hurried to their mail-box post and then settled in for a long winter’s nap.

(Orchestra switches to Brahms’ Lullaby. Can you believe it? Aren’t these irregulars lazy! Last time fashionistas are hired for a job. Just wait until She-Who-Must-Be Obeyed finds out!!)

They had not napped long, however, before they awoke to see a Jeep with the driver seated on the wrong side of the car. “Oh like, where are we?” the Irregular fashionistas cried. “Is this like, really like, a Twilight Zone moment? But like, wow, maybe yeah, that’s like a clue like,” they thought. Sadly the thought was too heavy, and they dropped it.

Whatever.

But, hark, hark we dogs did bark; the postman was coming down the road. Our alert jarred the Irregular fashionistas from their vapid stupor, and they started contemplating peek-a-boo pumps vs. skater shoes vs. Uggs for the walk back down the driveway. They donned the fastest foot attire and got ready for the hand off. Too bad they got distracted by the postman who had stopped to ring twice.

It had to be the package; the postman always rings twice when mail must be hand-delivered.

The other member of the canine unit and I rushed to get She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed who was inside refusing to buy yet another “*^%^%$#$ three-ring binder” for the Short Boss.

(Orchestra switches to that old cowboy favorite: "Git along little doggie(s).”)

“Bow wow, what big eyes that postman has,” said Canine Freckles as he got this poor dog a bone. “The better to read the addresses with,” I replied.

She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed took her package and quickly went in the house. Then she asked me and Canine Freckles to round up the Irregular fashionistas so they could go back in the closet. Late that night we heard the odd rustling of tissue paper, and then She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed headed upstairs to the old chest where she keeps the treasure.

Do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell? For several days we heard nothing about the box.

This morning, however, we heard her tell Furry Face Man that she was going to go you-know-where to mail you-know-what (wink! wink!) when she picked up the Short Boss from school.

Verrry inter-es-tink. Maybe it was a red herring. “Red herring?” asked Canine Freckles, “I thought that’s what they were eating for dinner on Friday night…” I withheld comment. (Canine Freckles’ heart is in the right place, but clearly other parts of him are not. This will be the subject of a later report.)

I last saw the Purloined Stash at approximately 14 hundred hours PST as it was being loaded into a small foreign car. Box was not there upon She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed’s return with the Short Boss.

She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed went to the computer and sent a message.

“Whew, I’m glad that’s done,” she said as she opened a soda: pop, pop, fizz, fizz, “what a relief that is.”


--Report respectfully submitted by Officer Sir Doodles of Sylvan DCF, Sylvan Loop Irregulars, Canine Unit.

(Orchestra closes with “When Irish Eyes are Smiling.”)

Ahoy! The Purloined Stash arrives in Montana!

Argggg...that was what the box was saying as it adapted to the snow. I'm letting it warm up slowly...I would hate to have to amputate due to frost bite!

The Lookout!

Ahoy, i was just mindin' my own business when I heard my lookout callin' t' me - Cap't, Cap't - thar is a boat filled with cargo headin' this way - maybe it is that Purloined Stash you told us all t' look out for, shiver me timbers!

Ahoy, sure enough it was the infamous Purloined Stash - I had my crewmen brin' it t' my cabin as fast as they could carry the loot - soon Me shall take a look t' see what wonderful treasure lie within and pro'ide an additional report on the infamous Purloined Stash you have all been a hearin' about...

Cap’t Wilderose
On the 11th day o' February, in the year o' our Lord 2007 Aye.

Purloined Stash -- the trauma of it all

"You said that I would be going someplace warm!"

"Yes, I did and you are."

"Well, I just checked the Weather Channel and Lewisville, Texas is 38 degrees. THAT is not warm! I wanted Florida or Hawaii or Fiji."

"You are a lunatic. You have a fur coat. And, it is 18 degrees here. Stupid cat."

"Marielle had a sweater. She is loved and she had a sweater."

"Do you want me to make you a sweater? Do you want it made out of wool or cashmere or angora?"

"You would seriously make me a sweater out of rabbit and expect me to wear it? Are you just perverse or something . . . I eat rabbits. Stupid human."

"You don't eat rabbits. You are too old, too fat and too lazy to catch a rabbit. You EAT Purina Cat Chow."

"I cannot go to Texas. They EAT cats."

"That's Korea, you idiot. And if you don't behave, I'll send you to Korea on vacation. Now you have to get going because the postman is going to be here to pick up the box and you have to go too."

"Catch me, catch me if you can, you can't catch me cause . . . whatever."

Stupid cat.

The box is on the its way to Texas. Without the cat. I hate it when she's right. I am so sorry but I had to entrust it to the USPS, but it is wrapped in brown paper with no indication on the exterior of the treasure that is inside.

It is, actually, almost like a treasure chest full of awesome goodies. A pleasure to behold.

Case of the Purloined Stash - OHIO

Marielle managed to deliver the package and slip away before Shadow caught sight of her. Even though Shadow has been diligent about keeping an out for Marielle and the package, she must have been dozing. Plus, we have to remember that Shadow is, after all, nine years old. Plus, there was the fact that it has been bitterly cold here.
I am sure Marielle will be regaling you with stories about her trip to the bitter north coast. Above is the current weather map for the area. The great big blue blob is Lake Erie which is, right now frozen at least past the breakwall. "Burke" refers to Burke Lakefront Airport which is, right by my office, less than 1/2 mile. I live closer to Elyria. Anyway, the temperature at 2:00 p.m. today was 8 degrees. When Marielle delivered the package yesterday, it was 2 degrees and she was especially glad that she had been overindulging in preparation for her trip North. Nevertheless, the box came flying into the mailbox, Marielle, mumbled something about "you people are all friggin nuts," and off she went. Shadow on the other hand rolled over, licked her paw and said "am I going somewhere warm?"

The yarns in the box are fabulous even Shadow was pleased with the selection, the colors, the textures. Fortunately, I squirreled the box away to the bathroom (the only place in our house where there is any privacy) and sorted through the STASH. Also, since I keep mucho of my personal stash in the bathroom shower (it also doubles as an off-season closet), it gave me the perfect opportunity to switch out some of the yarn. Shadow did, however, insist that I send along a yarn called "Shadow." Besides the fact that the yarn matches her name, she made it clear that she thought it was ridiculous that I would have a sock yarn! There is nothing more annoying than a know-it-all cat!

The Case of the Purloined Stash (part 2) ending

Marielle was eating so much this week for the final assignment that she gained weight and could not wear the special camouflage jacket that Patty bought for her to wear on the next leg of the journey. She wanted to in make sure the package will arrive safely with Puss-n-boots in Ohio. She didn't want to have to stop and grab a bite on the way. She knew that everyone was depending on her so she agreed to wear the "store" bought sweater to keep her warm. Everything was ready to go. The package was on its way up north. Marielle is making sure that Puss receives the package and will head right back. She will tell Puss that it is a bunch of knitting books so that in case Puss gets curious. She doesn't want her to get into the box and have fun with whats inside before Mary Lynn can get her chance to play with the yarn. Just so that Mary Lynn can recognize the package, Marielle has left her paw prints on the outside. If the prints are missing someone got into the package. So be very careful when checking the package out.

The Case of the Purloined Stash # 3

Usually, my cat glares at me. This is usually how I am greeted by her! She hates me but then again, it is justified as I am her evil Mother ~ I am the one who takes her to the vet and does the flee dips. Oh, and I don't allow her to play with my yarn (we actually had a huge argument the one time about how my yarn stash was totally off limits . . . she was unreasonable and I have to admit that I did tell her that her coat could be spun into a lovely yarn). She hates me, seriously!

She never ever comes to greet me. Oh, no. In fact, she usually runs . . . and how is it that she always knows when it is vet time again. On most occasions, I have to don a long-sleeve hooded sweatshirt, gloves (gauntlets work really well) and corner her. And she always knows. Even when I am not donned in my "taking to the vet" or "flee dip" gear, she avoids me, gives me a dirty look, flips her tail and saunters off.

So, you can imagine my surprise when last evening, she greeted me. She didn't run off. She was actually waiting for me on the step between the kitchen and the garage. You cannot even begin to imagine my surprise when she told me that she had received a message from Marielle. It was a coded message. She was told to keep a look out for Marielle and a purloined stash box. She said that at first she was truly annoyed as she doesn't do fetch and carries for anyone, especially me and for a dog . . . seriously, what could I have been doing or thinking. Of course, then again, she does have a certain affinity to the Blue Bird Clan . . . if you catch my drift. They have been having and on-again, off-again relationship for years. She tries to leap on them and they take off. She finds it very frustrating, especially when there is a glass pane between them!

Anyway, I digress. It appears from the message, that the purloined stash is on its way to Ohio. I am so looking forward to it. But more importantly, it is vital that Marielle gets a message to NOT tell Shadow what is in the box. If she learns that it is yarn, the purloined stash will be truly gone forever!!

The Case of the Purloined Stash (part 2)

I was sitting out on the front porch this afternoon enjoying some much needed r&r. It was a perfect cool breeze blowing and nature was in its full glory. Hubby had laid out at great lunch for all our local and visiting aviary friends here in our Dragonfly Alley. All the red finches were feasting along side the goldfinches, sparrows and an occasional woodpecker. The doves were waddling around cleaning up the after all the others. Marielle was scooping the place to make sure everyone was being accommodated when she started mumbling. After a few ar's I looked to see that we had an unexpected visit from the Blue Bird clan. They have never visited here before and I thought it was really strange. After a few chirps and ar's, Marielle was alerted that the head secret agent known as White Feathers in Georgia has been alerting all out of state aviary clans to be on the look out for anything out of the ordinary. It seems someone had been sneaking into yarn stashes and is trying to smuggle their stolen goods across country. The last known sighting indicated that it was intercepted and altered it was heading this way. So Mr. White Feather's sent the Blue Bird Clan down south into unknown regions to alert all the local aviaries. So Marielle went in to let the Chi's, Popeye and Hornytoad know what was going on and that a planned strategy must be started and who would be taking the first watch. Hornytoad took his post by grabbing the swing and pretended that he was just swinging. The Redfinch clan thanked the blue bird clan and offered them some good snacks and showed them where the showers were before they headed out to continue alerting other states.Marielle received a coded message today from secret agent covet Ripley. She is to be on alert and start casing the post office. Patty has to go to work really early in the mornings because she just opened up their new restaurant and won't be able to do an area check at the post office until late in the evenings. Marielle has all has provisions in her fanny bag. With several change of cloths if someone takes a notice of her while she checks out the post office. Marielle has alerted the postal clerk Judy to be on the look out for any strange packages, and to sneak it to her immediately! Stay tuned for further information....


The sky was dark and the temperature seemed to be dropping to a chilling rate. Something was a miss today. There seemed to be a greater amount of birds today at Dragonfly Alley. Quite unusual for a weekday. Marielle was spending the day with Judy at the post office helping her sort out the packages when there it was. “The box”. This was the one the Ripley mentioned. Out of the corner of Marielle’s eye she caught a glimpse of this cute looking tan dude. He winked at her. And just as fast as he came in, he was gone. Marielle had the package and waited till Jeff came to open the box to check the mail. She was just dozing off when she heard the key. There he was, she jumped into hands holding tightly to this huge package. She was in her little miss innocent disguise so know one would notice her. She was riding shot gun on top of the package all the way home. When they pulled up Marielle cased the joint to make sure no one was about to jump out and surprise them. Patty heard the car pull in and had the door open for a quick entrance. As Patty shut the door Marielle brought the package in to the bedroom and collapsed from exhaustion. Being a secret agent can get a girl tired quickly it was time for a nap. The package was safely in Patty’s hands. She will need her rest for next week when she will have to help sneak the package across the border to it’s next destination. Till then….

The Case of the Purloined Stash Continues

Hello everyone, just wanted to post a photo of the three doxies hard at work guarding the box in question.


On the left is Ripley, on the right is Rosie and standing on top of the box is Dottie. They have it all covered.

The Case of the Purloined Stash

Sign-ups have closed and our team of sleuths has been assembled to help Ms.Dunknit solve the Case of the Purloined Stash The case has been intercepted and arrangements have been made to smuggle it out of Maine some time tomorrow. Check the blog tomorrow to see where it is headed!

The Case of the Purloined Stash

Ms.Duknit is back with a new mystery! While browsing through her stash one day, she realized that there were some skeins of yarn missing. She is once again putting out a call of help to the Whoduknit Sleuths to help her solve this mystery. If you accept the challenge, send your application to Ms.dunknit c/o grammieknits@yahoo.com. with your name and mailing address. Please put "The Case of the Purloined Stash" in the subject line. That's it! No SPs to contact, nothing to knit, and ideally, nothing to buy. However, one day, when you least expect it, the missing stash will appear at your door (or in your mailbox). Inside will be your instructions. (Basically, it will involve swapping some of your stash (of equal or greater value) for some of what is in the package). The instructions will tell you what to do with the package next (it will involve postage - but we'll try to keep that as low as possible). Applications from sleuths who think they can help solve this mystery will be accepted until January 1st.

Ms. Duknit Returns!

Those of you who participated in the Mystery Yarn contest several months ago will remember Ms.Duknit, who found an orphaned skein of yarn in her garden and called upon our Whoduknit sleuths to help her identify it and find it a good home. Now she is back with another mystery for us to unravel in the "Case of the Purloined Stash". She has been pretty secretive about it, and all she will tell me is that she will soon be recruiting Whoduknit detectives to help her solve this mystery.
She has also promised me that it will not require a lot of time or money - something we are all in short supply of at this time of year. I will pass along the details as she reveals them to me!