Two parcels appeared

on the doorstep yesterday. I was expecting one but not the other.
One contained some wool I had ordered for a friend. She is never home during the week so the occasional parcel gets delivered to our place. The other parcel came from the same company.
I was puzzled. I had not ordered anything from the company in question - tempting though it is.
They specialise in mill-ends. Mill-ends in this instance mean left overs on cones from commercial knitwear companies, often Italian. Their yarns do not feel like regular knitting yarn. They need washing in detergent to rid them of the coating used to allow them to flow freely through knitting machines. They appear finer than ordinary handknitting yarn and only increase in volume after a good wash has loosened the fibres. Once that coating has been removed you need to treat the yarn with the same degree of care as any other yarn.
They also have a range of yarns other than wool - which is often lovely merino. There is cashmere, cotton, linen, mohair and silk - and mixes of these.
Some time ago I bought some pure silk from them. It is soft and flows like water through your fingers. The knitting teens I know used it to make caps for someone going through chemotherapy. I mentioned this to the company and they sent me some ends they could not sell.  More caps were made.
Yesterday there was a large bag of more ends of silk. Some of the colours are bright, some of the colours are muted. They are soft and smooth to the touch. It is not the easiest yarn in the world for young knitters to handle but they will fall on it with glee.
They want to do "100 Hats for Sue" before the end of the year. So far they have about eighty-two. This will get them to one hundred easily.
The company is giving twice over here. They are giving to cancer patients in need of not just caps but comfort.  They are also giving to a small but very special group of teens, three boys and two girls, who knit in spare moments. The work of these teens is as good, indeed often better, than that of many adults. They have not let their own physical disabilities get in the way of doing something for others and, along the way, they have had help from unexpected places.
Thankyou Colourmart for your generosity.