Saving the odd ones under the pile or rubble

On a very cold and windy Saturday afternoon I found myself on my knees in a charity shop going through a pile of old knitting patterns. The pile didn't look very inspiring with all its 1980s ladies looking at me in big pompomning shoulders and fluorescent makeup but I kept rummaging and found two 1960s patterns for gloves and tea cosies. I guess sometimes you really have to look harder to find the odd ones...

Then I found this article in the new issue of the BBC Homes & Antiques magazine about the Knockando Woodmill, which lies in a Scottish valley and looks like a disused mill. But if one looks harder through the pile of rusty roofs and shaky walls, there is a working weaving mill which uses the same tools as when it started 200 years ago. The mill needs help to survive through the 21st century and beyond, and if it does survive it might start producing yarn for sale. So I guess that sometimes the little gems do lie under a pile of uninspiring 'rubble' be it paper or bricks and steel.

http://www.knockandowoolmill.org.uk/

The image of the mill is from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/7315111.stm