oh, I am indebted to all of you, thank you for all the info. :)
I have a brand new janome660P so not too worried that it will be fussy. I took my own scraps of all kinds and weights to the store when I tried it out, didn't change thread or needle and it sewed like a charm on all of them.
The spool in question was 1200 yards of variegated and although that might be a usual price, I had not paid that much and it was purple. Now I do love a good purple, (I must, lol, I was needing it), but thought I could do better than that. It would certainly take me a long time to use up all that. I like lots and lots of variety.
Gonna go check out some of these sites. thanks again, I knew I could count on my friends here! :D