Thursday, November 29, 2007

I got lucky…

I seem to have found favor with the yarn gods this week :) Yesterday, prowling around in the thrift shop with my dad (on his never-ending hunt for unstained silk ties at $1.00 or less), in the middle of a towering display of stuffed animals, I found this:

16 balls of Laines du Pingouin Angelique.  It’s a 2-ply (fingering weight?) blend of 50% wool, 40% angora and 10% nylon.  The balls are only 14 grams each and there is no note of how many yards or meters of length :)





I know Pingouin has been out of business for quite a while now and that this isn’t new yarn.  But I’d love to know a little more of its provenance than I do.  I spent part of the morning trying to chase down Pingouin yarns - and there is information out there.  But nothing on this particular yarn.  I can only make a couple of surmises.  Given the nylon content, the yarn’s production was post WWII.  However, I have never seen yarn packaged like this, in a carefully stapled, heavy cardboard box with dividers to give each little ball its own section.  I don’t imagine that kind of packaging extended much past the late 60s.

The only thing on the box label that isn’t on the ball bands is the note that this yarn was distributed by the Bernhard Ulmann Company, but looking that up only led me to Ulmann’s yarn company - Bucilla.

Do any of you know anything about this, or know where I might go to find out?

The yarn itself is beyond luxurious feeling and is in very good shape.  It’s not dirty or musty and hasn’t been a moth playground as far as I can tell.  And there’s enough here to make something really nice and really soft.  The color is my only objection - beige is so...beige?

Maybe a little red/orange in the dyebath - just to shift things into a warmer range?  How does angora dye, anyway?

And then there was this:

I had read about this yarn, but never seen it before.  This is not vintage stuff and is currently available - at least on line.  It was tucked into the same display as the Angelique and, since it was decent wool, in decent shape, I couldn’t just leave it there :) I have already started a pair of house socks for my father with this.  You may remember I made him a pair a few years ago out of Woolease.  He loves them and uses them all the time in the cold weather.  I just thought he should have an alternate pair and charcoal is so his color…

It’s very springy and fun to work with and I love the associations, both musical and literary :)

16 balls Angelique + 3 balls Peer Gynt = <$10.  Whee!!!

Chatters is definitely on for Saturday night.  Drop in if you have the chance - the Christmas decorations are up :)

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1. Wow what a lucky find! 10 bucks! Woo hoo! By the way, congrats on finishing the shawl! The edging looks good with it!

   Posted by Lisa  on  11/29  at  11:25 PM
   Location :



2. Lisa - I’m really looking forward to working with the wool angora - it’s incrediblely soft!  Now do I make something light and lacy?  Or something less open and more snuggly :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  11/30  at  12:51 AM
   Location : I won't tell if you won't :)



3. What an unbelievable find. You are one lucky woman. :-)

   Posted by Opal  on  11/30  at  04:29 AM
   Location : Honolulu, Hawaii



4. great bargain- what i wouldn’t give for a thrift store around here that’s even *heard* of yarn!!

   i’ve used the peer gynt before, and it is nice to work with and to wear- pingouin is a brand i remember vaguely from ‘way back when’-

   beige is the color that, along with much-maligned very blah grey, makes up my ever-so-colorful and always exciting wardrobe!! it (and i) may be rather bland, but we blend in well and provide a soothing background for all the lovely exotics and exciting colors we like to associate with- i think passing your lucky bargain through a swoosh of dye will add the element of color you like, and i don’t think the nylon content should be completely prohibitive-

   stay happy-

   Posted by  on  11/30  at  12:26 PM
   Location : feeling 'bargain envy'



5. Opal - It has always been true for books - I could always find what I wanted one way or another.  It’s apparently true of yarn as well - at least sometimes :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  11/30  at  04:13 PM
   Location : I won't tell if you won't :)



6. Barb - But you have a much more harmonious wardrobe than I do.  I often go about, as my mother feared I would, looking like a gypsy :)

   Well, not so much jewelry…

   I believe I’ve dyed yarn before with a nylon component and not had any trouble.  I’m a bit concerned about the angora because I’ve heard that it’s even more prone to felting than wool is.  I also know it to be a very slick fiber and so I’m wondering how and to what extent it will take up the dye.

   No way to know but to try it, I guess :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  11/30  at  04:17 PM
   Location : I won't tell if you won't :)



7. You might try http://www.wiseneedle.com for information about your yarn.

   Posted by  on  11/30  at  06:42 PM
   Location :



8. Charlotte - Thanks :) Been there, done that!

   Posted by Robbyn  on  11/30  at  07:54 PM
   Location : I won't tell if you won't :)



9. What a great deal!  I also feel that you can’t leave any decent yarn in a thrift shop.  And the dude and I have also been on the hunt for $1 ties.

   Posted by Laura  on  12/06  at  02:42 PM
   Location :



10. Laura - You know, I was thinking this morning, how much fun it is to acquire yarn in this serendipitous kind of fashion.  I’ve gotten to try things I’d never even have heard about otherwise!

    I’ll tell dad about the dude :) He’ll be pleased to know there’s a kindred spirit out there!

    Posted by Robbyn  on  12/06  at  03:24 PM
    Location : I won't tell if you won't :)

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