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 :)