Fun In the Mail

I got this in the mail the other day. I couldn't imagine what it was but when I saw the return address or rather the name of the sender, I was delighted and couldn't wait to open it.

What a great name for a business that sells hand spun yarns and other spinning related items. Love that name. (Wish I'd thought of it!) This man sells his items on Etsy and his shop site is under the name Misterstiltskin.

Here is what I ordered, 2 of them.

Because they had to fly here all the way from Australia, I had forgotten all about them. But now that I have them, they will be great for figuring the size of my hand spun yarns. I got one for my "hobby room" (which becomes the "guest bedroom" when needed) and one for my knitting bag. I mean, you can never have too many yarn gauges!

I have some yarn that I spun fairly thickly compared to my norm. (I showed the process in this post) But because of the thickness, I wasn't sure if it is chunky or bulky or super bulky. Lucky I have this new yarn gauge. I tried to figure out the best way to use the gauge and thought it should be wrapped around the laminated card. I did that but it seemed slippery and hard to get an accurate count. I took it to our local "Open Knit" session last night and ask a very experienced knitter. She didn't know but instinctively began wrapping the yarn around her fingers and held it up to the card. VOILA! I think that is a better way to use this high tech device.

So now - I still don't know for sure. But I think what I have is Chunky. Or maybe Bulky. I have a pattern for a pair of Chunky Fingerless Mitts that I may make. I want to be able to look at all the colors and I'm not sure I have enough yarn for a pair of mittens. I may give these mittens a try and if I run out, start over with the mitts????? Fortunately, the yarn is a pleasure to work with.

On a related note, a couple of weeks ago I was given a gift by my girlfriend-in-law. (I made that up but it ought to be a term. I mean, she is the girlfriend of my son.) Anyway, I began spinning before my oldest was ever born and just last year he met the "love of his life" and she is a spinner. And raises alpacas. Which brings me back to her gift. She gave me some small bags of dyed alpaca and a larger bag of undyed alpaca.

It is glorious and it still smells like the animals. I love the smell of raw wool and the like. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it but I think I shall put the colors in one skein, being careful not to blend the colors, and maybe just do a single strand. And then maybe use that in a small Faire Isle project. Hey, I've been saving my golden doodle's tail hair - maybe that would be a good contrast color in said project. (BTW, she sells her fiber on Etsy under the shop name The Running Phoenix.)

And in an unrelated note, we dug for gold this morning. Yukon Gold, that is. And some reds, too. My husband tended a beautiful potato bed this summer, kept the weeds down so nicely with mulch but the potatoes did not get very large. Still, they will be delicious to enjoy as long as they last.