Tuesday, December 26, 2006

I got possum!

My husband used to work in Antarctica - which sounds way more glamourous then it really is - but the best part of the job is that you deploy through Christchurch, New Zealand and on the back side of your season, you get travel time. So I met my husband in NZ one year (and we got engaged there). One of the native things to buy there is sweaters made of possum and merino - They are super soft, warm and the possum is supposed to make the merino more dense. So this year, I asked for some possum yarn. I have not been able to find it in the states. My very sweet hubby, called a friend in NZ and had him purchase and send the yarn. I am so excited to
try knitting with it! I got three 100g hanks in one colorway and one in a different colorway. Now I am just trying to figure out how much yarn I have. For an 8 ply - it is sport weight at the thickest and there is no yardage at all. I am going to wind the lone skein tonight and see if I can get a feel for it - if you have any good conversions, please let me know! It is so pretty!! and soft!!

9 comments:

metal and knit said...

Sport weight is equiv to our 4ply but 8 ply is worsted. As this yarn is lighter it feels thinner. I have asimilar thing with the alpaca yarns in their slightly thinner thickness. On adverage a 100 gram skein is approx 200 yards. I hope this helps you. but i think that touch yarns have a website you could ask them more from there.

BEESTLYproducts said...

possum?! that's nutty!!! I cant wait to see what it becomes, the colors are amazing!

Unknown said...

pretty yarn, but I have no idea how to tell how much yardage is there. Hmmm...?

pins&needles said...

possum yarn?! that sounds crazy, but i wont deny that its probably the coolest yarn I've ever heard of.

Stephieface said...

I posted this over at the PRK site:
If you can find out the meters you can go to this website and enter the info for the conversion to yardage:
http://www.metric-conversions.org/length/meters-to-yards.htm

You could also try one of those WPI (wraps per inch) tools that can help you discover the weight of mystery yarn. You can even use a regular ruler... check it out here:
http://www.icanspin.com/WPI.htm

As far as advice from commentors, m&k is from Austrailia... so trust her before us other yanks. ;D

Also, for those that don't know, a New Zealand possum is different from a US possum. The NZ possum is MUCH cuter... see here:
http://www.kcc.org.nz/pests/possum.asp

Jana said...

Belated Merry Christmas! And I love those snow photos! I want snow here:( That possum yarn looks awesome, the colors are really vibrant!

Obsidian Kitten said...

oooh! it is so pretty!

gives a whole new meaning to "playing possum"...

and who knew that NZ possums weren't the same as ours? lolol

roxtarc said...

obsidian said zactly what i was gonna (i hate when that happens) haha... but how COOL is that... possum... i like SAYING it, cant imagine knitting w/it!

sounds like your christmas was kickin! hope your new years rock... good things in 2007!! ;)

Jana said...

Oh and one more comment! I tagged you for the '6 weird things' meme on my blog. I hope that's ok!