A New Friend, A New Mend, & A Wooden Mystery

Sales were a bust this morning. February doldrums, I suspect, plus it did actually snow a bit. But lordy, the last couple of weeks have been so full of fabulous finds I can’t even care. In all the excitement over what we are calling the Kathryn Sale I haven’t even shown everything I did bring home.

Do you ever find something that’s quite absurd for you to buy, and yet you are absolutely smitten by it? We were at one of those sales that purport to be an estate sale and yet consist mostly of baby items, and KK handed me a colorful wooden object. “This is cute,” she said, and in two seconds I was a goner.

Evidently this is a ‘clutching toy’ - aptly named, because once I picked it up I couldn't let go. Made for babies to grab and pull and (knowing babies) chew on and throw. I simply fell for his adorable face,

and the fact that his hat looks like an acorn.

He sits by my keyboard and smiles at me all day. Best working companion I've ever had.

And he was but fifty cents—which puts a smile on my face very similar to his!

Speaking of the Kathryn sale, I didn’t mention the 25¢ pair of cashmere gloves before because almost the minute I brought them in the house I dropped one, which Zoë noticed and immediately chewed off the end of one finger. Bad dog!

But I can knit, and I appreciate a good mend. Which led me recently to look up Kintsugi (or Kintsukuroi), the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold. I spent a happy morning on Pinterest looking at examples.

A chewed-off glove finger seemed like the perfect opportunity to hunt out the gold yarn in my stash as well as the perfect wool

(fingering yarn, tee hee, thanks to my Vermont niece Kim who included this in her Christmas package to us). And voila, a Kintsugi-style mended glove.

This last item is one I need help with. It came from an estate sale around the corner from my house. I think everyone who went through the kitchen picked it up and said, “What the heck is this thing?” Judy and I had a whole horror-movie scenario going.

I went back the next day when things were half-price, and Mystery Object was still there. I couldn’t resist. 

The lady running the sale said that they had decided it’s for cutting strips of pasta, which was something I too had thought of. So maybe that’s what it is, but I haven’t even been able to find a picture of something similar. It's beautifully made, smooth to the touch, with the metal tines deftly inserted into the wood.

Does anyone know for sure? I'd love to know before I make that next batch of fettucine!