How to Buy a Thermometer

Lydia Van Gelder was my wool-spinning and natural dyeing teacher in the early 1970s. We celebrated her 90th birthday with her in 2001. I learned so much from Lydia – how to spin and weave and dye yarn and even how to buy a thermometer.

In Lydia’s class on natural dyeing we had to buy supplies -- big enamel dyepots, wooden stirring rods, and a candy thermometer to check the temperature in our pots. She told us to examine all the thermometers on the store shelves and pull out the ones that read the same temperature. Lydia said to buy one of these, not one that was reading higher or lower.

Robert went to the hardware store yesterday to buy a new outdoor thermometer for our back porch. Our old one broke when it was hit by a flying chair a few days ago during a wind storm. He did just as Lydia said and examined all the thermometers on display. The store clerk was very impressed with Robert’s technique and said he had never heard of anyone checking that way.

Thanks Lydia.