Thursday 16 October 2008

Very fine yarn

There is some seriously fine local yarn at the store right now. It comes from a local to Edmonton alpaca grower whose fleece just happened to take top prizes at the Olds Fibre Festival.

It comes in natural colours, in a mixture of weights, lace to something close to a worsted weight yarn, and a little of everything in between. The display skein of this weight appears to be a worsted weight, but the softness and lightness of this fibre pronounce that it cannot be. It seems to work up to a DK or '3' weight yarn.

The fibre I choose is an 80/20 Alpaca/silk 2 ply yarn. There is a lace weight in this blend that I covet and some utterly wonderful 100 % Alpaca yarns too. I've never seen anything bloom like this. The more I handle it, the more it seems to bloom and the softer it gets and yet, it still seems to hold its yarny integrity. If there was a way to communicate to you the softness of this yarn, I would do it. It is a sigh of a yarn. It is clouds and down and that soft fur on my kitties neck. If you had enough, you could just climb inside it and hide there forever.

I don't know how sturdy a yarn it will be for the long haul but for scarves and accessories, for those little things we make that say I love you when words won't do, this is yarn surely speaks volumes.

I am working with this 80/20 alpaca and silk mix for some Christmas knitting. My plan is to knit just a bit more, and then to see what happens if one ribbed section starts crossing, winding its way to the other side and back again. I saw the idea in a knitting magazine early this year, and it has intrigued me ever since.

Once I get the first rib crossed I'm going to block it and let it rest to see if the light cabling idea is a good match for this soft yarn. I'd really hate for its splendor to be hidden by a poor stitch and pattern choice.


If you are looking for a yarn for something special, and you don't mind paying for it (its not cheap. 38 dollars for 400 m), this yarn is as wonderful as anything made in heaven.

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