Thank you all for you comments on the color. I agree that it's a gorgeous color, a yarn that I couldn't give up on because of the color. It just has this, er, smell when wet that I'm hoping will wash away. Wheew! I washed a few strands of the it today and they got softer so happily that will make them easier to knit with. The unwashed yarn is very rough.
Since it is such a coarse feeling yarn I'm going to make felted bags from it. There's a pattern called the "French Market Bag, maybe from Knitty.com, that was on the web at one time. It will be made into at least one bag and maybe more depending on how all this goes. First the swatch has to show that the yarn will felt well.
Karen I was sort of joking about the fiber having come from a goat as I've never smelled wool from a sheep that smelled like this. However, I've only been around the 4H barns. This might be rug wool from a Navajo churro sheep.
Indeed, there are goats that produce spinnable fiber that even the 4H calls wool though many others say that a goat produces hair, not fleece. For instance, Angora goats produce Mohair, and there are Cashmere producing Goats. =0) But, fleece or hair aside, goats and sheep are from the same little evolutionary ruminant branch and share a lot of characteristics. One of the best of them, since they have all this lovely fiber on their bodies, is that they are docile and patient little animals that put up with a heck of a lot from humans.
I recall seeing that bag pattern and it looks like this yarn would be perfect for it. I am anxious to try my hand at felting and am going to sign up for a class next month at my LYS to make either little felted animals or a bag - depending on what my inner child is clammering for at the time!!
ReplyDeleteThat is truly beautiful yarn and will look great in yur chosen project. I had some alpaca once that had a peculiar smell to it, funny because I have used other alpaca yarns and they were fine.
ReplyDeleteHi Annie .. I have it printed out somewhere in my notebooks. I will send you the URL for it. Your inner child must be appeased! Mine is always there begging to get out. heehee The little animals make great toys for manchild or beast.
ReplyDeleteSharon, thank you. I hope it will felt. It seems to be soft and not a worsted. It's four plies. I'm thinking that it's made of the rough part of the coat of something besides a sheep. I can just imagine being out with my felted bag, it gets wet from a little rain and everyone is looking at me to locate the smell..... \o/ lol
Oh, am a bit embarrassed about being so ignorant about wool sources - thanks for clearing me up!
ReplyDeleteI am sure the bag will be lovely!
Not a bit of it Karen. I just have a little knowledge gained through 4H, and a little knowledge is dangerous.
ReplyDeleteI want to tell you that the Navajo have sheep that looks so much like little European mountain goats that it's not even funny. I'm sure they are all related in the distant past.
Cracking colour of yarn, that. Gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteIt might be the dye that smells? I had some absolutely vile smelling wool...kept washing it and washing it and it ended up several shades lighter, but the smell went. Try some vineger in the rinse water.
The French Market Bag is great. I made one from Lamb's Pride before I started to spin. It is a wonderful bag! Just remember to make the sides as deep as possible, because that sucker will shrink like the dickens when you felt it! LOL
ReplyDeleteVal, thanks, I will try the vinegar thing and will watch to see the water color, too. Today I made a swatch but it was too tight, so tomorrow it's bigger needles.
ReplyDeleteRissa, thanks for your tip. I really want a bag that's deep enough, so the tip is handy. Also, some of it may make it's way into those felted slippers. Or if the smell doesn't go away with Val's methods, maybe not! =o\
Joli Gee, thanks for saying so, and thanks for stopping by. I think blogs, both the reading and the writing, are really fun. Have fun with yours. See you around the ol' KR. ;o)
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