Llama

Remember that little post about the difference (or lack thereof) between alpacas & llamas?   This is the second part of the moment that was in preparation for.  The first one was here.

 

Also.  A joke: What do you call a very fast llama?  A llamagini!

 

Llamas are double-coated animals (much like my beloved pug, Layla), which means they have coarser guard hairs at the surface of their coats and a soft and silky undercoat.  The guard hairs are removed from the fiber and only the undercoat is used to make yarn. 

 

Cool Llama Facts:

• The llama could be considered a relative of camels, alpacas, vicunas, and guanacos.  Apparently, these little guys get around.
• They are natives of South America, and were brought to North America as zoo novelties.  They later became packing and companion animals.
• Llama fiber is clean, odorless, lightweight provides remarkable warmth with outstanding insulating capabilities without bulk and is lanolin-free.
• Llama fiber also shrinks very little during washing or processing and is hypoallergenic.

My Llama Yarn:

This is Mirasol Miski in Black Beauty.  It is soft and squishy and made some of the loveliest and simple mittens I have ever seen. 

Texture:  I think I've used the words "soft" and "squishy" a million times in this post.  There's a reason for that.  Holy cow!  It's amazing.  5 Yarngasms.
Durability: It started as a fiber to make blankets for herders in South America.  I think it can handle a little wear and tear.  You know, be reasonable. Don't wear them around the cheese grater or anything.  But normal winter wear should be a-ok.  3.5 Yarngasms.
Frogability: After too much fussing, the twist starts to unravel.  Try to frog it as little as possible if you want to maintain the integrity of the yarn. 1.5 Yarngasms.
Drape: This stuff is pretty springy.  There's enough drape for a slouchy hat, but not enough for any sort of open-work garment.  Llama yarn laughs in the face of gravity. 1 Yarngasm.

I've also knit with Elsebeth Lavold

My Project:

This one’s from way back when.  Around Christmas to be exact, during the mad gift knitting dash. 

I knit the Basic Cuff-Up Mittens by Patti Pierce Stone (Ravelry link).  I was looking for a simple, no-nonsense mitten pattern; mostly because I wasn't entirely sure how well the sqishable, dark yarn would be able to highlight any stitch pattern.  What I ended up with was a delightful and practical little knit. 

Brickyard Pottery

As promised, here's a little peek at one set of GORGEOUS Brickyard Pottery buttons I purchased last weekend at Shepherd's Harvest Sheep & Wool Festival.

 

This project pattern is Candy Sprinkles (Ravelry link).

 

Now, up close and personal...

 

 

Yeah.  I'll just leave you with that.  Because honestly, I can't follow those little beauties up.

 

Yarn Shout Out!

I knit with a lot of yarns.  Obviously.  I've seen my share of the good, the bad, and the sheddy.  This blog and my quest to know all I can about fibers had made me a bit of a one hit wonder when it comes to brands/producers/spinners/dyers/etc.  What all this boils down to is that it takes a pretty spectacular yarn to keep me coming back for more.  Want to know about what might be my biggest singular knitting addiction?  Here we go...

I am obsessed with The Plucky Knitter yarn.  I feel like you could go so far as to call me a devotee.  I've made over two dozen projects with her yarn and purchased just as many skeins.  I can't help myself.  The yarn is high quality, soft, lustrous, and springy as all get out.  But what really turns my crank is the color!  OH MY SWEET MERCIFUL HEAVENS, THE COLORS!  They have to be seen to be believed.

You can find The Plucky Knitter on Ravelry, Facebook, Flickr, and Etsy.  Make sure to sign up for her mailing list- the shop/store updates are sporadic (and she sells out every time) and that's the best way to be in the know. Whatever you do, just find her.  And buy yourself a skein of something wonderful.  You can thank me later.

Shepherd's Harvest Sheep & Wool Festival

Last weekend, I made my annual trek to the Washington County Fairgrounds in Lake Elmo, MN for the Shepherd's Harvest Sheep & Wool Festival with my knitting enabler, Jennifer.  As someone who doesn't make it to a ton of knitting events, this is basically the highlight of my knitting year.

While I didn't make as many purchases as I have in years past, I think I am far more excited about what I did come home with:

100% Pygora Goat yarn (undyed) from Amity Creek Pygora Goat Farm.  I can't wait to tell you all about this one.  Wow.  Just, wow.

Cultivated Silk Hankies Hand-Dyed from Goldfish Love Fibers.  I've never worked with silk hankies before, but, you know me, I'll try anything once.

100% Alpaca from Little Gidding Farm in Bachelor Button.  So soft and lovely.

I also came home with some smells-so-good-I-could-eat-it Almond Oatmeal hand lotion from All Things Herbal and some adorable ceramic buttons from Brickyard Pottery (I'll have to get some photos for you guys- they must be seen to be believed).

A trip to Shepherd's Harvest is never complete without some fried food for breakfast (GIANT egg roll) and a lamb burger.  YUM!  I usually come home with pounds and pounds of fudge from LARK Toys.  Unfortunately, this year I forgot to swing by until we were already on the road home.  It made my heart and stomach very, very sad.  Pretty much the tragedy of Shepherd's Harvest 2013.

Plus!  Animal barn!

I almost came home with this bunny.  This little Lionhead is 6 weeks old and snuggly as can be.  It took all my willpower to walk away.

What a great Mother's Day!  I topped it off with margaritas and a showing of The Great Gatsby.  FTW!

Milk

This next yarn is pretty much made of magic.  And science.  So, it’s doubly cool.  Milk yarn is made by first taking dehydrating milk.  Then, the dehydrated milk is skimmed and the milk proteins are extracted.  These proteins are mixed with chemicals to make a solid that is extruded and spun into yarn.  Sounds totally easy and like something you could do in your kitchen, right?  Maybe not…

It’s a crazy complex process.  If you want more information about how exactly it all goes from milk to mittens, here are some stellar articles I found:

• Wear milk if you can't drink milk
• Milk yarn?  How does that work? (Part 1)
• Milk yarn?  How does that work? (Part 2)
• What is milk fiber?

Cool Milk Facts:

• It takes about 100 pounds of skim milk to make 3 pounds of milk fiber.
• The amino acids present in the fiber make it antibacterial and antifungal.
• Easy to dye: good color fastness, can dye under normal temperature.
• It absorbs moisture very well.

My Milk Yarn:

This was one of those random internet finds (in the days before milk yarn was widely available).  I was drawn to it because of the fiber, but couldn't resist the purchase because of the color.  This is Kollage Yarns Creamy in Curacao Blue. 

Texture: It lives in this weird corn/cashmere/cotton world.  It's delightful.  Soft and shiny.  It feels great in your fingers.  4.5 Yarngasms.

Durability:  I've worn my garment a TON and it holds up like a dream.  4 Yarngasms.

Frogability: I frogged it a time or two, but I would be hesitant of any more than that.  After a couple rounds of being knit and unknit, the twist was opening up and it felt like I was flirting with irreparably damaging the yarn.  2.5 Yarngasms.

Drape: It's so light, one might think that getting a milk garment to drape would be a lesson in futility (*cough* corn yarn *cough*), but that's not the case at all.  This yarn drapes in all the right ways; it opens up stitch patterns, but isn't heavy..  5 Yarngasms.

My Project:

I knit Urban by Veera Välimäki (Ravelry Link).  I was looking for a project that was light and summery since this yarn is perfect for a summer garment.  This pattern is fab on its own, but in the milk, fuhgeddaboudit.  I would make a million of these and wear them all the time.

This was such a fun yarn to work (not to mention the amazeballs colors that milk yarn comes in) with and it came with the added bonus of a shirt that I wear a lot, I mean A LOT, in the summer.  Try it.  I hope you like it as much as I do.

The Final Countdown!

The Knitting Olympics are finally over.  Whew!  At final count, I knit 11 hats in 16 days.  Not too shabby.  The modified NFL beanies got me in a stash busting mood, so the last three are all plain ol' striped stockinette hats with a ribbed brim. 

#9:

#10:

#11:

These were all made with lots of odds and ends from my stash, so it's not worth it to mention yarns because it would be a laundry list of random yarn brands.  When putting my colors together, I started with a variegated yarn and then chose other ends that matched that yarn to help create a unified color palette.  I tried not to pick more than 5 colors because I carried them up instead of cutting the yarn at the end of every 2 row stripe.  Because I'm lazy and let's face it, we ALL hate weaving in ends. 

Now, to relax my poor joints for a day or two.  Next week, I'm talking about llama!  Stay tuned!

So many hats it hurts

It's official.  I've become obsessed with stash-busting hats.  I finished two more modified NFL Breast Cancer Awareness Beanie by Hermione J. Schwartz.  #6 in Cascade 220 (White & Tutu) and SameKnitDifferentDye's Gaia Organic Worsted in Thankful:

And #7 in Knit Picks Swish DK (Marble Heather), Wool of the Andes (Avocado) and SeeJayneKnitYarns Handpainted Superwash Merino Worsted in Blue Agate Beauty:

Hat #8 barely counts, but I'll take it.  It's a simple stockinette baby hat with garter stitch brim knit with My Friend London London's Handspun in Gracie.  A special shout-out to anatomyofaskirt for my model; he is by far my favorite knitting tool carrier.  So cute!

#9 in on the needles.  I should have it completed by tomorrow.  I can't believe this hatsanity will be over in a few days!