Cool Camel Facts:
- A camel can produce up to 5 pounds of hair a year
- Camel hair is collected from the two-humped Bactrian camel; Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, China, and Australia are the largest suppliers of camel hair worldwide
- While camel hair is usually left undyed, it can take dye as well as many other animal fibers
- Camel hair can insulate in cold conditions and keep cool in warm weather
I was sweating myself silly wandering around Uptown one fine June afternoon and
stumbled across the Uptown Farmers’ Market.
It was there I found the booth of Whisker Knits. She had only a few skeins out, but they were
all of your semi-exotic fiber variety. I
was telling Megan (Ms. Whisker Knits herself) about my affinity for strange fibers when she confided that
she had some milk ready to spin up. I
was in love! The Whisker Knits camel was
chunky and soft with great texture – I couldn’t resist.
Texture: It was soft, yet hearty and full of tactile
interest. 4 Yarngasms.
Durability: My
knit wasn’t too open and yet not too tight, but it seems to stand up to general
wear and tear pretty well. 3 Yarngasms.
Frogability: The pattern was simple enough that I
didn’t have to frog it, but I did manage a couple of cast ons before my tail
was just right and it held up nicely. 3.5 Yarngasms.
Drape: Because camel hair provides a lot of warmth
without a lot of weight, there is very little body to this type of yarn. 1.5 Yarngasms.
My Project:
Knowing that I had very little yardage (138
yards to be exact), I knew I needed to make every inch count. I chose the Sparkles Cowl because I could
knit until I was out of yarn and then sew it up. This pattern is less visually interesting
without a sparkly yarn, but texture and natural color of the camel made a
simple and elegant cowl.
I had fun with my camel yarn. Although I would probably
steer clear of it for larger projects, I will definitely keep it in mind when I’m
working on smaller, luxury knits.
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