Jan 25 2005
Tempted By the Fruit of Another…
Last year, sweet Anna finished up her FCEK cardi "Bleu Canard". However, she stated several times how it was a little boring at times… I have to say that the same thing is happening to me. It all started when I held the cable needle in the back, instead of the front, and of course I did not realize my mistake till it was already set. I don’t like to frog, but this looks wonky, so I am going to frog it soon…but…
Some readers may remember the lovely Alchemy that I received last fall from my Secret Pal 3, Elka… this lovely booty has been sitting in my stash since then, and I could wait no longer…
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I don’t want to give too many hints (I want to reveal it in all of its glory!), but you will soon see why I was tempted away from the FCEK cardi… this yarn is so luscious! It is as if I have tasted the Alchemy goods, and it will be hard to go back to the others.  The picture is a little darker than it looks in person, but you can see the way that the shiny Silk Purse plays so well with the Promise mohair. |
I need to say it again, thank you Elka, for spoiling me with all of this! I made a lot of headway with this over the weekend, so I will soon have a lovely FO to show you!
| Last year, my father went to Chile, and brought back some lovely yarns for me from the street markets of Santiago. One of them is a very pretty handspun wool (still has that sheepy smell!), and the other is a great tan yarn… but I can’t quite figure out what the fiber is. It does not feel like the other one… it may be a different breed of sheep, or maybe it was processed differently. |  |
So, my question for you, dear knitties, is… Is there a "litmus test" for fibers? How can I find out what fiber this is? I don’t really want to felt it to find out, because I don’t want to waste any of it. Yet, if that is the only way to find out, okay, I will do it. My initial thought was that it may be hemp. It feels a little like a rope. (I guess I could try smoking it to see what it is! *joke*) and, whatever fiber this is, I think it would make a wonder fiber for a basket, or placemats. Anyone know of some patterns for these?
It was a nice snowed-in weekend (even though it was not as much as meteorologists said) and it gave me plenty of time to catch on homework and knit. Here is a pretty snow picture of my front yard.
Kris and I played around with the new photo archiving program, Picasa, which is an amazing free tool offered through Google. We came across some great old pictures that we archived a few years ago. If you want to back up all your photos, this is the best way to do it. Free!
I came across this snow photo from about 19 years ago… this is me and my little sis, Mimi, when we lived in Wyoming. Yep, that is the one that is getting married! 
Dana posted an interesting link last week about wool and animal rights. I am a supporter of animal rights, a vegetarian, and I do not find anything wrong with shearing sheep (just to say that upfront). I found this Washington Post article this weekend very timely. It tells a little about both sides of the story: PETA vs. Australian Sheep Industry.
"Should You Worry About Wool?"
Let me know what you think…
hey there. wendy at zibibbo is good has a great pattern for a small and large basket. they’re mosaic knitting, but you could probably just ignore the colorwork and do it up on your chilean fiber (whatever it may be!). do you think someone at one of your lys might be able to identify the mystery fiber? good luck!
can’t wait to see what you’re doing with the alchemy - it looks luscious!
very cool yarn. can’t wait to hear how you work through the mystery of the fiber. i’ve heard of burning a little piece among other things, but i’m sure someone will post the details of such experiments and how to read the results. i’m always intrigued by this process and wish i could remember more to help you. i actually have a few skeins that someone gifted me and would like to know more about the fiber content. very interesting….
Hey Lolly,
I read on someone’s blog last week that wool will dissolve if you put it in bleach. I can’t remember where it was, but it was pretty cool. She put a small piece of yarn in bleach and after awhile, it was totally dissolved. I’ve googled and can’t find it. Maybe she’ll read your blog and let you know.
Lovely Alchemy!
Hiya Lolly! Wow, mystery fiber, that’s fun! Of course, I haven’t got a clue how to figure out what it is! Sorry I’m no help there.
I was reading through some of those articles about the treatment of sheep. In my opinion, it seems the sheep farmers have to keep their animals content and humanely treated. After all, those sheep are their bread and butter, they probably wouldn’t treat them badly because if they did, they wouldn’t be getting a paycheck. Isn’t it awful how everything boils down to money?!?!
I love animals and am extremely opposed to animal abuse, but these sheep are treated well, they’re not being killed! Granted I’m sure it’s uncomfortable when they’re sheared, but that’s only once a year! And I’m sure in the hot summer they’re happy to have their fleece gone!
Sorry this is so long, I just had to put my two cents in.
I used to be a vegetarian, then I returned to eating poultry and fish. I try to buy eggs and chickens from farms that use humane practices rather than factory farming. It is important to me that animals don’t suffer so that I can benefit from what they give us. I know it is hard to avoid animal products. They are used in so many different things. One way you can make a difference is to try to find good companies that consider the well-being of animals. I think they changed the way tuna was fished because of the dolphins that were killed. In Ireland I think the sheep were treated well.
The blog that Ashley was referring to is Susan’s (on of my Utah Grrls) at http://ma2ut.blogspot.com/. It’s the Jan. 21st entry.
Also, there are burn tests, but I can’t find my link to those and I’ve had bad luck with them.
Miriam
I just found your blog — fantastic and inspiring. I’m a new knitter and am totally addicted. My kitty and husband are being very understanding! I was sad to find that I can’t take part in SP4 — do you know of any other good knitting swaps that aren’t closed?
This place might help in giving you some hope about how certain farms treat their sheep: http://www.homesteadwoolandgiftfarm.com/
Thanks for all your great work! Happy knitting!
Yeah, I was going to mention the burn test, but Froggy beat me to it. And that Alchemy yarn….gorgeous. *covets*
There are sheep on my parents’ property, and while I haven’t spent too much time taking care of them myself, I do know that the sheep are always better off for being sheared. They’re much cooler and cleaner. Farmers are definitely going to treat their animals well, as their livelihoods depend upon being able to bring healthy animals to market or slaughter. Shearing always looks a bit violent, but the sheep are tough and I’ve never heard of any of our sheep being injured by the process. But if you’re still concerned, I think there are small yarn companies out there that use their own wool (versus importing it from Australia). Or you could seek out a farmer who doesn’t do anything with his fleeces, and spin your own. Australian wool is so inexpensive that we can’t even give away our fleeces, and they’re always wasted (I don’t spin yet, alas).
Also, regarding the burn test: if the yarn were synthetic, it would melt, whereas a natural fibre would burn. I think anything will dissolve in bleach if you leave it long enough. You wouldn’t need to felt a lot of the yarn to see if it’s animal hair - a typical four by four swatch would work.
Pardon the epic comment.
That yarn looks like the yarn my friend, Judy, got from Mexico…I don’t think she knows what fiber hers is, either. Thanks for posting the info on wool and animal rights. I am going to read those pages. I also like to be kind to animals when I can.
Lauren, darling! This is the first chance I’ve had in a while to read your blog…
I’m a farm girl from way back and you know how strongly I feel about irresponsible treatment of animals. That’s why my farm is full of rescued horses and those two cute rescued llamas. Shearing in and of itself is healthy and usually necessary for animals who have been bred to produce a lot of fiber. Depending on geography, some fiber animals will die from heat stroke if not sheared or clipped. Flies are on on-going problem for all farmers. We struggle with them during all of the warm months. Flies will always go for an animal’s ears, face, and legs, regardless of whether it has been sheared or not. We all have to take steps to keep fly-breeding conditions down, use fly bonnets, and/or apply fly repellent to our animals on a daily basis.
In my experience, most farmers want to take good care of their animals. But the reality is that not all of them do. And there are a lot of reasons for this - one of them being the fact that some farmers still view their animals as a commodity instead of sentient being with both physical and emotional needs. If you’re concerned, be selective about where you buy your wool (or any other farm product). Try to check into who produces it. This is admittedly difficult if you’re buying from a large corporation. That’s one of the reasons that I try to buy as much as possible from local hand spinners and other small, reputable producers. Small scale farms tend to have the time and inclination to care for the animals better than most corporate farms. That’s a generalization, but I believe it to be true. Off the soapbox…
Here’s the link to the thing about bleach and wool http://haloscan.com/tb/ma2ut/110494202622135589 . I don’t have any clue how to tell otherwise. Can’t wait to see what you do with all that lovely yarn.
OMG pretty! I may have to send Gina over to look at the overdark picture which is just my colorway :^> I am *so* supercalifragilisticexpialidocious happy you like it!
I’m jealous of your snow. The most we’ve received this year was approximately 2.5 inches. BORING!!! Not enough to keep us home; just enough to make it a pain to go out!
The colorway of your Alchemy is so pretty. It looks really soft too. Is it just sooo yummy???
I am against animal cruelty… but some of the stuff PETA puts out needs to be taken with a big grain of salt.
As for Australian shepards mulesing their sheep… yes, it doesn’t look all that pleasant and it’s kind of sad that they don’t use local when they perform the procedure, but it also prevents what could be a horrible infestation that could lead to the death of the sheep. Sheep seem to be mostly stupid animals; I doubt they even remember the procedure happening after awhile, and having had it done protects the sheep. It also sounds like scientists in Australia are trying to develop a chemical mulesing procedure, but it hasn’t been perfected yet. I’m sure when it is, as long as it’s not too costly for the shepards, it will probably go into wide-spread use.
I prefer natural products to man-made ones because I have sensitive skin and have problems wearing fabrics that don’t breathe (like polyester). But cotton is no substitute for wool… wool has some amazing properties… like it can still keep you warm even after it is drenched with water.
I am upset by PETA’s pushing of acrylics as substitutes for wool because acrylic is made from petrochemicals, which are derived from oil, and I think we already use more than our fair share of the world’s oil resources… and there is that whole thing about the war in Iraq… and the fact that rich oil countries like Saudi Arabia oppress their women.
I guess a balance just needs to be found.
I have to say “ditto” to Liz’s comment. I find myself so frustrated with the misinformation that PETA distributes. I love animals and would never want to see anyone mistreat them. Farmers love animals even more, as it is their livelihood, their survival. To treat their animals in a cruel way would certainly drive the farmers out of business. I laughed recently when I read statement on a blog by a knitter who refused to use wool because she was vegetarian. Wool is natural as opposed to acrylic. Animals are not harmed in the shearing process. Anyway, I’ll step off my soap box now!
Love the pic of you and your sister with the snowmen. Very sweet. Good luck with the wedding planning–that should be fun!
What darling girls in the snow! I remember that day. I was indoors and very pregnant with your baby sister. Just a few weeks before moving from Robinson Avenue.
Love You My Dear Lol!
I was just reading about Picasa the other day - it sounds fabulous. That Google is amazing! They just keep churning out the most useful and affordable programs.
Hope you find out about the yarn.
aww you are so cute in your picture!
I miss you lolly! thursday is good for me…just let me know! I have some alchemy…don’t make me bust it out!!!
we need fiber anonymous!
Hee hee! Love the cowboy hat on the one snowman. I have a ton of childhood pictures to scan into my computer…we (pretty regularly) back it all up onto a CD, and even put those into a safe deposit box at the bank. A little obsessive, yes…?
What beatiful yarn! I’m so jealous!
I can’t believe how much snow yall got up there! I have never lived in a snow getting area (Nashville got some when I was in college), and it is hard to imagine living in it! I won’t tell you how warm it is here!
We have no idea where we are going to be after December. We are just gonna go wherever Philip gets a job. I want to stay in the South, but I have no idea if it is going to be possible!
Have a great Wednesday!
Okay, so I was all excited to comment about how beautiful your alchemy project is coming along and how cute you and mimi are in that pic, and then, as I was reading through your comments, I saw the cutie-patooty comment from your mom, and now I’m all sidetracked. I now have a sense of where you get your uber-cuteness!
I’m glad you enjoyed your snowy weekend. If you would like some more snow, I’ll gladly send you some.
Take care, dearie!
BURN IT!!! Wool (or any animal fiber) will smell like burning hair. Cotton, hemp, ramie or other plant fibers will smell more like burning paper.
While I hope that you are not intimately familiar with the subtle differences in burning smells, I think that it will be pretty clear.
Good luck. Post about your discovery.
wow lauren, you’ve started a good discussion. i definitly think PETA is taking this a little too far… i mean come on, it’s wool! i think there are more pressing matters than this in terms of animal abuse and inhumane treatment. i guess there’s no way for us to really know, but i have to have good faith in farmers and believe that most do the right thing- i am from a farming family after all.
Well, the discussion is that the sheep need the wool for their protection, but on the other hand if there are no low-lying bushes around the wool doesn’t get naturally discarded when they rub themselves against bushes; it just grows and grows. That would weigh the sheep down, make them too hot, etc. I’m vegetarian too. As far as I know, there’s no way we can tell the provenance of a particular wool unless we follow the process from shearing to packaging. We just have to believe the animals are taken care of and are protected from extreme conditions… Is there a solution? Perhaps. Maybe you can do another entry exclusively on the subject.
Oh, and Lolly? You’ve been tagged. You’re It!!! Check my blog…
Love the snow pics, especially the one from years back-too cute! Thx for the link to the article…of to read it now.
Speaking of Secret Pals… I’m yours!
~guess who
Hi L,
The Silk Purse & Mohair looks so yummy together! I wonder what it will be.
What would we ever do without old photos? They remind us of the great memories we had in our past that we might have forgotten without them!
Having grown up around farms and as the proud owner of a llama, most of the animals I’ve seen sheared NEED to be sheared. Imagine having all that hair in the hot monthes! Not to mention the tangles that pull on the skin! I’ve been on a few sheep farms in my day, and those babies seemed to have it pretty good! As a vegetarian myself, I don’t wear leather, or fur, but I definitly don’t see a problem with wool or alpaca. (or llama
First of all, let me just say - I love your blog and even more so the title. As to sheering sheep, I have a funny story. A VERY intelligent friend of mine commented once on my knitting habit “It’s just so sad that they kill the sheep for the wool.” OK. It just goes to show you that intelligence and common sense do not go hand in hand. ; ) Happy Knitting