Yarnivorous

G'day all! What do you do when you pick up a languishing UFO and decide to finish it, only to find that after one row, your ears and throat are itching and your hands are burning? Is this why it is a UFO? Because you are allergic to alpaca and it has 10% alpaca? You've knitted and worn a jacket made out of the same yarn (in a different colour) without any problems, but that was before you tried processing and spinning alpaca fleece. So do I take antihistamines and finish it or do I frog it and try to pass on the yarn to a new home (preferably by swapping for something else). It may be dusty, though it has been kept in bags and/or boxes. In the meantime, another UFO has been glaring at me from half under my armchair. I put it there so it would guilt me into finishing it. That plan did work, eventually - a month or so later I pulled my finger out. After all it is tedious having to pick it up to vacuum under it. Looks like a mess, doesn't it? It is made out of some Mar...

G'day all! Many, many moons ago, I used to hang out at the city branch of Marta's yarns (alas now gone, along with Marta herself). Marta dyed yarn. She loved colour. She made lots of beautiful yarn. I often wished I could do some sort of apprenticeship with Marta. Anyway, I would fondle yarn and daydream, and occasionally actually buy some. One of my favourites was the thick and thin spun hand-dyed yarn. The other week I was digging through my stash when I came across an old scribble lace project. It must be about three years old. It's made of Marta's yarns. Well I took it along to the craft faire to knit on - makes a nice difference to socks! The jump from 2.5mm needles and throwing the yarn to 15mm needles and continental was nice, if confusing, too. People exclaimed over it, one little girl was bold enough to ask how much it would be... Given that I spent at least $33 on the yarn, it was a bit out of her price range. It and the nuno-felted scarves were the...