A shot to show Elisabeth's lovely garden
My friend Elisabeth raises llamas and alpacas and has their fibre processed into yummy knitting yarns. She invited me out to play with a new llama/bamboo blend — how could I say no?
I’ve been trying out some bamboo/sheep yarns for socks and shawls and thought that an alpaca or llama blend would be a wonderful thing — all the luxury of the camelid fibre, and the silky sheen of the bamboo…. Elisabeth agreed and had an 80/20 llama/bamboo yarn made up, which we spent yesterday dyeing (the natural colour of the yarn, a light fawn, is great, too!).
Elisabeth has a commission for some navy blue yarn, so we made that, and then moved on to turkey red, and a multi-coloured red/purple/blue that she’ll be making into the Newfoundland mittens and mitten kits she sells. I’m looking forward to seeing a finished pair of those mittens in this bamboo blend, hint hint Elisabeth. We finished the day with a pot of green and I brought home a skein of that to make into a hat.
Still a bit damp, but soon to be a hat
Here’s a closeup of the yarn — it’s a lovely tweedy green with lots of shine from the bamboo (which doesn’t show up in the dim light I took this shot in, unfortunately). As soon as it’s dry, I’m going to wind it into a ball and start working on that hat, which I’m already designing in my head.
At the end of the day, six skeins of laceweight alpaca in natural browns and fawn found their way into my bag — have I mentioned that Elisabeth is a really, really *good* friend? 
4 Comments
I did have a blast and want to thank you again for all your advice and ‘assistance’ when I was rinsing the skeins. LOL. I take the hint and will start on Sunday. Today (after barn chores and while waiting for the B&B guests to arrive) I have to finish a very long pair of black alpaca wrist warmers, an order from a client. I look forward to see that green hat. Have fun!
I was knitting away for awhile and put it aside to pick up the art. What I do knit comes out beautifully, but I seem stuck at the simpler knits and never quite figure out some of the more difficult things. I am thinking of trying magic loop since dpns seem to be a royal pain for me. For whatever reason, I am afraid to even attempt a pair of socks. I picked up a pattern and some yarn for fingerless mittens figuring that would be a prelude to socks and I’ve started it over enough times that I ultimately just stuck it away in a drawer, waiting for yet another start! Sigh…I do so want to learn how to spin yarn though! I have a drop spindle but never did sit down to play with it! I am such a slacker. This big world just offers so many things to do!
Sherry, you really should try a pair of socks, with dpns, magic loop, two circs, whatever method you choose (I’m a diehard dpn fan myself). There’s still magic for me in seeing the turned heel, even after dozens of pairs…. We all need some simple magic in our lives, no?
What an amazing shade of green!
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