Fiber Snob

Because I began spinning before I knitted, I grew to love wool and have long since shunned acrylic yarns.  Even blends.  There I said it. Wool is such a great gift from our loving Father.  It is ALL natural ( au naturale); it is an excellent insulator, even if wet (In fact, it produces some heat when wet); it is fire resistant; it breathes and reshapes itself; it is probably the easiest fiber to spin; it takes dyes so well; it is simply wonderful.  Therefore, from the beginning of my spinning adventure, I decided that I couldn't knit anything if I didn't have enough hand spun finished.  But this last fall, some 35 years later, I had a change of heart.  I took a Faire Isle knitting class, in which we used "store bought" yarn.  It was really nice - alright, it was 100% wool.  BUT I did not spin it.  And it was okay.  The Gina yarn (Plymouth Yarn Company) we used was variegated, single ply, worsted weight.  The contrasting color was black (although white and cream work well, too).

The variegated nature of the yarn made the Faire Isle hats look much more complicated than they actually were.  Here are the first two that I made.

Since I learned in late fall, I went on to make 1 about every 2-3 days for Christmas gifts. 12 in all.  In April I  have made 2 Faire Isle baby hats.  They are adorable. ~pat-pat~ Here is the first one.  The second has not yet been gifted...must wait to post.

I also made some team hats out of ~drum roll~ ALL acrylic yarns.  It was okay, too.

The first one is a Tennessee Vols for my dad and the second - grrrr - is a Chicago Bears hat for my brother-in-law.

Well enough about hats! (Although I could go on and on, if you really want me to.)  I am currently working on a large shawl.  I'm very excited about it.  I am using Plymouth Yarn Company's Encore yarn, 25% wool.  The pattern can be purchased here, at Carina Spencer.com.  And this is what I have done so far:

So, you see, I have made real progress in correcting my character flaw of being a Fiber Snob!

However, I'm just beginning the section where I have to DROP stitches!  ~gulp~  We'll see how someone as anal as I am can handle that one. (Another character flaw)