The Knitting Continues
Knitting on the knitted felt experiment continues. I'm using a basic garter stitch. My gauge is quite consistent which surprises me given I'm working with an inconsistent handspun yarn and I have had lots of problems maintaining gauge on consistent commercial acrylic.
It is odd to be working with alpaca this coarse. It doesn't feel like alpaca, it feels like a not very soft wool. The knitting actually looks good -- much to my surprise. I keep expecting it to feel like good alpaca and it just doesn't. The coarse feeling is to be expected from lower grades of fiber full of guard hair, short cuts, and other undesirables. It's just that my hands have become accustomed to working with the good stuff and when my eyes see alpaca, my hands expect to feel alpaca.
A pleasant surprise is how stretchy the fabric is. One doesn't notice stretchiness and give in the yarn as much when crocheting as when knitting. I've been working to put more "bounce" in my handspun and I find this yarn has a lot more stretch or give to it than the commercial acrylic I have been practicing with. As a result, the knit fabric also has a lot of give to it. Partly this is because garter stitch is a fairly stretchy pattern, but some of it has to do with my spinning. It's nice to know that in a hastily spun 2-ply, I've achieved enough stretch that the knitting works.
The only downside of the project is the amount of fuzz and shedding. I expect fuzz and shedding when working with alpaca thirds because there are lots of shorter fibers in the mix. The rather hasty spinning technique left many of these fuzzy bits hanging out of the yarn which should help with felting. In the meantime, it's annoying.
The knitting continues -- using handspun alpaca.
It is odd to be working with alpaca this coarse. It doesn't feel like alpaca, it feels like a not very soft wool. The knitting actually looks good -- much to my surprise. I keep expecting it to feel like good alpaca and it just doesn't. The coarse feeling is to be expected from lower grades of fiber full of guard hair, short cuts, and other undesirables. It's just that my hands have become accustomed to working with the good stuff and when my eyes see alpaca, my hands expect to feel alpaca.
A pleasant surprise is how stretchy the fabric is. One doesn't notice stretchiness and give in the yarn as much when crocheting as when knitting. I've been working to put more "bounce" in my handspun and I find this yarn has a lot more stretch or give to it than the commercial acrylic I have been practicing with. As a result, the knit fabric also has a lot of give to it. Partly this is because garter stitch is a fairly stretchy pattern, but some of it has to do with my spinning. It's nice to know that in a hastily spun 2-ply, I've achieved enough stretch that the knitting works.
The only downside of the project is the amount of fuzz and shedding. I expect fuzz and shedding when working with alpaca thirds because there are lots of shorter fibers in the mix. The rather hasty spinning technique left many of these fuzzy bits hanging out of the yarn which should help with felting. In the meantime, it's annoying.
The knitting continues -- using handspun alpaca.
posted by Upper Alpacas | 7:48 PM
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