There’s been almost no knitting here, since my fingers still haven’t healed. (Well, I’m not saying I haven’t cheated a little and tried to knit anyway, but it’s not going very well or quickly…..). I have a physio-appointment later this week, and that should give me an indication of how long it will take until my fingers are well. Suffice it to say that the original 3 week estimate (from the doctor in the emergency room) was rather optimistic. It’s been 5 weeks, and my fingers are still swollen…..
In the meantime, I’ve been eying some fancy yarns, and thinking about branching out from the readily available wool yarns. There are so many other interesting fibers out there that I could try. Earlier this year, I discovered Cottage Craft Angora and their wonderful angora yarns (from angora rabbits) and the even more wonderful Buffalo Down (made from the underhairs of the buffalo). Both yarns were luxuriously soft and had a slight “halo” to the yarns, which made the lace-shawls very nice and surprisingly warm, even though the yarn was laceweight.
In my yarn-stash I also have some fingering weight cashmere (from the cashmere goat) which promises to become a very soft and warm shawl as well.
But there is also a whole other category of yarns that has nothing to do with woolly fur. How about bamboo or tencel? Tencel is a lyocell fiber, made from wood-pulp cellulose. Apparently it’s used in making jeans, among other things, and is very strong and durable. The tencel I have encountered has also been very shiny and had a lovely drape to it. And bamboo is also very soft and shiny, and on top of that it is supposed to have some “natural antibacterial properties”. Must be good, right? In any case, I simply must try to knit with it.
I also have some SeaWool in my stash, which is wool and seacell (kelp). I suppose that’s a hybrid yarn – a little bit of animal fur, and a little bit of seaweed. I was considering using that for my Mystic Light, but then the shawl would have been very different as my SeaWool is all blue-tones. I don’t think I would have designed flames in blue…. So I’ll have to make something else out of it.
Well…. I hope you are all getting more knitting-time than I am. I hope to be healed soon. 
