please don't faint.

This is my current WIP. I'm taking a wee break from Imogen -- almost complete! -- for love. It doesn't look like the kind of yarn I usually use, does it?

See, hub has no winter hat that he'll wear. I was recently in Americo, and couldn't keep my hands off their new dehaired baby llama yarn -- part of their new Eco line [this stuff is natural, as it comes off the llama].


Yes, an animal yarn. [Reminder: I'm allergic to wool, and sensitive to the barbs on all animal fibers.] This one, however, felt quite nice in my hands. Because it was dehaired? Probably. So I went home with one beautiful naturally brown skein, which has been sitting, staring at me for a little while.

And then we were forecasted a snowstorm, and hub's head was cold, and he gave me a PEEEEENK iPod, for heaven's sake! So I just cast on. A little hat for valentine's day for my beloved. The top photo shows me just starting the decreases for the crown using this pattern.

So how is the knitting? Well, keeping in mind that I am accustomed to full-on softness and smoothness running through my fingers as I knit, it's very different. However, it's only a tiny bit uncomfortable from time to time on my princess-and-the-pea fingers. It's just three days of knitting and, at the end, hub will have a wonderful, warm hat, and I will have stretched my fiber boundaries a little. Will I keep knitting with dehaired baby llama? Probably not. But it was nice to know I could.

If it feels this soft to me, I can't imagine what it would feel like to a woolly knitter. Heaven, perhaps?

p.s. In looking for the Americo link, I noticed they now have a yarn catalogue on their website. Please forgive me.