A new yarn, a new technique

This 100% superfine alpaca yarn is a new experience for me; although the sheen and the color--a warm chestnut brown threaded subtly with red-- are lovely, I'm not loving its tendency to shed small hairs, nor the fact that I'm burning through the skeins at an accelerated pace, despite my not-especially-speedy technique.  The reason is that this yarn is bulkier than what I normally favor, so that each 50 gram skein contains just a little over 50 yards.

Questo 100% filato di alpaca e' una nuova esperienza per me.  (Ha!  I was looking up the word for "shine" and found the verb "brillare," so almost put "brillo" for the noun, but I then double-checked and found that actually means "tipsy."  I'm too lazy to go get my big dictionary so I'll change tacks....)  Ha un lucido sottile e un bell' colore--castagna con un po' di rosso-- pero', non mi piace la sua tendenza di lasciare cadere i capelli piccoli, neanche il fatto che sto usando i gomitoli molto velocimente.  Questo filato e' piu spesso di cio che uso normalmente, quindi un gomitolo di 50 gm contiene soltanto 50 metri.

All those ends to work in...mamma mia!  My savior?  The felted join!  I don't work with all- (or mostly) wool yarns very often, so I had never tried this before.  I wasn't actually sure it would work with alpaca yarn--but it did.  And since others have already posted instructions for this technique, I can refer anyone interested to one of these excellent tutorials.

Cosi' tante fini...mamma mia!  Il mio salvatore?  La congiunzione...feltrata?  Non ho provato mai questa tecnica meravigliosa prima di ieri.  

Comments

[Typesetter]

I just love felted join or, as I call it "sputazza e infeltrisci". I knit with mostly natural fibers, in particular wools (sheep's and other animals'), so end up doing it for most of my knits. It works even with yarns that will not felt much, like superwash yarns. As long as they have at east a bit of catch, the strand will stick toghether if you cut the ends a bit longer and knit 2-3 stitches with both. This tecnique may be not too womanly, but it's a life-saver!

[connie]

I've never tried the split splice method myself, but I can imagine it would be useful for a project that uses 50 yard skeins! Have fun with the knitting. Sometimes it's fun to knit with something you're not used to. I hope I'll get a chance to knit something bulky some day. For personal knitting, I rarely go bigger than 5 sts per inch. I just don't like bulky knits! They tend to overwhelm my frame.