The Knitters Thread

PipneyJane

welshmoneylover wrote: »

has anyone shelled out ££ for alpaca wool and was it worth the extra money spent on it?

:j

Yes, me. I've knitted socks, gloves, two hats and a scarf from alpaca/alpaca blends. It is lovely and warm, usually very soft, but not very elastic so while it drapes well, it tends to stretch out of shape. I think it'd work very well in something like this jacket http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/13-structured-jacket (Ravelry link)



from the latest issue of Designer Knitting/Vogue Knitting. (It's in my Ravelry queue.)

Regarding price, I may not be the best person to ask since I buy the majority of my yarns at shows so get the show discount. £7.50/100g for DK alpaca from UK Alpaca's stall at Alexandra Palace 2 years ago springs to mind. The last time I bought alpaca, I paid €7.50 a ball for some 4-ply while on holiday in France earlier this year. I bought 5 balls, just enough yardage to make a fitted jumper.

Is alpaca worth it? I can't answer that for you, except to say that it is for me. But I am a cold person, born in a hot country and living 13,000 miles from home (6th generation Australian). For value, try alpaca socks; I've knitted several pairs from UK Alpaca's alpaca-blend sock yarn (a mix of alpaca, wool and nylon. I paid £12/100g). They're lovely and warm and quite soft to touch and not prickly. My husband spent last winter working on the buses in the snow and wore out one pair (he has two, soon to be three). He reckoned they were twice as warm as the wool/nylon ones I've knitted him. I have to reconstruct the soles of the worn-out pair since he walked them down to the nylon. I can see several nights of duplicate stitch in my future.

My Yarn Philosophy: I set aside money each month for my yarnie splurges, so can afford to pay if I really want it/have the perfect pattern, etc, but the majority of my stash was bought at discounts of 50% or more. I rarely buy anything that's less than 50% natural fiber. This isn't yarn snobbery exactly - I just think that if I'm going to expend all the effort to knit something then I don't want to waste it on "nasty yarn". (Note: while that covers most acrylics, I have encountered some pure wool that falls into the nasty category, too. Ditto some cotton that felt worse than string to knit with.) Also, there is nothing wrong with requesting yarn as Christmas/birthday presents but present yarn goes to the top of the queue.

PipneyJane

Well, looks like my memory is faulty. I completely mis-remembered the price for UK Alpaca's sock yarn. It's £8.65/100g skein. (Mental head slap!) For DH's socks, I usually use shade 19, Charcoal.

PipneyJane

OrkneyStar wrote: »

More lovely knitting on here .
I am just showing a pic of my first Skew sock, pattern from ravelry. I am doing it as part of the SKA (Sock Knitters Anonymous) Dec theme of 'unique construction', and it certainly is not like any other sock....lots of increases/decreases on foot, very unusual heel and short rows on the legs!.....I really enjoyed sock 1, but putting aside to finish DH Christmas socks before doing second!
Also got some good news in the SKA October challenge one of my pairs of socks was randomly selected to win a prize (woo hoo....don't often win prizes), it is a project bag, coming all the way from the US!!!
SKEW:
More pics on rav.

Gorgeous socks!

Kaz2904

*Sneaks in and whispers* I got 20 50g skeins of alpaca for £20 . I am well aware how expensive it is usually but my sister goes to a knitting group with a lady who's a supplier and had these packs left which were discontinued. I am aware I'm a very lucky lady!
I don't know how much I would knit if I had had to pay full price for the yarn. It can be an incredibly expensive hobby if you let it become that way.
I suspect that I will do the same with my knitting and yarn purchases as I do with most other things. Buy it if I need to make myself something unless I see it really, really cheaply in which case I'd buy it and then find myself a pattern to use the yarn

PipneyJane

Kaz2904 wrote: »

*Sneaks in and whispers* I got 20 50g skeins of alpaca for £20 . I am well aware how expensive it is usually but my sister goes to a knitting group with a lady who's a supplier and had these packs left which were discontinued. I am aware I'm a very lucky lady!:)

Now that is a score!!! Hope you really enjoy knitting with the alpaca.

Kaz2904 wrote: »

I don't know how much I would knit if I had had to pay full price for the yarn. It can be an incredibly expensive hobby if you let it become that way.
I suspect that I will do the same with my knitting and yarn purchases as I do with most other things. Buy it if I need to make myself something unless I see it really, really cheaply in which case I'd buy it and then find myself a pattern to use the yarn

.... That's how I ended up with such a huge stash, most bought at half price.

You'll need to work out some rules-of-thumb about quantities/yardage so that you buy sufficient to make the garments you want to knit. Find some patterns you'd like to make and keep a list in your purse of the yarn weights (i.e. DK), types (cotton, wool, whatever) and quantities in weight and yardage. I keep mine in my Filofax - even if I think the yarn is destined for something else, it means I should buy sufficient. Also, I always buy an extra ball "just in case".

System

looks like lidl have wool in on DEC 15th.

OrkneyStar

Just finished this:

More info on ravelry if anyone is interested. This is for little 'ol me!
This is actually crochet, but made this for DH last night:

Still wondering if they will write our car off but ended up hiring one for now, just too cold up here to walk/bus (when they are at right times).
Hope all are well and happily knitting!

Keiss_21

OrkneyStar wrote: »

Still wondering if they will write our car off but ended up hiring one for now, just too cold up here to walk/bus (when they are at right times).
Hope all are well and happily knitting!

Lovely makes Orkney, oooh sorry to hear about your car...definitely not the time to be without a car, especially where you are!!!

The rain has already started tonight, due to get a bit breezy later, gusting to 47 mph! Bad news down here in the land of trees

Take care everyone xx

cuddles123

Oh Dear Orkney - hope its all sorted soon. Hiring a car will be expensive.

I have finished my last bits of bunting for the Bunting Challenge, begun in the summer.

Christmas Angel



Candle



Holly

OrkneyStar

cuddles123 wrote: »

Oh Dear Orkney - hope its all sorted soon. Hiring a car will be expensive.

I have finished my last bits of bunting for the Bunting Challenge, begun in the summer.

Christmas Angel



Candle



Holly

Nice.
Thanks, it will not be sorted for a while I don't think, might even be written off. Car hire is a justifiable expense living here, and tbh I only took a wee Ka, so it is not hair-raisingly bad, just :eek: for a second, then :cool::cool::cool:.