YAK!
As many of you know, I've been unable to shop in our local yarn stores for quite some time because of my alpaca allergies. Well, to my selfish delight, the owner of True Blewe has developed the same problem, and so the store is now free of all alpaca products...which means I can shop again!
(I should be clear - I'm VERY sorry that someone else has this problem, and I'm also not at all surprised given the market saturation/overexposure of alpaca products that they've reported that there are a lot of customers who share the same problem.)
I found myself at True Blewe shortly after I was offered my job, and so I decided to treat myself to something new and different....and it just so happens that they had laceweight yarn made of yak in just exactly the shade of salmony pink that I love best. It was meant to be.
Words cannot describe how delicious this yarn is (or how much fun it is to say YAK YARN!!!). It's buttery soft with a barely existing halo, and it knits up like a dream. The silk adds sheen and is helping the finished shawl hold it's shape beautifully.
Given the hefty pricetag, I decided to work on a smaller shawl - more of a shawlette/scarf than anything else. I'd fallen in love with Anna Victoria's patterns some time ago, and this gave me the perfect excuse to try one out.
Originally, I worked up the fancier version of Hortense - which has a lace pattern in the upper section - but I was never very happy with it. It didn't flow into the beautiful lace as well as I'd hoped, and it was too fussy. I wanted this shawl to show off the yarn AND the pattern....so I ripped it out and started over with the 'plain version.'
Also, the pattern calls for beads, and as much as I love beads that would have been much too much for this particular yarn, which was luxurious enough on its own.
Hortense by Anna Victoria
Reywa Fibers Bloom
50% Yak 50% silk
Addi Turbo 32" US 4, 3.5mm
March 23 - May 11, 2017
Comments
Hurray that you get to shop local again.
but
My sister is allergic to wool. All wools. Even cashmere which you and I know is a goat.
Poor dear is living on the English/Scottish border shivering in cottons. Whenever I envy her being so close to all those lovely breed specific wools and imagined pastoral scenes I remember battling the weather defenseless.
THe LYS where i bought the Yak yarn says they've had a LOT of customers tell them they have problems with alpaca too. It's not as uncommon as people once thought!