Touch: Fiber Fascination

Knitters spend a lot of time squeezing yarn. Squeezing gives you a sense of the softness, texture, and "loftiness" of the yarn. Even Mr. Cool, a non-knitter, has given yarn a good squeeze when we've visited a yarn store. Some knitters are fiber snobs, preferring only the good, natural stuff from sheep, goats, and rabbits. (That's right, rabbits. Angora yarn comes from fluffy bunnies.)

Soy and bamboo are newcomers to the yarn parade, cotton has been around for awhile, but wool is the king, queen, and crown prince of yarn. Everyone loves woo. My new friend, Sophie the Sheep, will be modeling with a few of my favorite woolly yarns. Currently, these yarns are in my "stash," or hoard of yarn. Only one set has a specific project. See if you can pick the project-promised yarn!

Here we see Sophie lounging next to some lovely 100% Wool yarn. This yarn is a very soft, lofty, squooshy yarn. Squooshy is a technical term that refers to the extra oomph of squish you get when you squeeze the yarn.









Sophie is trying to visit with the sheep pictured on the label of this Patons Classic Wool Merino Yarn. While merino are reputed to be quite soft, this 100% wool seems a bit rougher than the wool above. It has smooth feel, but the texture, when running through my fingers, has a bit of a catch, a bit of a "this used to be an animal's hair" feel.



Sophie is just peeking out from behind this Patons Jet, because this yarn is a blend. It's only 70% wool, blended with 30% alpaca. Hopefully you are all familiar with alpacas. I've never touched them, but they must be very soft and fuzzy, because this yarn is the most tender, comforting, extra-squooshy yarn in my stash. You could use it as a pillow.