Hi (again),

Another question about yarn for the lace swatches. The yarn I chose to use is from my stash and quite old (I think it may have been my grandma's). It was working quite well until it started breaking. At first I thought this was a fluke, but sometime in the middle of the second swatch, I realized it wasn't and would continue to be a problem. For normal lace I wouldn't use it as ends rarely look good woven into a lace pattern, but with the seed stitch frame, they're pretty well hidden, so, is this ok (so long as I have the patience for properly weaving in the ends - I am determined to use something from my stash) or . . not (so far as swatch acceptance is concerned)? Were' talking about 3-4 extra ends per swatch.

Thanks

I wonder if it could be moth eaten? If all those breaks are due to moth larva having dinner....well, I know I sure wouldn't want to put it in a binder with the rest of my swatches!

Thanks for the caution but its not - I've had it for years stored with other yarn and never had a problem with moths - I've also checked it for eggs, squirming and flying things etc. But, it is old - at least 50 yrs, probably significantly older than that. I suppose its possible that it may have been infected with moths years ago, and then the moths died off but left the damage. Don't know . . . Its also very pretty and a good weight. Sigh.

If the yarn's unsound, I can't imagine that it will result in your best work. It's up to you, of course, but I wouldn't want to use it myself.

This is 50 year old hair you are talking about. I've used a lot of very old yarn and also analyzed artifacts for reproduction which are 150-200 years old. With time, the wool can just become brittle and fragile. Also, in the late 50's early 60's more harsh chemicals in higher concentrations were used for the cleaning/processing and dyeing. Even if the yarn seems white or ivory, it was probably bleached and then dyed to achieve a specific shade.

One thing you can try is to condition it. Skein the yarn and tie loosely in several places. Immerse in comfortably warm water, let it soak through and dip it up and down a few times to run the water through it. Do not stir, agitate or rub. Drain that water and immerse the yarn in fresh warm water with some hair conditioner in it, preferably for dry damaged or brittle hair. Let it soak for a little while, then rinse again in a clear bath, squeeze to damp in a bath towel and let air dry.

HIn my view, hair is hair, doesn't matter really what animal it comes off of.

Also, if your yarn is worth saving all this time for sentimental reasons, maybe a project with a memory of your mother would be a better use for it than class samples.

Knit on!
Meg

Thank you for that helpful information! This does seem to explain what is happening with it - the yarn just . . . breaks. I've decided to leave the 2 swatches I've done - they look ok to me - the woven in ends aren't that noticeable and they don't interfere with the lace stitches or swatch shape (but on careful inspection they aren't invisible either). However, I'll do the third with a different yarn. The swatches took a while to do, and I'd rather not redo them unless I have to, so I'll let the committee determine this after seeing them. Unfortunately there's not quite enough yarn to do a bona fide project, but there is enough for a few swatches, so it seemed like the perfect fit at the time.

Thanks again for explaining this stuff about the older yarns.

Superkitty,
I would recomend that you include a note with your lace samples explaining why there are so many woven ends, that you were using older yarn and it kept breaking. That way they will take that into consideration as they evaluate your work.