Trellis

Knitty.com's Trellis by Britta Stolfus Raeschhoff. I love to knit aran patterns. I think it's definitely in my blood! It's so much fun to watch the pattern emerge. Although this looks yellow in the photo it is actually a natural beige or tan color. I'm knitting from a graph for the first time and doing well I think. Every other aran pattern I've ever done was written out line by line. As I was working on this successfully last night, I was wondering why I can do this, but have so much trouble with lace. I can't figure it out. Maybe it's just an "Irish" thing!

In our local newspaper this morning there was an article about a Pennsylvania couple who are raising alpacas. It was very interesting. Apparently alpaca is warmer than wool which is something that I would not have thought. It said that alpaca fleece has no lanolin or guard hairs, the stuff that can make a wearer itchy or allergic. I beg to differ. That grey scarf I recently knit in alpaca is so itchy around the neck that you want to scream. It feels like heaven until you actually wrap it around your neck. It IS itchy. I was going to give it to my son in law but it's too flimsy for a man and I know I'll never wear it around my neck so it's a scarf in limbo. But to get back to raising alpacas, it sounds like fun. They sound like great pets. I want one. (not gonna happen)