Beyond Far East

That's the "Disney" version (as one of my students said) of the local acronym, "B.F.E." (which means in figurative translation, "really really far out in the boonies"). I don't know how far this has penetrated into the American lexicon; the first time I heard it was in grad school from a lab-mate who had studied in Texas. I've heard people around here use it occasionally. (Once I had a student mutter that I was sending his group to "B.F.E." to do the field sampling in class; I looked at him, raised an eyebrow, and said "I know what that phrase stands for." He turned bright red).

At any rate, that's a long way to go for this comment, but it made me think of it when my box came yesterday. My Elann box. I broke down and ordered some of the "Far East Collection" camel-hair yarn. I'm going to use it to make a (slightly modified) version of the Bird's Nest Himalayan Shawl out of Folk Shawls.

I love using different yarns. It's another of my minor life-goals (like accumulating a complete set of original Farm Journal cookbooks) to knit something out of fiber from all of the different fiber animals (I will draw the line at bizzareries like dog hair - that way lies madness, trying to obtain dog-hair yarn from the different suitable breeds). I have knit wool (of course; and a range of wools from Merino to Columbia to the undefinable mixes found in most yarn), and alpaca, and angora (though just in blends, and I think 100% angora would make me sneeze too much). I've knit mohair, which comes from goats. Still haven't knit quivut - that will probably require me to either save up or have some kind of large and unexpected windfall. Haven't tried llama. Have knit silk, mostly in blends. Have knit with cashmere blends but not pure cashmere. Won't try shahtoosh (if they even make yarn of it; it requires the animal to die for it to give up the fiber). But pure camel is something new. And it's a pretty color - the natural camel color.

I've knit with cotton (in the Plant Kingdom) but not linen or hemp or paper or nettles. (Yes, they make yarn out of nettles; I think Habu sells it). As for synthetics, I'm not that interested in compiling a "life list" of them; besides, like dog breeds, there are so many different variants you could go nuts trying to find them all.

possibly someday there will also be a spider-silk yarn: goats have been genetically engineered to produce that protein in their milk. I find that odd and fascinating. I wonder what spider silk would feel like, knit up? (I hope they got the protein for the main-web silk and not the sticky silk that makes the trap part of the web).

The Bookworm vest Still. Is. Not. Dry. I'm hoping maybe this evening it will be dry enough to unpin. It might be Friday or even the weekend before I get the buttons on.

I knit some on the Hiawatha shawl last night. I think I am going to give in to startitis - maybe not start "Cozy" right off but I do want to begin a pair of gloves out of some self-striping yarn. And I have an exam to proctor Friday (which I need to be typing this morning as it is Junior Level Assessment Day and we were to have cancelled our morning classes) and I think that would be good proctoring knitting. (I still think explaining to people, some of whom have only ever had things - even their bread - that was bought at a store, why I knit socks, is a little too much for that time of the morning.)