Thursday, February 11, 2010

Work Knitting: Yak Yak Yak

In my previous post, I mentioned that I do a lot of "work" knitting - commissioned designs and samples.

In no way should this be considered "work" in the same way that showing up in an office and attending meetings and writing TPS reports is considered "work".

Case in point: I've been doing some designing for the lovely people at Bijou Basin Ranch. They have a herd of Yaks, and they spin the fibre into some of the most fabulous yarns I've ever had the privilege of knitting.


Their yarns are warm and soft and utterly delicious. It's significantly warmer than wool, and comparable to cashmere in softness. It's remarkably durable and lightweight. The yarn is spun from the down undercoat which these cold-climate beasties grow to keep themselves warm in the winter. When they shed it in the spring, the yarn is combed and harvested. So although I think Carl and Eileen are wonderful people, I hope they are suffering a truly miserable winter so that their yaks grow a really magnificent undercoat this year.

They don't dye the yarns, so you get a lovely range of natural colours.


Now available on their website, a couple of things I've designed for them...

the Honeycomb Kerchief



and the "Not Too Fussy" Men's Vest


Whether you use the yarn for one of my designs or not, I strongly recommend you get your hands on some of this stuff. It's some of the most fun I've ever had with my needles. And they have a sock yarn!!!

3 comments:

Bridget said...

Those are great patterns! And I love the yak picture - are they as calm as they look?

KarenJ said...

Luscious yarn - lucky you!

MavenKnits said...

Oh wow. I'll take a sweater worth of skeins.... make that two, the husband will be jealous.

I love the kind of 'work' you do. I do understand how knitting can be work, especially if there is a deadline looming.

By the way, I just ate stinging nettle and survived.