You can't make a silk purse out of a camel's belly

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I received hand-spun yarn gift about a decade ago. The wool had been hand spun from a mongolian camel's belly hair. It was not plied, so I knew that it would knit on the bias. It was a bit scratchy -- so it had sat in my stash for years. I finally thought I had found what to do with it -- felt it!

Alas, you really can't make scratchy yarn anything other than what it is - no matter what you do with it. The whole time I knitted it, I was dealing with camel dandruff in my lap. I am reminded once again, use only materials you like from start to finish. You have to handle them a lot!

Before felting
The mittens are oversized and loosely knit.

After felting
The mittens are considerably smaller - but knitting with unplied yarn skewed the stitching a bit. And, the camel guard hair really came to the fore, making for very hairy hands! If the mittens had been worth saving, I would have given the mittens a trim.

Next stop: the goodwill bin. Moral: only knit wool you like!

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