Swappers make plans – and God laughs

I thought I was so well prepared for the green swap (on Ravelry Aussie Swappers board). I had bought a lovely skein of super soft bright green Malabrigo worsted and had two balls of more subtle olive green DK cashmerino in my stash. I even had some super-fine forest coloured 2ply merino which would be perfect if my partner was into knitting lace. I had all my bases covered.

Or so I thought.

Then I received my swap partner. A lovely girl. Who happens to be allergic to lanolin. Which is in all yarn that comes from sheep and goats (including cashmere , mohair and merino).

So much for sending her one of my three lovely stash yarns!

I knew I could just pop into Spotlight or Lincraft and buy one of the many relatively cheap cotton/bamboo/acrylic yarn blends but this seemed a little boring. And I didn’t want to purchase any more expensive yarn – I have a whole room full of expensive yarn to choose from. Surely there would be something appropriate in my vast (albeit mostly lanolin impregnated) stash.

Then I noticed something – apparently alpaca fibre is lanolin-free. Unfortunately most of my alpaca yarn was blended with rash-inducing sheep fibre. My only pure alpaca was black – meaning it couldn’t be over-died. But it set off a trail of thought. What about bunny (angora) yarn?

Some quick Googling, an email to Ixchelbunny confirming that not only was angora lanolin-free but her angora yarn had been plied with silk, rather than merino. So it was perfectly safe to send to my swap partner.

Ironically, a week earlier she had convinced me to take an extra skein of bluey-green ‘Turquoise Turtle’ angora. I am now feeling less bad about that excessive purchase.

I also made her a lanolin-free sheep. Out of acrylic yarn.