Cashmere Cafe

One week ago we returned from our short trip to Bosnia. As I already mentioned in some of my previous posts I love goig there because I can actually buy some good quality yarn for a good price.

As I spent quite some time as a child in Bosnia (actually, I lived there until I was 4 and later I spent months of summer holidays until the war) certain things were natural to me. For example – how the wool is spun into yarn and different uses for different types of wool.
Now, when I look at all the industrial products around and also on the beautifull yarns many knitters and spinners make, I realize, how basic these uses were. And actually that the yarn obtained /spun from Bosnian sheep is very scratchy, stiff and not gentle at all.

Our neighbour came to visit and she told me that local business of cleaning and spinning the wool has araisen again, so she would be taking her wool to that place. (It is still common for locals to have at least couple of sheep  on their “farm”, so the wool is a necessary by-product.). She doesn’t know what to do with it anyaway and she likes to knit, so maybe she will make some socks for her family. They say that wool is good for healty feet, she was explaing to me.
To this my mother replied that we have sacks of wool up in the attic and  if she would take our wool with hers and have the yar made for us as well.

We checked the wool and here’s an image of something I haven’t seen in a very very long time – a pile of yellowish-white unprocessed wool.

We spread the wool on the grass to "breathe and sunbathe"

Our neighbour said she has some of yarn from her last seasons wool in her house and if I wanted that she would bring me some to see what the end product looked like. Of course I said yes. So, the day before we drove home, she brought this to me:

Yarn and a "pattern"

(I am sorry the picture is a bit lousy, I hope to replace it with a better one soon).

She also knit a small pattern for me, because I mentioned I liked her vest and she said she was happy to meet a proper young knitter. To me, this was a nice compliment and true “nature of knitting” experience.

I am getting the yarn probably in May 2009 (I don’t think we’ll be travelling to Bosnia any sooner than that). I still have no ideas, what I will make out of this stiff yarn – maybe those gloves used in the shower as scrubbers? ;)