As the moth is to wool, ? is to cotton

exiled · Post by **exiled** » 20 Sep 2009 09:11 pm

I had some Patons sorbet in my stash, a cotton acrylic blend. There was a sealed bag of 10 and 4 extra balls.On one ball were 3 dead insects, a bit like ants. I disposed of them and inspected yarn, it looked OK.Now I have knitted several balls, I keep seeing tiny black specks which I am scraping off with a finger nail.Do you think this is a natural quality of cotton or is there an enemy of cotton?Maybe a moth with a wool allergy. What do you think.
By the way, the specks occur about 4 to a 50 gram ball and are really, really small and I wear strong glasses. Just in case you are all saying"urghh"

ann · Post by **ann** » 24 Sep 2009 08:08 pm

hi
I always put some conkers in my stash keeps the moths and spiders away. have you tried putting the wool in the freezer overnight that should bump any live insects off

ann

exiled · Post by **exiled** » 25 Sep 2009 02:32 pm

I must try that! Just the right time of year as well.
Have knitted several balls since first post and think they must be minute specks of natural cotton.Perhaps it is the nature of the beast, yarnwise.Thank you anyway. I have many kilos of natural wool in my stash so will definitely gather some conkers.Do you have to shell them?

ann · Post by **ann** » 25 Sep 2009 02:54 pm

Hi
yes shell them and leave them for a couple of days to dry out and then they will be ready, just had a thought, are they little seeds in the cotton.

happy knitting

ann

exiled · Post by **exiled** » 25 Sep 2009 06:52 pm

They are so tiny that maybe they are seeds. Hard to tell.They detach quite easily and do not seem to be of an animal nature. About the size of a full/stop!
Shall gather conkers this weekend.
Further on the subject, do you find cotton and cotton/blends hard on the hands?

ann · Post by **ann** » 25 Sep 2009 07:41 pm

I have only knitted a couple of things with cotton and found it o.k on the hands the bits I had left over made great washcloths for Christmas presents though.loads of free patterns on the net.

ann

Janet · Post by **Janet** » 28 Sep 2009 06:53 pm

I have found some cotton hard on my hands. It seems to be the mercerised type that hurts my hands after a lot of knitting. It looks nice and shiny but is somhow harder as well. I suppose it is because it doesn't have the stretch of wool yarn. I find the same with crepe yarn like Sirdar wash 'n' wear. It looks nice knitted but is that bit less yeilding in your fingers.

Janet

ann · Post by **ann** » 29 Sep 2009 08:39 am

Hi
I didn't like knitting with the crepe wash "n" wear, seemed to knit up very uneven

ann

DKY Knitters Forum.

As the moth is to wool, ? is to cotton

As the moth is to wool, ? is to cotton

Conkers and knitting

cotton