Started my Ishbel

I balled up my special alpaca yarn and started my Ishbel scarf.  Let me tell you, though, I was threatening to confiscate the skeiner of the person who wound that hank.  Messiest skein I personally have unwound.  It doesn't help that the stuff is full of sticky grabby vegetable matter, either.

When I started knitting, my eyes started to water and get that "puffed up" feeling, so I'm a little afraid I may be allergic to something about it.  I doubt it's the alpaca itself -- alpaca is considered hypoallergenic -- but it may be the VM is something I'm allergic to, or something used in the processing.  Or it may be throwing off dust and fuzz as I'm working, and it's more an irritation than an allergy thing.  It did seem to clear up as I work, so we'll see if it gets better or if I have to bail and pass this skein on to someone else.

Suddenly developing an alpaca allergy would be utter cruelty on the part of the universe.  I hate to say it, but if that were to happen, I'd go back to wool and the cat's on her own.  (Well, you know, with the meds to help.)

I started this thing with US5 needles, but that was way too loose, so I switched down to 3mm (European size, between a US2 and a US3.)  If you're wondering the method to my madness, those happen to be the sizes of Addi Lace needles I own.  Going up a size from the 3 mm would probably be better, but not enough to wait until Thursday when I get back to the yarn shop.  The 3mm is giving a pretty nice fabric and should block out OK, but I think I will be a bit below gauge even blocked.  (Yes, I'm a bad girl who didn't do a gauge swatch.  It's a flippin' scarf.)  I was already thinking of doing the larger stockinette section from the shawl but stay with the narrower border of the scarf to get a little more size out of it.