Clearly, the process we started in Michael's back yard is going to take a very long time to produce wearable results. (See previous post)
So I decided to go to the source and skip the part where I do it myself. I went to Angora. You may or may not be aware that Angora is the old name for Ankara, the capital of Turkey. The Angora goats, cats and rabbits all originally came from this part of Turkey.
I went there with my husband and have some pictures I plan to put on the web, but that part hasn't been done yet. You can see some of them on my other blog. Ceci's Travel blog
Our hostess took us to a village about an hour and a half outside of Ankara. It's called Bey Pazari and resembles an Alpine village. We did lots of shopping there buying things made right there in the shops by the people selling them. I took pictures and even a video of weavers operating looms. We also saw hand-made jewelry. And in one shop there were some dolls. Since I collect dolls I had to take a look and bought one more. This one is helping to wind a ball of yarn from a skein of Angora. I think she needs a partner. She is wearing a shalwar, a loose fitting baggy pant. I was told this was a traditional costume and later saw some women demonstrating in a restaurant wearing this type of garment.
And in the same shop I found this beautiful shawl made of Angora.
It's not knitted, but I'm not sure what the technique is. I need to do some research.
And I finished the sweater that I started in September.
This was a free Ravelry download. It's called Mystique and was written by Patrizia Steadman. I had to shorten the sleeves, as I would have run out of yarn, but I think the shorter sleeves work fine with this sweater, which is designed to be worn by itself.
