Llama Cowl
Llamas. You may think of them as the pack animal of the southern hemisphere, but I think of gorgeous yarn (Okay, fine. I may also think of spitting).
These fascinating majestic beasts do indeed protect themselves by spitting. They also spit to show their dominance or disapproval for fellow llamas (And I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them do it just for fun.).
As the moniker “pack animal” suggests, they are pretty good at carting stuff around: they can carry loads weighing up to 100 lbs for 10 – 12 miles!
Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial
Their yarn has interesting qualities too. Compared to sheep wool, it’s lighter, has no oil (like the lanolin in wool) so you get more yarn per ounce because it has no oil to be washed out and it doesn’t shrink when it is washed. Llama hair has very little crimp making it difficult to spin, but it blends very well with other fibers.
So how does llama yarn feel like and how does it work up?
The outer guard hairs are coarse and need to be separated from the fine down fibers. These down fibers are soft and have more crimp which produce a lovely, soft yarn that can be worked up into something worn close to the skin such as hats and sweaters. Yarn made from the outer guard hairs make excellent rugs and ropes – things that need to withstand wear and tear.
While visiting a local llama farm, I got my hands on a few skeins and worked up a design to share with you. If you are looking for 100% llama yarn you can purchase it at the farm I visited: https://www.carlsonsllovablellamas.com/wool/
I wrote this pattern as a guest post for Whistle & Ivy.
View the pattern here.
fireflyhook.com 
What weight Llama yarn did you use for this cowl? Is it a DK weight, or a bulky wt? Based on the size crochet hook, I thought it might be a DK weight. Thank you!
LikeLike
Hey! Thanks for stopping by!
I am actually unsure – I designed this a few years ago. But I do know the yarn didn’t have a tag indicating weight, which is why I didn’t include it in the pattern. I do remember it being a DK or Worsted weight. What’s great about the design, is you can really use any yarn weight and make sure your initial chain fits over your head (or is the desired circumference). Things to consider – llama and alpaca yarns have incredible DRAPE so you can use a smaller hook without the cowl getting too stiff. You’ll typically need more rounds worked on the cowl to fill it in since it will fall over on itself more readily. If you are using any other kind of fiber (acrylic, wool, etc) that does not contain llama or alpaca, you will want to use a bigger hook and you won’t need as many rounds.
I hope this helps!
Warmly,
Abbey
LikeLike