Weird Yarn

Lately yarns seem comprised of a bit of this and a bit of that and doled out in 100 yard (or fewer) skeins. Then you pay $10.00 or more per skein. I am amazed that so many people are willing to pay $50.00 for a pair of socks...in self-striping yarn, no less. The technology is amazing, but please! We did ugly back in the '60s, why is it fashionable again?

I was crawling through the latest issue of Vogue Knitting when I spied an ad for a yarn called Tofutsies. SWTC makes the yarn which explains where the tofu comes from. They are the makers of Soy Silk...which is made from the stuff left over from making tofu. They put it through a chemical process and out comes the 21st century version of rayon!

Back to Tofutsies, it is a sock yarn made of 50% Superwash wool, 25% Soy Silk, 22.5% cotton, and 2.5% chitin. Chitin??? Isn't that what bugs are made of? You know, the stuff that goes crunch when you step on one? eeeYuck! Then they explain that the chitin comes from shrimp and crab shells. Oh, that's better. Does this mean your feet are guaranteed to smell like a fish market at high noon?

After all this I should probably try the stuff, if only for the reaction at the yarn shop when I ask for some of that crab shell yarn. But my first reaction was to visit A.C. Moore for a couple skeins of honest 100% acrylic. It is soft, it is shiney, and sells for $2.19 per 315 yard skein. I can swatch till I drop for a Miz Marple jacket I have in mind. If it works, there is always the option to do it in a nice wool...but no crab shells, please!