Downy soft and sneeze-free

I actually had gone to the Wadsworth Mansion Open Air Market and Festival in late August and found out from one of the vendors that alpaca is non-allergenic. Since I am very allergic to wool, I was delighted. I touched a soft as rabbit fur purse in green and pink, and was told it was made with Misti Alpaca yarn, baby alpaca. I had to have it. I looked on line and found the Web site, then saw that it was sold in Meriden at The Yarn Garden.
During my visit there last Saturday, the owner had only one type of Misti yarn, baby alpaca, but in lace weight and brown. It was terrific, but I had my eye on a particular scarf that looks like it’s almost woven, in a Crayola box of colors, free from the Misti Web site. It is called “Le Petite Echarpe,” or “little scarf.”
(The pattern is at http://www.mistialpaca.com/downloads/ Misti_Alpaca_FREE_Le_Petite_Echarpe.pdf).
What I did find at the Garden is Classic Elite’s Inca Print in a rustic color, 100 percent alpaca and soft as down. The scarf pattern calls for a chunky yarn (size 11 needles), 1 hank, 109 yards. The Inca is the correct yardage but far from chunky, calling for a size 7 needle. And the scarf pictured is very short to my taste — 4 by 25 inches. So I bought four hanks of the Inca and plan on making it longer and just as thick by doubling the yarn.
I’ll report back as well on what my sneeze-o-meter registers as soon as I undertake the project.

Not your average dishcloths

I purchased three skeins of On Line Linie Clip 100 percent Egyptian cotton, which is mercerized — a process that give the yarn a shiny finish. I chose eggplant, royal blue and an emerald green. The pattern I used was from “101 Designer One-Skein Wonders,” edited by Judith Durant, following the not-your-average washcloths pattern. The project took just a few hours and yielded a lovely 7-square-inch purple washcloth that alternates four garter and stockinette stitch squares. The loop called for a crocheted chain, but I modified mine, using much smaller double-pointed needles (size 4) and knit an I-cord loop.
I purchased the yarn from a lovely little yarn shop at 194 Elm St., in Meriden (203-237-6446, www.yarngardenllc.com), The Yarn Garden, which has absolutely every type and brand of yarn you can think of or desire. Next up? Royal blue. Only this time I’m feeling more adventureous and will use the patterns from the book “Knitting With Balls” by Michael Del Vecchio, which offers three types of “utility cloths,” shown in the photo being used to shine up motorcycle chrome (gasp!).

They’re more complicated and the cloths can be made in 8- to 12-inch squares.
You can bet one thing I won’t be doing with them is dusting.
Not if I’m knitting them.