In sorting through my recently acquired stash that was the impetus for this month’s stash down challenge, I came across these two skeins of yarn:
While they looked identical in daylight, only one skein had a label; that label included (among other things) the following information:
Manufactured by american thread, High Ridge Park, Samford, Conn. 06905 Article W43 100% Virgin Wool 4509. 6 Antique Gold Lot 83047 C Net. Wt. 4 OZ.
Also clearly displayed in large letters was the word “WOOL” and in the center of the 2nd letter “o” of the word “wool” was the “Woolmark” logo, recently selected by Creative Review as what amounts to “the best logo ever!”
There is some mystery surrounding the designer credited with creating this logo, and you can download the article from Creative Review about that mystery by clicking here.
While I knew with a reasonable degree of certainty that the skeins in question were most likely both wool and from the same dyelot, I wanted to try what is known as a “burn test.” In the book Crocheting for Fun & Profit, Darla Sims gives guidance on how to use a burn test to help determine what fibers a given mystery yarn is composed of. Using information from her book as a guide, I conducted my own burn test.
First, I cut approximately equal lengths of yarn from each skein. The known fiber (from the skein with the label) is on the left, and the unknown (an apparently identical skein without a label) is on the right:
The, using a fireplace match, I attempted to light each strand:
While they both singed, neither the known or the unknown strand “caught fire,” but the aftermath of my burn test attempt seemed to meet the description in the book which states:
Wool. Burns slowly and usually self-extinguishes. Smells like burnt hair. Leaves a small, brittle, black bead.
With the burn test out of the way, I turned my attention to the Starling handbag.
Yesterday, I got this far:
Today, I managed to complete 24 of the 33 rounds that comprise the sides of the bag. As can be seen in this top down view, it has a very nice shape and open design that should make for easy viewing of the handbag’s contents when the bag is completed:
And as can be seen from this view:
the “devil red” color should make the handbag both easy to find and difficult to misplace.
