Disaster with Alpaca Wool

When I first learnt to crochet, I was so desperate to get going that I went to the one wool shop in town and bought the only wool they stocked in the colourway I was looking for.  Not really knowing much about wool types, ply or that there could be different wools appropriate for different projects, I guess I was lucky that it all worked out. 

The wool I bought was soft, the colours bright and it was a pleasure to work with.  The end result was Jazzy's granny rug.

After I'd stitched all the squares together I visited a wool shop in Melbourne and decided to buy the wool for my next blanket.

The shop was enormous and had walls and walls of wool.

I was completely overwhelmed and couldn't make any decisions.

After several laps of the shop Bren had had enough and it was time to decide.

The alpaca wool seemed to be the softest and have a lovely selection in the blue/green colourway that my eldest daughter favoured.

I laid them all out on the floor, changing the order, adding and subtracting colours and then paid up and left.

As soon as I came home I opened up one of the my crochet books, Crochet edited by Katy Bevan and started hooking hexagons. 

I think I probably knew what was going on after I finished the first hexagon but I was so pleased with how lovely it was to crochet this new shape that I ignored it.

After I had made the second and joined it to the first I pinned them to my curtains so I could see them properly. 

There was no denying it. It was awful. The wool was hairy and the colours bled into each other and seemed muted. And I think it might even be itchy.

I made two more hexagons and that was it. I could not go on.

I think I got a bit of a shock because choosing colors was something that until then I had found quite easy.

But one thing I know for sure is that this is not the look I am after.

So now I have a bag of wool that I don't like and don't know what to do with. Maybe if I put it away for a while something or someone will find a need for it someday. But in the meantime I think I'll ask for advice or stick to the wool I know works for me.