I usually just do simple knitting, a few baby blankets, mittens, hats, and scarfs for the women’s shelter. My yarn is usually limited to baby yarn or 100 percent wool (for warmth). This past week I found a large box of yarn at one of the resale shops. The problem is I don’t know what I have and what I can mix together. Is there a simple way to identify yarn content?
Identifying Yarn
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Supposedly you can sometimes tell by doing a burn test. I doubt if it’s fool proof though. I haven’t tried this so do be careful if you do.
http://www.fullercommercial.com/training/carpetcare/fiber_identification.asp
http://www.fiber-images.com/Free_Things/Reference_Charts/free_reference_charts_fiber_content_guide.html
I usually determine if something is wool by trying to do a felted join of yarns. I take two pieces 5 inches long or so and wet one end of each then roll and agitate them in my hands to see if they will felt together…same method you use for joining in a project with wool. Superwash wool won’t do this though so it’s only good for feltable wool.
As for what you can mix together… as long as it’s about the same weight/gauge anything that looks good can go together.