When Alpacas Attack!
Last weekend I thought I was just suffering from the ridiculous amount of ragweed floating around in the air. However, after a day of vigilance, drugs, and hiding inside, I noticed that a) my allergy symptoms were actually erratically bouncing all over the place and b) my hands were starting to itch... That second one was the clincher. I'd bought some new yarn on Thursday evening and it was my first time working with alpaca. Now, wool allergies I'd heard of. In fact, alpaca is recommended for people sensitive to wool since the source of their reaction is often lanolin, or wool fat, and alpacas apparently don't secrete any similar allergenic-prone substance. Investigating further, however, I discovered that these lovely, fluffy animals are dander monsters. OK, that's not exactly what the research said. It was something more like, "those with a sensitivity to animal dander may find that they have a sensitivity to alpaca." Hm. So I'd essentially just spent three days KNITTING WITH A CAT, which for me is about the most toxic not-actually-toxic substance there is. So the yarn was returned or sealed up and various contaminated household areas were thoroughly cleaned. Meanwhile, I waited for my puffy, red hands and sore finger joints to forgive me. Sigh. You just don't expect yarn to attack like this. (OK, maybe the dog does, but I think she expects most of the yarn to get up and "baaaaa" sometimes.)