WIP-Cracking Wednesday: The Angora Dilemma

For this week’s WIP-cracking, I have another possible frogging candidate. It pains me to think of unravelling this because it’s so gorgeous, but it’s completely non-functional.

This is another one of my very early projects. It is a small scarflet made from a tiny ball of 100% angora I found at a garage sale for $5 per BAG of yarn. Yes, I typed that right. $5 PER BAG. There was some really cool yarn there, but this ball of angora was by far the best thing I’d ever laid my hands on.

Being a new-ish knitter, I had very little knowledge of how different fibers behave. I did know that I wanted to make something very simple to show off the beauty of the yarn and to use up every last inch of it. This scarflet was the result. It’s just a simple stockinette rectangle with a 2 stitch garter edge, measuring 4.5 inches wide and 22 inches long. It is the softest thing in the world (note: I have not yet knit my ball of qiviut, so it may one day be surpassed). Since it is a very short scarf I went down to the local antique store and bought a pin to hold it together.

With the gorgeousness complete I set out in the dead of an Illinois winter to show it off. Then I learned something new about angora: IT IS WARM. It was TOO warm. Even in negative double-digit weather I was sweating with this thing on. That was the last time I wore it.

So, despite how lovely it is, it seems a crime to let this yarn go to waste. I think I need to frog it. This raises a few very important questions:

1. CAN I frog this? It’s rather hairy yarn, so it might be hard to pull apart without ruining the yarn…
2. What would I do with it? I have long since lost the yarn tag so I won’t know how much yardage I have until it’s frogged. What could I do to lessen the warmth factor so I can actually wear this yarn? Lace perhaps?
3. I’m still a bit ignorant about the properties of angora, so are there other factors I could be overlooking that could help me figure out what this yarn wants to be? Time to hit the books…