Burn Testing

Living in California there is currently a great concern about wild fires.

 

The latest in the news is the Mt. Diablo  fire which has covered over 3,000 acres and is now thankfully  60% contained.

 

Although I currently live in the Sacramento area this fire struck close to home for me as I have some great  memories of living in Concord and the Mt. Diablo area before we moved to Texas when I was ten.

 

And so today I was concerned when I did my testing of yarn to make sure it was wool that I didn't start my own wild fire.

 

Testing to see if your yarn is wool involves putting a match to it to see how it burns.

 

I had a water bowl for dousing ready if needed.

 

I am going to be knitting some felted slippers for a member of my family as a gift and I want to use yarn I currently own if possible.

 

 One skein still has a tag of Cascade 220 but I wasn't sure the other two skeins were also 220. I really couldn't remember why I had purchased three skeins of 220 as I normally buy with a project in mind. I recently had a friend knit a bag she felted in the washing machine and didn't realize all the yarn she used was not 100% wool and the shrinkage was not very consistent. 

 Didn't want to go there!

 

 

Anyway, it looks like the two unmarked skeins are also wool as both barely burned and became ash and did not have a plastic ball finish.

 

And I am happy to report I did not start any new wild fires with this test.

Pyromaniac I might be, wild fire starter I am not!!!