Add as you knit

Going to the knit shop I see lots of novelty yarns that are just out of my price range.  So I came up with my own.

The first thing I did was tea dyed some white cotton yarn giving it a hint of purple.  I gathered some elements that I wanted to add to the yarn, now prior to knitting as I was winding my yarn in to a ball  I added small strips of a purple variegated yarn, and whats so unique about this yarn is it pulls apart giving almost the look of sea weed
I gathered some flowers and beads. 

I started knitting and using a crochet hook I would slip a stitch off  adding the flower or the bead.  then slip the stitch back on to the knitting needle I would knit the stitch as usual.  Once finished I  opened the yarn up giving it the free form look.  This is a fun way to add all those fun elements to the yarn with out paying a big price for it at the knit shops, and one your finished you have a truly unique piece

Is it really wool or cotton yarn?

Read the label. What says cotton or wool yarn may not be so much. Why is this important?
because if you are going to be dyeing or felting it makes all the difference. Of course I have learned the hard way. Just because it says alpaca doesn't necessarily mean that it is 100 percent. It may be 20 percent and the rest acrylic and that will not felt.

Same with the cottons just because it says it is cotton yarn it might be only 20 percent maybe less and the rest acrylic and if you are looking to dye either the cotton or wool you will be disappointed in the end. So once again read the label

There is a lot of work involved in wanting a felted item and quite disappointing to knit or crochet something, wash in hot water just waiting for the felting process and you pull it out and nothing magic has happened.

So when I am wanting to felt an item or dye my yarn I read those labels.