I'd love to learn tatting too!
Yarn has gotten really expensive! I scour sales, coupons, and ebay. There are a couple of vendors there who carry nise yarns at good prices, even with shipping. And of course there's Knitpicks!
www.knitpicks.comThey just came out with a new cotton worsted weight yarn called "Dishie". It goes for $3.99/100g ball---which is cheaper than peaches and cream, sugar and cream, or berroco handicrafter! Of course, you want to make a $50 order to eliminate the shipping charges, but that just means planning ahead a little.
You know, it is possible that you aren't actually allergic to wool itself, just to the dyes and sizing used in processing commercial wool yarns. But whatever makes you happy is totally cool with me!
If you haven't yet heard of it, one of the very best resources on the web for fiber crafts is a site called Ravelry.
http://www.ravelry.com/It's a huge site with tons of tools specific to fiber crafting. There is a forum there for literally every interest, and if somehow they missed your interests, you can make a forum on the site just for that interest!
Wow, do I babble, or what? Anyway, I am currently working on two projects, one in worsted weight alpaca yarn, and the other in lace weight Paton's lace yarn. I'm making the Shetlander arm warmers in the alpaca, which is a stranded colorwork pattern, and Anisette in the lace, which is a lace stole pattern. Both are listed on Ravelry, and both are free patterns.
I wish I were better in crochet. There's a solid ton of cute patterns I want to make, but I still cannot read my stitches well enough to not get lost. I've done granny squares, potholders, rugs, and a bracelet in #8 pearl cotton, but there are some really cool tea cozies I want to make too. And some adorable animals and a sweater.
I'm also eager to get into dyeing! I've done a couple of colors of koolaid on wool, but I have a kit to dye with indigo on order! I'm really excited about that one, as it will do up to 5lbs of fiber, yarn, or fabric! And it works on both plant and animal fibers!