I had a fantastic day Sunday. I had a great time at the Great Oakland Knit-Out, organized by our favorite Rachael, meeting new people and seeing friends, and checking out everyone's projects. Nathania showed up in a beautiful and just-finished Klaralund, mystery celebrity guest Claudia made an appearance, I found out about a Tuesday night knitting group at an interesting-sounding dive bar, and Article Pract graciously granted a discount to us all.
I went in looking for something to knit Blaze (I didn't want to use the Indulgence called for because none of the colors sing to me). The Indulgence ball band said "7,5", which I interpreted as seven and a half stitches to the inch. So I found a lovely lavender shade of Rowan 4-Ply Soft, which is supposedly 7 sts per inch, figuring I could make up the difference with different needles or just knitting a larger size.
Apparently I was reading the Indulgence label wrong (maybe it meant size 7 needles will yield 5 sts per inch?), since the Blaze pattern calls for 5.75 sts per inch over a cable pattern. Turns out 4-Ply Soft doesn't look right in the cable pattern anyway -- I like the slight halo in the Blaze photos and the 4-Ply Soft has none -- so I'm content to find something else to use it for. No biggie.
The discount was the problem. A one-day discount like that makes it far too easy to justify buying yarn even when I have no project in mind for it, just because I like it. As I did with the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. It's so soft, and I love light pink, and IT'S DISCOUNTED IF YOU BUY IT TODAY. I was flipping through a Jaeger pattern booklet while I waited in line to spend more money than I had intended on yarn, and then Silvia kindly pointed out that one of the sweaters I liked in the booklet could probably be made with the Baby Cashmerino. There -- problem solved, guilt assuaged. Only when I swatched for it later, the gauge was wrong. BUT I think (didn't have time last night for a third swatch) I might be able to knit the Jaeger sweater out of the yarn I picked out for Blaze.
All of that merely means that I have a sweater's worth of Baby Cashmerino to find a use for, and if I head to my book club meeting tonight a little early I can stop by ImagiKnit to look for Blaze yarn. And I will end up with three new projects in the hopper instead of the one I intended to buy yarn for to begin with. At this rate I will never catch up -- I still haven't figured out what to do with the yarn I bought at the last Knit-Out, in the spring, just because I liked it and there was a discount.
Oh, discount fever... You were witness, it got me too. I'm still working out a pattern in my head for the Alpaca Silk. I may never catch up either, but I've been good over the past couple of days about picking up stalled projects instead of starting new ones. Great to see you on Sunday. We should do that more often!
Posted by: Nathania | October 13, 2004 at 01:06 AM
Hee hee. I love watching people CAVE to the power of the sale.... Me? I gots no moneys right now. But someday....
:)
Posted by: Rachael | October 13, 2004 at 07:55 AM
You're ahead of me though, in that you at least buy yarn with a specific project in mind. I just buy it 'cause it's so purty...
Posted by: Em | October 13, 2004 at 08:40 AM
It was entertaining just WATCHING you yarn shop.
;-)
Posted by: claudia | October 14, 2004 at 02:35 PM
Well the way I see it, you can make up your own pattern so you can incorporate all those little details that just send you, or you could give it to me...
Posted by: silvia | October 14, 2004 at 05:57 PM