My First Knit Along

Well, since I've such an aversion to knitting with proximate people, and since even so I get lonely for the company of other knitters, I am participating in my first ever Knit Along. I stumbled across the
Sexy Knitters Club just in time to join and participate in their April Knitalong. The patterns chosen were Glampyre's Orangina and the Somewhat Cowl. I chose the Somewhat Cowl. It's flirty, sexy, covered up, and something I can wear for more months up here in Montana.

Now, though, the issue is, of what yarn will I knit this beauty? The style calls for something with a bit of bounce and elasticity, so no cotton or linen for me. Rayon and viscose are lovely and drapey, and I fear they won't be elastic enough, as well. A wool and silk blend would be nice, but where to find one that firstly won't break the bank since I need about 1400 yards to knit a longer sleeved version, and secondly comes in a color I'd both enjoy knitting AND enjoy wearing?

So much obsessive searching has ensued. For about 5 days now I've been combing the 'net looking for something under $8 a ball. Elann has some really nice wool and silk and an alpaca and tencel, both for under $4 a ball, but the colors in there swatches on screen are uninspiring to me. Ditto for KnitPicks...Been to Webs, yarnstore.com, eBay and so on, and still coming up short. At least coming up uninspired.

I think my big problem is choosing the color. I'm knitting a sweater for my MIL in a beautiful cadet blue, and I just finished my daughter's sweater in a luscious pale robin's egg shade. Got some SWTC Bamboo in a pretty periwinkle/lilac/aqua variegated colorway for something intended for my sister in law. So much blue! And then I'm close to finishing my coppery/saffrony cotton sweater, too. So I don't want to replicate the orange tones. My closet is pretty well filled with orange and green, anyway, and I don't want to fall back to my chartreuse rut. So what does that leave me? Reds - but not blue reds as I need more warmth to them. Orange reds, or brown reds are fine. Purples? I've never in my life successfully worn anything in any commercially produced shade of purple. At least I've not felt comfortable in purple. Pink? Same thing - I've got an aversion to pink against my skin, it makes me itchy. Yellow? Hmmm - orangey shades are better than straw or gold ones, and I think Somewhat Cowl, with its retro sexiness, really wants something sort of retro and bold and pencil-skirt appropriate. How about a neutral? Black - always a safe choice, but rather dreary to knit. Beige, tan, stone...boring.

And so, on I struggle, trying in vain to settle upon a yarn, not even certain which color I want to use. And my deadline for acquiring materials is next week, April 1, to be exact.

I need to just buckle down, pick some yarn, and go for it. Keep searching for the perfect one, too, to do a second sweater with, but really just get off my duff and pick something already. With my 6 pages of handwritten notes on suppliers, websites, color numbers, yardage, and average cost, I certainly have all the info I need. But you know how obsession is - ever tried to find the perfect rosy brown lipstick, something different than the 30 already in your drawer? The perfect one that makes you look rested and fresh and polished and pretty and sophisticated? And you know that really, they're all the same, and nobody can tell the difference between any of the 30 you already have, and there isn't any miracle lipstick out there anyway, and it's all just an exercise in futility and frustration. And still you look.

That's me with yarn. And patterns. What's an otherwise non-obsessive girl to do?