Knitting Dilemma

Knitting Dilemma

Now that I’ve told you I want to get back into my knitting I’ve come across a problem. It arose a few months ago at an annual yarn sale I attended. All week long in anticipation for the sale I staked out the store making sure I knew where my favorite yarns were so I could get there early and grab them before someone else did. Sadly when I showed up five or ten minutes before the store would open I was shocked to see that it had opened early and was packed with women grabbing up all my good yarn.

Damn, I couldn’t get in the door fast enough! Only having three projects in mind to knit I looked for all the yarn I would need for them. I was able to get enough yarn for two of the projects; sock yarn for two pairs and yarn for a hat. The other project in mind was a sweater that almost all the yarn I wanted had been bought by someone already. Once a fellow male knitter arrived he gave me an idea to make a Weasley Sweater instead.

So I went around the displays to find my favorite brand of yarn, Rowan. I made a pair of Knucks (fingerless gloves) in burnt orange out of the Felted Tweed by Rowan. It was that project that made me fall in love with their band and tweed yarns. Anyways I digress, I found the bin that held my yarn and discovered that half of the yarn was already under siege by other customers. My heart skipped a beat or two or six. I politely moved in and started grabbing at as much of it as I could; throwing it into my shopping bag. They got the hint right away and backed off.

When I had a moment I stopped and started going through the different colors I had managed to capture. This was war and every ball counts as a victory. I found I had an even amount of hunter green and royal blue. So I had my friend decide for me. Now thinking back I wish I had gone with the blue since there was more of it. But I ended up getting away with 4 balls of green and a 5^th one a day latter that had been found and saved for me. I was so pissed there had been a total of 15 balls in every color that I had counted the day before, even my favorite sales assistant confirmed it.

So depending on my gauge I had 1/3 or 1/2 the number of balls needed for my sweater. The store owner who I was getting on good terms with told me she had a ton of my yarn being shipped that fall and all I would have to do is wait to get it. Argh, that meant I wasn’t going to get to finish a sweater then. So I decided to wait on the project till I could get the rest of the yarn. I even went to other yarn shops looking for my yarn but were sold out of my color or didn’t carry the style.

Since summer is almost at its end in Texas my thoughts turn once again to knitting a sweater, considering anything below scalding hot is too cold for me to be comfortable and I need something to keep me warm. Every now and then I sit down and swatch things out to see how they would look rather than actual gauge size. I’m working on a design for a sweater which the neck is giving me trouble with, but eventually I’ll get there.

Each time I get bored I keep going back to a swatch I made from my left over Knucks yarn. I doubled up the yarn and knit a very small 2”x3”rectangle to see how it would look and feel. I should have never made that swatch because I love it. Its stitch size and thickness is wonderful, but to make a project out of that yarn double stranded could be expensive. For a small ball of Rowan Felted Tweed yarn it will set you back $10 (American Dollar). And considering I’m in a sweater phase, that’s really bad news to think about when most adult sweaters will require around 15-20 balls to make, more or less depending on the size. And here I want to go and double the amount needed. Ouch, that will set me back a pretty penny.

So you finally are about to hear my dilemma if you already haven’t figured it out for yourself at this point. I know, I drone on too much; tell me about it in the comments section. This sweater I want to knit that I already have partial the amount of yarn to make; should I knit it single or double stranded? That is where I have come to a standstill. Do I spend $100 on yarn for 10 balls or $250 for 25 balls?

I’ve been trying to make a pros and cons list to help me decide. So far it’s just left me even more confused. Damn logic! I’ve been going around in circles every time I think about the project. So I’m leaving a bit of my list here for you as background information to think over and see what your conclusions are. I would like feed back as soon as possible given that I need to purchase the yarn either in person or via internet (if sold out in the stores already).

This is an all-purpose sweater more closely related to a college sweatshirt that you would wear around to keep warm in; meaning it’s for casual day to day wear. (I know what you’re thinking; all this fuss over a silly simplistic sweater. But I’m the one who has to wear it and be seen in it. I want it to look and feel nice.) If I use one strand of yarn to knit it, I will be making a very light fall/spring sweater (Oct-Nov and Mar-Apr). If I use two stands of the yarn I’ll have a very nice cozy winter sweater (Nov-Feb/Mar). Single strand means I use smaller needles, which mean smaller stitches, creating more time put into the garment. Where as double strands, I can use bigger needles to make bigger stitches and crank it out in less time than the single strand. Cost is another factor which I’ve already gone over. Depending on the thickness of the sweater, the need to have it done in time for fall or winter plays in on time restraints. (It will most likely take a month to a month and a half to knit up depending on how much free time I get to work on it.)

Crap I forgot another point or two that I can’t think of off the top of my head. But if I think of them I’ll add them on as a PS factor. Cheers Mates.