Reviewed and Rejected

The start of the HRH Kate's Shopping shawl knit-along is queued to start in less than two weeks, so it was time to make some decisions.

Which yarn? I had two possibilities from the stash. One was a seafoam green yarn that i got in Poland years ago. When I took another look at it, the color was a bit brighter than I had in mind, and I remembered when i translated the yarn content after purchase, it tunred out to be primarily acrylic. (Word to the wise: when drooling over yarns in foreign countries, be sure to look all up yarn pertinent translations.) Acrylic has its place, and this yarn is very soft, but I didn't want to risk all that work in a short period of time to have it just not lay right. Rejected.

The second possibility was a wool, mohair blend that I bought after Christmas. The color was a sage green with soft hints of gold, sort of a semi-solid. Except that I had already been thinking about doing one of the more textured patterns, and I thought it might be lost in the mohair's halo. Rejected.

So I warmed up the internet and started searching my favorite yarn sources. It didn't take long to notice that a significant of the lace and fingering weights greens were sold out, on backorder, or otherwise not available at the present time. Quel Surprise! Apparently, I am not the only one in search of green lace yarn. I narrowed it down to three from KnitPicks, and my sweetie is the one who made the final selection as I switched back and forth between color options. The final choice was Knit Picks Gloss Fingerings, in Jade, which appears on two of my computers to be a rick evergreen color.

But how much to buy? Time to select the pattern. I reviewed the official unofficial copykats, other patterns, and free ruffled patterns that were kind of close. Once again, I had it narrowed down to several finalists, and spent longer than I care to admit clicking back and forth among them. I made this final selection myself, and for the first time, bought a pattern through Ravelry. (There are so many great patterns available for free on my list, I just haven't needed to yet.) The only problem is that the pattern required lace weight, and I was using fingering weight. The pattern was easily adaptable to the larger yarn, but I wasn't sure how much yardage to buy. I looked at other ruffled shawl fingering patterns, and made a guess. I figure when I start swatching, I can make a more edicated guess and quickly order more, hopefully from the same dye lot, and if the ruffle is from a different dye lot, that probably wont' be immediately obvious, right? The ruffle reputably vaccuums up the yardage, and I would hate to run out during the ruffle.

While I was at it, I ordered a few pretty socks yarns. My knitting time is gradually increasing as my baby boys gets a little older (if only the same could be said for my sleep), so I am not dissuaded by the fact that I have only finished two pairs of socks in the past year. (Counting the one that went missing a few rows before completion. I have now started putting address labels on my knitting bags as a precaution.) So I will be making a dent on my sock stash any time now.

The yarn is supposed to arrive in four to fourteen days. My needles await. (Oh, I hope I have the right size.) Have to check that later.

Today, it is all about the pieces coming together.