- mutterings & musings about my adventures into the world of knitting and all things woolly!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Coming of age

Look what the postman brought me today:


Part of my evergrowing queue of projects on Ravelry is the Central Park Hoodie. Yes, I know I'm at least 10 thousand years behind every other knitter in the world but I'm desparate to knit CPH! And it's all for me. I've never knit myself a big project before or anything this big for anyone else, for that matter!

Anyway, I have been obsessing, really obsessing, about which yarn to order. Having never done something so big, I've been really worrying about spending 30, 40 or 50 quid just on yarn for me. Finances are pretty tight at the mo, aren't they always? So I was finding it really hard to justify that sort of expenditure on myself.
Today I went to my LYS to see if they had anything I could fondle to help me decide. It did help me decide but not as I thought it would. There was no suitable aran weight yarn except a Wendy Aran which was 75% Acrylic, 25% Wool. It comes in huge 400g balls and costs £7.99. I would need 2 balls so that would only be an £16 spend! Just what I wanted? Right? Deal done?

Nope! My knitting has come of age today! Up until very recently I would have grabbed those balls, paid and run home to cast on. And I would have loved the finished CPH. But I would have wondered why it didn't look quite as good as the pictures.

Today as I fondled the Wendy yarn, I realised that it just wasn't good enough for my CPH. I knew instinctively that I wouldn't be happy with the stitch definition and the drape of the fabric. And, for the first time, these qualities were so much more important than cost. I want to love my CPH, not just like it. I want it to be the sweater I live in all winter. So I ordered this:


Kilcarra Donegal Irish Tweed Aran in Violet. I think it will work a treat, don't you?
Yeah for the hard earned knitting experience that told me the right way to go!!

3 comments:

Sarah said...

It's interesting this evolution isn't it - I got there with my yarn choice for Flair - I thought go for the good stuff - we spend so much time on these things they should be made in the best materials that we can afford - things that will last - so pleased that I did.

Anonymous said...

Well done!!

My way of justifying it, is I look in the nice stores for a sweater of equal quality and then look at the price tag. Most times I then don't have any trouble buying the fiber that I think best suits the item.
Let's face it, you would have fits buying the item and not have it be what you want. At least if you knit it, and it isn't what you really thought, you can just start unraveling and make into something else.

Welcome to the Evolution!!

Your SP

Jo028 said...

I absolutely agree, if the funds allow it, go for a better quality yarn, you won't regret it. I nabbed a bag of Rowan YT aran in Hero from Janette off ebay for another one. I'm soooo jealous of yours in violet & I've not seen it yet!!