Yarn Along

So, this yarn has me hypnotized.  I had heard on Ravelry about this “Plucky” yarn.  Friends on Instagram etc. were raving about it.  So I went on the website and thought I’d check it out.  The sheer number of color ways available were overwhelming, but I thought I’d order a bit, and see how it was. It turns out that’s easier said than done, because it only goes up for sale twice or month or something online, and sells out in a matter of minutes.  But I knew so many people using this yarn, so I figured it couldn’t be that hard to get some.

So the first month I tried to get it, I went online at the specified times, tried to remember which color way and base yarn I wanted ordered.  I got it all picked out, went to put it in my cart, and got a “sold out” notice.  I had missed it.  Shoot.

So the next month, I had everything all picked out.  I got online at the right moment.  I got it in my cart.  But the Plucky Knitter lady just added a new base yarn, and I thought I would drop just one skein of it into my cart to make a little accessory, since it looked so great.  It was a bad move because once I pressed the “purchase” button in my cart, everything was sold out.

On the third month, I went online at the specified time, I had everything picked out, I was moving it to my online cart and Knut walked in the back door.  “Hey honey, can you help me with something quick outside?”

“No!  Just…!  Hang on!” as I ran from my husband and kids with my laptop in my hands into the bathroom, locked the door, and as the little ones were pounding and screaming on the other side, I finally completed an order.

Victory.

So…I got a sweater’s worth of the base: primo sport, which is a merino wool, cashmere, nylon blend.  This is my first time working with a cashmere blend, and I’m hooked.  People, I was made for cashmere.  I got the color way “Papier” which is sort of a grey-blue with bits of lavender in it.

It is the most perfect yarn ever.  I will so stand on top of my toilet with an army of toddlers pounding on the other side of the door and my husband asking “Gretchen, is everything okay?” all over again for it.

I’m knitting a pieced and seamed sweater, which is a first for me as a designer.  Trust me, it just makes this sweater more simple, not less.  I started with the back, since that is just simple stockinette, as I got the details of the rest of the sweater worked out on the spreadsheet.  The back flew off the needles over the weekend without much effort.  The softness of the cashmere, and the addition of the little bit of nylon for stretch makes it one of the most comfortable yarns to knit with, and I can go for hours without feeling any stress on my hands.

This week I’m onto the front of this sweater.  It has 2 panels of cables, which was all swatched out, but I did not swatch the distance between the panels.  So about an inch into this front, I’ve decided that I want the panels about an inch closer together, so I’m going to rip back this little bit today and start again.

The kids and I are moving onto Detectives in Togas for our morning tea time reading.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Linking up with Ginny’s Yarn Along, when a bunch of us blog about what we are currently knitting and reading.  You can click on over to Ginny’s blog and find out what others are doing, and get inspired!