I went and became obsessed with the Wonderful Wallaby sweater pattern. It's a pullover hoodie with a kangaroo pouch, that's all, but it looks like it'd be fun to do and comfy to wear. The problem now is choosing a sweater yarn.
A year ago, this would have been easy. I would have gone to Jojoland and ordered a buttload of Rhythm in either M05, M06, or M13.
But nooooooo, I have to have a wool-allergic cat and an overdeveloped sense of responsibility. :P
Doing a search on finished projects on Ravelry with wool and merino filtered out doesn't really bring up anything that grabs me and goes "Me! You want to make one just like me!"
I'm probably going to have to swallow my pride and use an acrylic blend. The idea of doing this in pure cotton makes me woozy just thinking about it. My poor hands, to say nothing of the weight! Linen and hemp have the same hand problem, although less weight, but more cost. Alpaca would cost, maybe not more than I'd care to spend, but enough to make me think twice or thrice about my choice, and I think it would be too hot for me to wear most of the time. Not that acrylic is much better in the heat department. Acrylic yarns have this unfortunate trait that they don't breath, so I personally tend to get hot wearing them in moderate temperatures, but at the same time they don't insulate well in cold temps.
Still, since the Uber-fiber is verboten, the fact is that none of my remaining options are really ideal. So, I think I'm going to be doing a lot of sampling before I commit to a yarn, although you never know. I might get lucky on my first or second try and go "yup, this is it."
I at least have a start on it. I went to Hobby Lobby today and picked up skeins of several different yarns I wanted to try for it (although I forgot to get one of Lion Cotton-Ease. I seem to have this mental block where Lion yarns are concerned). They include Caron Simply Soft Shadows, a 100% acrylic but with a long color repeat, which I like; Bernat Denim Style, which was on sale and looked like it had potential; Hobby Lobby's house brand I Love This Cotton, which is probably a bit thin and would have to soften up quite a bit in the wash; and Patons new Silk Bamboo, which is surprisingly around the middle of the price range I'm willing to pay.
I decided to borrow the "swatch tube" idea from the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, except work it comfortably around 16" circulars for heavier yarns. Who knows, maybe down the line it'll make a nifty scarf, or can be turned into Christmas stockings, or something. In any event, since I'm not nearly as familiar with wool-free yarns as I am with the wool that's out there, there's going to be a lot of swatching in my future until I get some staple yarns settled on.
I started the sample tube off with some Andean Treasure from Knitpicks, which is 100% alpaca. It actually feels pretty nice, but it's the most expensive option on my list right now AND none of the colors really grab me. If only one of those were true, I'd probably have my sweater yarn picked out already, but with both of them working against, I'll probably try a few other things before making a decision.
I guess I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed. There doesn't seem to be a clear best choice for me right now, and it's going to take some patience to come up with the best of available options.
No comments:
Post a Comment