I am so indecisive
I've been trying to figure out what to do with this yarn I have and it's making me nuts. This "easy" project for my knitting weekend is becoming a big pain in my ass. I have only like 810 yards of this bulky yarn, which isn't much. I was thinking of doing a top-down raglan, so I could knit until I ran out of yarn. And also throwing in a stripe or two of a contrasting color just to expand my yardage. I have really short arms too, which helps my case. I have to shorten all sweater sleeve patterns I knit for myself by about 2 inches.
OK, so I swatched. I get 3.25 sts to the inch on 10.5s. That makes a decent fabric. I swatched before on size 11s and got 2.75sts to the inch, a looser but still acceptable gauge. I didn't want to wash my swatch because I have such limited amounts of yarn. So anyway. I wish I could meet somewhere in the middle because I'd like to get like 3sts/inch but I don't want to knit on size 11s, they're too big. I'm afraid the 10.5s will use up too much yarn and I won't be able to finish. But then I could add some stripes. I wish there was a needle between 10.5 and 11, there's such a big jump between the two. From 6.5 to 8.0mm.
But then that adds a-whole-nother piece of fun. This is handpaintedyarn.com handspun in garnet. I bought it for another project but when it came in the mail it was rust orange when I had wanted more of a red. I'm afraid if I buy more of it the color will be completely different, especially for hand-dyed wool with no dye lot. So what the hell do I pair with rust orange for stripes? Black would make me look like a Halloween fool. I already have a bag and a coat that are rust orange and light gray. I'll look like a big dork with a sweater in those colors too. Then if I pick a color that works and buy it from handpaintedyarn, I run the risk of it being completely different or clashing instead of contrasting.
Crap.
OK, so I swatched. I get 3.25 sts to the inch on 10.5s. That makes a decent fabric. I swatched before on size 11s and got 2.75sts to the inch, a looser but still acceptable gauge. I didn't want to wash my swatch because I have such limited amounts of yarn. So anyway. I wish I could meet somewhere in the middle because I'd like to get like 3sts/inch but I don't want to knit on size 11s, they're too big. I'm afraid the 10.5s will use up too much yarn and I won't be able to finish. But then I could add some stripes. I wish there was a needle between 10.5 and 11, there's such a big jump between the two. From 6.5 to 8.0mm.
But then that adds a-whole-nother piece of fun. This is handpaintedyarn.com handspun in garnet. I bought it for another project but when it came in the mail it was rust orange when I had wanted more of a red. I'm afraid if I buy more of it the color will be completely different, especially for hand-dyed wool with no dye lot. So what the hell do I pair with rust orange for stripes? Black would make me look like a Halloween fool. I already have a bag and a coat that are rust orange and light gray. I'll look like a big dork with a sweater in those colors too. Then if I pick a color that works and buy it from handpaintedyarn, I run the risk of it being completely different or clashing instead of contrasting.
Crap.