After much thinking about yarn .....

I have come to a decision: I am going to order 4 skein of Knit Picks Color Your Own and custom dyed with kool-aid myself!

Not so brave

I finished my swatch! I ended up going to a size 4, since my yarn choice is a bit smaller then the Plassard. Hey, bigger needles = faster knitting!


Swatch 

Isn't that just a lovely heathered green?

Anyway, I am foolhardy enough to swatch and different brand needles and to not swatch in the round. However, I'm HAPPY I washed and blocked it. The yarn expanded just a too much bit on my first swatch. I'm happy I had to go down to the four. The fabric was just not dense enough for my liking on the size 5.

Now if my damn Bryspun circs would conme in...

Confession

I admit it. I'm foolhardy. I swatch as I go ;^)

If I feel that something needs to be bigger or smaller, I adjust.

Actually, my gauge is not too far off :



And this is where I am now :



Yes, I did a picot hem as I felt that the 100% Merino might be too "bouncy" & not lie flat.

Looking for yarn

On Yardex we can search for gauge and content a huge database. And I love the fact it gives the MRSP as well.
So, now that I have the exact gauge, fingering weight, 169 yarns to choose from, but only 6 with the exact gauge of 27 sts = 4".

I am intrigued by Cashwool - anybody ever used it? Expensive, though, and not easy to find.

Oh, and if you register with Yarndex, you can save your favorite yarns so that you have them stored!

Gauge of 26 sts = 4": 34 yarns.

Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids is a dream to knit with, Rowanspun 4 Ply is an economic choice - and Jimmy Beans has it on sale too!

Gauge of 28 sts = 4": 87 yarns, I'll never pick one!

Daletta has the right gauge, the one I suggested before, Baby Ull, is 32 sts.
Oh, look, RYC Cashcotton 4 Ply, that would be less then $50! Or RYC Cashsoft 4 Ply, even less!

EDITED @ 2 pm: stupid, stupid Yarndex, RYC Cashcotton is £4.25, not USD!

So excited!

Hi everyone! I just joined the KAL and I'm very excited. Of course, my copy of the magazine hasn't come in yet, and I have no yarn, but I hope to start it as soon as I can.

I'm not sure if I should use alpaca or not. I've never knit with it before so I have no idea how it knits up or feels. I was thinking about using Rowan's 4 ply soft, which is 100% merino. It's a close gauge and I like some of the colors. Has anyone ever used this yarn?

Yarn, so many yarns!

I'm out of control where the yarn for this sweater is concerned. I've ordered yarn from three different places and am waiting to see which one will give me the gauge I need . . . and I'll figure out what to do with the "rejects" later. Do you think this means I have a problem?

• First, there's the sport-weight Andean Treasure from Knitpicks. Nice colors, great price--but possibly too thick a yarn. (6 spi rather than the 6.75 called for in the pattern).

• Second, there's Dale of Norway's Baby Ull. (It's not alpaca, but it's soft enough for a baby, the right weight, and as a plus, machine-washable! Herschnerrs has great prices, too.)

• And last, Misti Alpaca which comes in both Sport or Fingering weight, also great prices, and about which I saw lots of rave reviews when I looked around the other day.

Gosh, do you think this will give me enough choices??

Maybe I should have just gone with the Plassard Alpaga in the first place and saved myself all this guess work . . . and really, if I end up being too lazy to return the yarns I don't want, it would have been cheaper after all! (Though, it was hard to find a source for it....)

Gauge?

I am to receive my copy of IK yet, so what the gauge for the pattern? I know that the recommended yarn as a stated gauge of 6.5 sts / 1", so it is sport weight more then fingering, but someone posted that they were looking for a 7 sts / 1" gauge ......

I am thinking about Baby Ull, machine washable too!

I'm ready to begin ..

I had to make a quick decision as this will be my "travel knitting" and we're leaving next Friday.

Will be doing it in Mystical Creation's superwash 100% Merino, DK, in their Rise~N~Shine colorway.

And for contrast, I dyed some of the same yarn a bright orange.

Yup, I know I chose a DK yarn but I'm one of those that totally ignore gauge & don't swatch. If the yarn suggests to me that I can use 3.00mm to 4.00mm needles, that's good enough for me ;^)

I am here!

Thanks Deb for the invitation!

Is anybody thinking of a less warm yarn than alpaca? I live in California, so an alpaca sweater is something I would wear only when I travel to a colder climate.

Yarn

I thought I had yarn all ready for this, but turns out that the gauge is way off--it's DK weight, not fingering. So, in amidst setting up the knit-along, I've been trolling the 'net for the correct weight alpaca. Kind of tricky, actually! I had ordered some sport-weight Alpaca from Knitpicks, but that's 6 stitches to an inch and since I am usually a loose knitter, I don't think I'd be able to squeeze that extra, 7th stitch in there . . . or maybe I can. Who knows? All I really know for sure is that I'm not using the Plassard Alpaga--too hard to come by.

It doesn't help that some manufacturers seem to consider "Fingering" and "Lace" to be the same thing, and others don't.


And Sherry, I like the greens you picked! The yarn I originally bought, in fact, was green (with purple for the trim), and color-wise, I'm kind of disappointed I won't get to use it.

Does everyone have yarn?

This is what I'm using:
Drops Alpaca
My LYS just happened to get it in. I'm using the two greens on the button row 7300 and 7238. The color card doesn't do the green justice. It was pretty decently priced at $8 for almost 200m. That's almost as cheap as Knitpicks alpaca!

I'd love to see what everyone else is using!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Union Square Market Pullover Knit-along! This is going to be fun!

I even checked with Kate Gilbert herself before starting, to see if she'd have any objections, and she doesn't, so here we go! To quote:

Deb, Go right ahead! I'd be honored. I have heard here and there people threatening to eventually start a knit along, but I couldn't tell you who and who could stop you even if someone else is doing it! Have fun and thanks for the compliments! Kate

So, welcome!