Black Friday Yarn Sale

We all know that I do not need more yarn. Vince has gotten a bit testy with a few yarn packages that arrived since he’s been here. That is NOT fun! I have been doing really good about not ordering yarn except when I need it and no matter how much of anything we have, we sometimes need more.

When I signed up to do the most recent test knit for Miss Babs, Caroline was the yarn that was suggested, though any Miss Babs fingering weight yarn could have been used. I have plenty of Miss Babs yarn but it’s all in tubs buried in the sewing room so it was easier to order yarn. That package arrived. Then after knitting almost half of it, I was afraid I was going to run out of the contrast color so I ordered another skein of that. You never know when the color you need will be out of stock so I figured I’d better get it while I could. The more I knitted, the more concerned I became that I might also run out of the main color so I ordered one more skein of that. That arrived and after moving all those tubs of yarn, that was about all Vince needed to have the NO MORE YARN talk with me. All he knows is what he sees . . he doesn’t realize how little yarn I’ve been ordering but he’s a man . . no need trying to explain how it happened that four yarn packages arrived within about a ten day period, even though two of them each had one skein of yarn.

So, today was Eat, Sleep, Knit’s Black Friday sale. There are years when I’m frantically trying to order yarn on their big sale day. Their website crashes, we get cart jacked (where people buy yarn that we have in our cart and when we go to checkout, it’s no longer available). This year seemed smooth or maybe I just wasn’t frantic. I was talking to my friend, Denise, and told her I must have reached the yarn saturation point because I struggled to use up the credit I had. Or, maybe it’s that I know Vince will still be here when the boxes arrive.

I did have credit so to use that up, I bought three sweater quantities of Harrisville Shetland yarn. I have a decent collection of this yarn and it’s perfect for steeking and colorwork so most any sweater pattern I want to make, I will have enough for three sweaters and can probably come up with the contrasting colors I need.

The colors, left to right, are Camel, Zinnia and Loden Blue. Even those three colors wouldn’t look bad together in a colorwork sweater!

Then, that was enough to get me another small credit so I went back and ordered Wonderland Yarn’s Cheshire Cat fingering weight – three colors for a cowl that takes one skein so I can make three of those – maybe for Christmas gifts – but probably for Christmas 2021.

The colors, left to right, are June, Such Beauties and October. I’m currently using the Cheshire Cat yarn in a project for the first time and I really like it.

I’ve decided that my non-knitting friends for whom I make hand made gifts will all get the same thing. It’s much easier to make the same pattern three or four times than to make all different patterns. None of them know each other well enough to be together and realize they’ve all gotten the same gift (they’ll all be different colors) . . not that any of them would care; but I really don’t think any of them know each other at all.

There are lots of one skein fingering weight cowl patterns out there. When considering patterns, cowls and shawls, more so than sweaters, socks and mittens it seems, seem to lend themselves better to specific yarn types. A cowl with an intricate design (cables, bobbles, lacework) always looks better in a lighter colored solid. There are cowls designed to fade (using several yarns that almost blend together without a noticeable stop to one yarn and beginning to another. There are cowls designed for two or more colors (strips, colorwork, slipped stitches). For the yarns I bought I need a pattern that will let the yarn colors do the work, where the hand dyed, multi-colors will shine.

Here are a few patterns I’m considering:

• Slipstream Cowl
• Copilot
• Sharing Creativity
• Emerger Cowl

I never liked cowls til I started wearing them and the only reason I started wearing them was because old Speck would take FOREVER to find the perfect spot if it was sunny outside. It didn’t matter how cold it was, he loved being out in the sun. On cold, icy days, I wold have on a T-shirt in the house, grab a jacket to take him out, but the wind just went down my neck and into my shirt and froze me half to death so I made a cowl, even though I knew having to pull it over my head, I was probably not going to like it. To my surprise, I did like it. I didn’t have lot of need for them in Texas but I’ve already worn them a few times in Missouri.

It’s very doubtful I will get three cowls made in time for this Christmas but I can try!