New Yarn

New Yarn
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Yesterday I had the chance to hit the LYS solo, so I went and picked out some yarn for the shrug's I've been wanting to make. For Maya's, although I wanted to use a wool yarn, I bought Stork. It really is a nice yarn that is machine washable in a beautiful cadet blue color. Maya likes it and thats all that matters. I worked up a gauge swatch there in the store and fortunately got the exact number of stitches necessary! When I got home to finish the swatch (ya, that's right, I'm gonna wash it and everything) I realized that while I got the right number of sts per inch, I was getting 3 extra rows/inch! Normally I would blow this off and think, I'll just have to knit a little longer. But this time I stopped. The Teen Top Tragedy has taught me a valueable lesson about gauge all around. I considered how row gauge figures into the sleeve shaping. 11rows vs 8rows per inch. Hmmmmm. I did some mental calculations and I think I'll be okay sticking with her instructions but I'm going to sit down with the knitting notebook and write it all out so I don't screw up another project.
For my shrug I bought Berrocco's Touche. Wow. I didn't realize how freakin soft this yarn was! I looked a little thicker than what I imagined the yarn should but I bought it anyway thinking if it didn't work I could return my unwound hanks. I knitted up right gauge on the first try (again) on size 7's. The yarn was even nicer feeling knit up. Plus, it is machine washable.
The last thing I needed was more yarn, but I think knitting these will take the edge off the excitement of the Disney trip a little bit. I've been x-ing days off the calendar and its a little like torture. Now I have some new projects to start on and the outside of a house to paint. Good luck to me. Maybe I should have that second cup of coffee....