I haven't been knitting for that long, and I've been assuming that yarn is pretty much, well, yarn. They have lots of yarn at craft stores like Michael's and Jo-Ann Fabrics, which is where I've been buying my yarn. But I'm getting better at the knitting thing (I've now completed two scarves, two hats, and one blanket!), so I thought I'd check out my local knitting store to see what they had to offer. As it turns out, buying yarn from Michael's is like buying running shoes from Famous Footwear. I expected to be at the knitting store (called Studio One and handily located 1.5 miles from my house) for about ten minutes. But the yarn.... They had the most beautiful yarn I've ever seen, and I wish now that I'd shopped there for the wool for the girls' hats. Next time, I guess.
I spent an obscenely long time looking at yarn. Who knew there were so many different kinds? Then I spent an equally long time trying to figure out whether changing the type of yarn my project called for would also mean that the gauge would change (the answer is "yes," which I figured, but the whole gauge change thing seemed well beyond the scope of of my knowledge). Then I spent a bewildering amount of time trying to figure out how much yarn I needed (I am not a math person, but this is not news to me). Finally, the yarn store lady stepped in. When it was all said and done, I had ended up with a completely different pattern than the one I'd been planning to use, had the correct number of skeins of yarn, and had spent $40.
The yarn is the most beautiful blue--I spent a long time looking at yarn colors because I really didn't want to knit with baby blue (boring!) for a million days. It's cotton, feels amazing, and is such fun to work with. It's going to be hard to give away! I'm knitting a blanket for Dean's brother and SIL, who are expecting a baby boy in May (I think). (And no, this is not Dave and Sarah.) It occurs to me that I could have *bought* them a pretty nice blanket for $40 (actually, though, the yarn was only $28, and then the needles I needed were an extra $10). But it seems like a hand-knit blanket is a nicer gift than a store-bought one, no? The pattern is starting to to take shape, and it's so pretty. It's a more complicated pattern than I've followed so far, but it's exactly where my skill level is right now, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. Here are some pics. As it turns out, it's really hard to photograph knitting. One of the photos looks (to me) like there is an incorrect stitch, but it's just a weird angle. I haven't made any noticeable mistakes so far. I have dropped stitches off my needle a couple of times though and was pleased that I was able to pick them up without incident.
I spent an obscenely long time looking at yarn. Who knew there were so many different kinds? Then I spent an equally long time trying to figure out whether changing the type of yarn my project called for would also mean that the gauge would change (the answer is "yes," which I figured, but the whole gauge change thing seemed well beyond the scope of of my knowledge). Then I spent a bewildering amount of time trying to figure out how much yarn I needed (I am not a math person, but this is not news to me). Finally, the yarn store lady stepped in. When it was all said and done, I had ended up with a completely different pattern than the one I'd been planning to use, had the correct number of skeins of yarn, and had spent $40.
The yarn is the most beautiful blue--I spent a long time looking at yarn colors because I really didn't want to knit with baby blue (boring!) for a million days. It's cotton, feels amazing, and is such fun to work with. It's going to be hard to give away! I'm knitting a blanket for Dean's brother and SIL, who are expecting a baby boy in May (I think). (And no, this is not Dave and Sarah.) It occurs to me that I could have *bought* them a pretty nice blanket for $40 (actually, though, the yarn was only $28, and then the needles I needed were an extra $10). But it seems like a hand-knit blanket is a nicer gift than a store-bought one, no? The pattern is starting to to take shape, and it's so pretty. It's a more complicated pattern than I've followed so far, but it's exactly where my skill level is right now, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. Here are some pics. As it turns out, it's really hard to photograph knitting. One of the photos looks (to me) like there is an incorrect stitch, but it's just a weird angle. I haven't made any noticeable mistakes so far. I have dropped stitches off my needle a couple of times though and was pleased that I was able to pick them up without incident.
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