Destiny

Normally when I buy yarn I have a plan for it. Please note I'm talking about yarn and not fiber. Spinning stash is an entirely different animal in itself.

I buy yarn, it comes home and is logged into the Ravelry stash then I add a little note saying what it will become. If it does not become the planned item within a couple months it moved deeper into the stash and gets its own little baggy with what it is for written on the baggy and maybe a copy of the pattern inside with the yarn.

At Stitches West I had a full plan that I was not not going to buy yarn unless I knew what it would become. Well 2 out of 3 yarn purchases hit that requirement.

At the Yarn Place Arizona booth they had bags of 10 skeins of yarn for $20. I fell in love with this yarn:

Bel Canto DK

My companions Caren and Cassy did not even tease me for breaking the rule that I had to have a plan for it as we all agreed that with about 1,100 yards of DK weight yarn I could make just about any garment I wanted.

I took this lovely bunch of yarn home and began to do some research. I set my heart on Rubies and Ribbons, thinking that since you hold 2 yarns together in this garment I would be perfectly fine.

So last night before knit night I went to The Golden Fleece and picked up needles to swatch it, as I hear that's a requirement for the swirls.

The swatch was a disaster!

My gauge was so far off that I was getting about 1/2 the stitches per inch I was suppose to. Caren tried to help me by looking at the pattern and the swatch and she knew, as I did, that this just was not going to happen. While some of our group looked nervously at me (as I was the second person last night to have a project go horribly wrong), I just decided that it was not to be and started to look through the book for a pattern that matched my gauge.

I accepted that the yarn's destiny was not to be that swirl, but as I'd already agreed to buy another person's stash of this yarn off them for a swirl I was determined that the 2,200 yards of this yarn I now own would be a swirl.

While flipping through the book I saw Depth of Field:

It had all I wanted. A large lapel, not too much fabric around the hips and it was long enough for my tastes.

I then checked the gauge for it and was shocked. My swatch was perfect for it. I was right on row and stitch gauge, which is stuff of legends. The funny thing was that I looked at the suggested needle size and it was US10 and I realized I was getting the drape I wanted and gauge with a size US5.

Casted on and starting the first welt

I hope to do at least 2 welts a day so it'll take me a little over a month to complete this wonderful sweater.

But please don't hold me to that timeline!