Cozy

To distract from the fact I haven't finished any projects since last week, I'll show a slightly old project instead!

Knitters can often be heard saying that a yarn spoke to them.  Let them know what it should--or shouldn't--be.  Some people might find this odd, but is it any different from a sculptor that looks at a hunk of marble and sees an armless goddess?

I bought this lovely yarn many years ago.  I suspect I bought it in 2000, or maybe even before.  It was after November 1998 (when we bought my little car, which I'm pretty sure we were driving), but before Feb 2001 when I rolled it.  Of course, I could be totally wrong and we were in the next vehicle, but it was still definitely before 2002.  Funny what we use to date events!  We were driving to Bancroft, from Orangeville, and stopped in a large yarn (and back then it had quilting stuff) store, on Anne St (or, you get off on Anne Street).  They had a great back room with their discount items.  I bought 19 balls (I might have bought 20, but what I have here adds up to 18.36 balls).  I don't remember the price, but I can't see myself paying more than $2.50 per ball--that would have been nearly $50 plus tax, and I'm sure Rob was with me so it would have been a hard sell!  For some reason, $2/ball seems "right" in my mind.

The yarn is Naturally "Cafe".  It's "10 ply", or, a 20st/4" worsted weight.  I hate the "ply" system.  The yarn itself has only 4 plies.  It's 42% NZ wool, 28% alpaca fleece, 26% mohair, and 4% nylon.  At the time, alpaca was not common in yarn, so I was thrilled to try it.  There's 3 green strands, and then one black boucle strand. The yarn feels really soft and almost silky "in the ball".   However, once you knit it, it has almost a prickly feel!  I had originally planned to make a plain sweater.  I did try once  I got the LK150, to make a sweater, but wasn't happy.  When I got my yarn cubbies in May 2010 I put this yarn prominently at the front (bottom left cubby in the last picture).  I knew I had to keep it visible.

With this being the year to use up stash, I knew I had to get this yarn made into something.  I did some swatching and really realized that it was not going to become a sweater.  Maybe a cardigan, but I still wasn't convinced.  All of a sudden I decided it was going to become an afghan--we hadn't had a new one for the couch in quite a long time and the ones we had had been stolen to someone's bedroom.

 I choose Heidi's round table cloth pattern--the same one I used for Meg's baby blankets. It looks much different in a "mature" yarn! This time I did it on the Singer SK155. Maybe T9?

There are ripples in this one.  I didn't block it really, just washed it and stretched it out over a chair to dry.  I've had the ripples in other versions, but not the two I made for Meg.  I think the looser the gauge, the less likely the ripples.  They don't bother me for an afghan, but I wouldn't want that as a tablecloth.

It has been well received on the couch, though Hugh asked if it could be "his".  Ummm.   No.  Rob thought it should be a little bit bigger, LOL.  My big question now, is what to do with 244gr of the leftover yarn?!

Yarn In:  10 905gr

Yarn Out:  674gr + 9185gr = 9859gr

Balance:  1046gr more In than Out

Cost:  $192.71/107 days = $1.80 per day