Wishing For Some Purple Yarn and Still Knitting Red

December 8 I ordered purple Cascade 220 from a local yarn store (20 miles away) to knit the She Said Aran and was told it would be in the week of January 7. Since I was in Kalamazoo today, I stopped by to see if, by any chance, it was sitting in the yarn store waiting for me.

Dream on, Marguerite! The store owner told me it would be two more weeks, making a grand total of over six weeks waiting for this yarn.

As I've said before, I do have sympathy for yarn store owners who can't compete with the internet yarn stores. They need to offer something the internet yarn stores can't provide.

In the case of my purple yarn, the store offered the opportunity to pick the exact purple I wanted from real yarn samples. Once I got the color number, it would have been rude to come home and order it online at a cheaper price and much quicker delivery. I just didn't feel right about doing that, so I didn't.

I'm sure the store owner needs a certain minimum order to get a discount and make a profit on the yarn she buys. Still, it's asking a lot for a knitter to wait six weeks for yarn.

I plan to fill the two weeks of waiting with sock knitting and CIC sweater knitting.

The January/February/March CIC challenge is for size 2 and 4 toddler vests and sweaters.

I love the little ganseys in Knitting Ganseys by Beth Brown-Reinsel. They're a fun knit and there's no sewing when the knitting is done.

When I knit a wool sweater, I normally estimate the amount of yarn needed very generously because I know I can use the leftover for CIC knitting. There was enough red wool left over from Autumn Song for a size 4 gansey.


Pattern: Pattern: Snakes and Ladders Gansey from Knitting Ganseys by Beth Brown-Reinsel. Rolled neckline replaced by ribbed neckline. An extra inch of stockinette at the bottom to lengthen the sweater for warmer coverage.

Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes, 100% wool.

Color: Firecracker heather (left over from Autumn Song)

Needles: #2 and #4.

Gauge: 6 stitches/inch, 8 rows/inch in pattern