A while ago I had an idea for a new pattern. Actually, to be more specific, it’s a major modification using the basics of one of my existing patterns.
Before I could cast on, I needed yarn. I need red, black, white, blue and cream yarn, in roughly a worsted weight. I didn’t think I had anything, until I remembered some Berocco Comfort DK I’ve had for a while now. Perfect! I printed out my chart, and last night while Yannick and I watched an episode of $h!t My Dad Says, I did a mini swatch.
Hmm. The yarn calls for a 4mm, and I need a tighter gauge, so I swatched with 3.25s, but the fabric I got was still pretty open. I couldn’t find a 3mm (actually, I could barely find any needles- where are they??) so I figured I’d just get thicker yarn.
I went to my LYS this morning a bit before they opened, so while I waited I went online on my phone and took another look through my Ravelry stash. Ok- things were looking promising…I had the right shade of blue and white Cascade 220 in my stash, so I would only need a red, black and cream. Great! Except…
The LYS didn’t have the right shade of red. 😦 They had crimson, fuchsia, raspberry, red wine, almost every possible pinkish tone of red that exists. But no RED, like a real, primary color red.
We started going through other possible options, and D, who works there, showed me the exact color red, in Berocco Comfort Worsted. Yeah, but, I told her, I tried swatching with that last night, and didn’t get a tight enough fabric. I stopped thinking about it, and kept looking around the store. I’m ashamed to say it actually took about 5 more minutes of discussion before I realized that I’d swatched with the yarn I own, which is Comfort DK. The yarn in the store was Comfort Worsted. Thicker. Duh.
Great! Except…
The LYS didn’t have the right shade of blue. 😦 They had denim, cornflower, dusty blue, almost every possible greenish or grayish tone of blue that exists. But no BLUE, like a real, primary color blue.
I was about to give up and head to Zellers for some Red Heart Super Saver, just to get a chance to knit up a sample, when I had the bright idea of knitting with the DK I own, but held doubled. I had enough for my project, and it would obviously give me a thicker yarn…it just might work.
I felt really guilty, though, at having taken up their time and having D run around to the back to look for the right shades of yarn for me, so I might have bought a ball of sock yarn.
Look, Ma- it’s my very first Zauberball!
(And it’s Ravelry colors, just in time for Spring. LOVE.)
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I had to make a run out to the Children’s Hospital this afternoon to bring Henri’s doctor some recent videos, and when I finished there it was late enough that it didn’t make sense to head back to work, but early enough that I had about an hour to kill before picking up the kids. I came home and sat down to start working on the project with the Comfort DK doubled.
I HAD an hour, but ended up with only about 20 minutes of knitting time. When I turned the TV on it was at the party scene in Batman & Robin (the Val Kilmer/Chris O’Donnell one) and man- that movie is like a car wreck or something- I didn’t want to watch but just couldn’t tear my eyes away. From Nicole Kidman’s non-moving face to Jim Carey and Tommy Lee Jones’ over the top villians…wow. Just wow.
I started with the white, and a 3.5mm needle. So far so good. I moved on to the black; still working great. Then I threw in some red and came to a screeching halt. My red wasn’t red. I thought it was red, but it wasn’t red. It was very-dark-almost-red-but-just-a-little-too-pink-to-be-actual-red red.
That sucked. Not sure how well the color came out via cell phone camera, but it’s like faux red. It’s like almost, but not quite, entirely unlike red.
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But there was a solution to be had, and I still had enough time to carry it out. My LYS still had that ball of Comfort Worsted in The Right Red.
Or rather, they had had it. I have it now.
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So here’s where it begins. You take the pattern, you take the yarn, you take the needles, and there you have…the facts of li- whoops. Hehe. Sorry. It’s been a long day.
I’m going to go take the edge of by knitting. Do you ever need to squeeze in a few rows just to get through a rough patch?
April 5, 2011 at 2:31 pm
Wow, that is quite the yarn drama! I’m glad you finally found something that worked out though. My projects rarely have such dramatic origins.
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May 22, 2011 at 12:07 pm
I definitely sometimes knit to get my mind off other things.
Wow, what a day!
Did the recent videos of Henri help the doctor any?
Nice shade of Zauberball – it’s nice stuff, eh?
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