Inspiration

I had a great time this past weekend. Common Threads in Encinitas was having their annual balloon sale, so a few of us Rebecca's regulars went up first thing Saturday morning. The sale's a little strange because you don't know what percentage you are going to get until you pop the balloon you picked at check out time. You can save at least 10% off and up to 50% with obviously there being a whole lot less 50% off balloons. This means that it is a good sale for things that you are going to pick up anyway, but few deep discounts. I went with the intension of looking for the main color yarn for Glampyre's new pattern available at the Stitch Diva.

I loved this sweater the first time I saw it and liked it even more when I realized that I would have a chance to use the hank of Rock Star I picked up a couple months ago. I knew that I needed to find a good substitution for the main body color since I couldn't afford to knit it in all silk. Unfortunately, it also calls for one more hank of Rock Star, which most likely meant I had to find some other kind of substitution for that as well.

The moment of inspiration hit me when I saw the selection of Rock Star Common Threads had in stock. They had a really pretty varigated colorway in purple, olive, blue and gray (it's actually "Ritz" 103 not "Rock Star", but really, it's practically the same thing). I also stumbled upon a hank of Cotton Twist in the exact purple (Soul 8387) as in the Rock Star hank. With the second hank of Rock Star I could tie together the original hank of olive Rock Star with the purple Cotton Twist.
The purple Cotton Twist has a bit of Rayon in it that gives it a sheen and a pretty close fake out to the silk that it is supposed to be. It will also give the body of the sweater a bit more interest than a truly solid color since I wasn't planning on knitting the main color in a varigated shade like the original.

Needless to say I am super excited to get started, but I need to get some of these WIPs done to free up some of my needles. It is starting to get out of control. I also want to take the time to do this project right. Knitzalot clued me in on the Crafter discussion about substitution yarn, which has focused on the fact that the pattern gauge accounts for the tendencies of the silk to ease out. My cotton won't behave that exact way, so I'll have to do some research so I get this right.

After the sale Knitzalot, Cora and I headed out to lunch after a brief stop by Two Sisters and Ewe. I had never been there and we wanted to check out their collection of Cotton Fleece. They have a great selection of Cotton Fleece and Lamb's Pride in a ton of colors I had never seen in person. The best part is that I found out that this yarn shop was a couple of doors down from B's Billiard shop, so I will no longer be hanging out in the car while he runs in!

We ended up arriving a bit late to Rebecca's but were happy to see that Theresa had been able to stop by for a bit and hang out. And Jessica joined back up with us not too long after. Several times that day people made the comment that they were very happy with what they had picked up at the sale. I'm glad I went, but I have so much to keep me busy, I won't "need" anything for a while. ;-)