A Few Skeins Short of A Sweater

A while back, I was wandering around Elann (if you haven't ever been, you should go check it out- they get discontinued yarn lots and closeouts and mark them WAY down, plus they have a nice yarn line of their own), and I ran across this. I thought it was cute (I don't like the collar up as much as the way they show it in the magazine) and it looked like a simple little cardi to toss on in the Fall. So I read the blurb that Elann had kindly put with the picture and yarn, and ordered 10 balls of yarn.

When I got the yarn, it came in with the yarn I'm using for Solace and I remembered thinking that it didn't seem like enough yarn for a cardi, particularly when the front bands and cuffs are knit with the yarn doubled, but I had read the blurb, so surely it would be fine. Over the weekend I decided to begin the cardi, so I cast on (I'll explain changes I've made at the end of this post). As I was working on the back, I looked at the pattern (Vogue Knitting Holiday 2006, design #18) and paid attention to the yarn requirements for the first time. They called for Montera which is 127 yards per skein. I was using the Elann yarn which is 76 yards per skein. Hmmm. My gut was telling me this could be a problem. As a knitter who has learned the hard way to listen to her gut, I paid attention. I had 10 skeins so I had 760 yards. The yardage requirement for my size was 1143 yards or 9 skeins of Montera. This wasn't a case of "maybe I could shorten the length a bit and it will all be OK" this was definitely "Holy Math Challenged Knitter Batman! This thing has no sleeves!" Ooops.

I went back to the Elann site and actually READ the blurb about the pattern and yarn. Turns out, they listed both the Montera yard requirements and their own brand's requirements. I didn't actually read it before - it was more of a skimming. Well, the knitting goddess was smiling upon me, because they still had 50+ skeins of my yarn in my dyelot (thank you, thank you, thank you Elann, for listing your yarns with dyelots). So this story should have a happy ending - there are 6 more balls of yarns on their way to me just as soon as the US Postal Service goes back to work tomorrow! (It's Columbus Day, Federal Holiday, No Mail.)

Since I don't do anything the way I'm told to, here are all the details: I'm using Elann's Peruvian Highland Chunky in Tranquil Lagoon. After casting on, I worked a WS row in Knit, then switched to stockinette stitch, instead of just starting in stockinette. It still needs blocking, but it will help the rolling a little bit. I also added back neck shaping so it doesn't creep down my back all day. On the fronts, since I do intend to wear it with the collar folded back as they show in the magazine (there's a link on Elann's site if you don't have that issue), I didn't like the way the edging (or lack thereof) looked on the collar as it folds back, so I'm knitting an I cord edge on as I go to make the edging look more finished. As you can see in the picture above, I've finished the back and have started the left front. It's not a difficult pattern, but the fronts are a little fiddly since you work with a single strand of yarn for part of them and one needle size for that section, then switch to a double strand partway across the row and use a different needle size for the second section.