Sweater Update-Heide's Sweater or What To Do When You Run Out Of Yarn!

 

Yes! Crisis! I ran out of yarn! I know too many exclamation points, but when you are talking crisis, you have to have them.

I really should have know better. As I stated in my first sweater update, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it with only five skeins. But that is me, the eternal optimist. I really should have know better. First of all, the yarn is cotton. Cotton is heavy, that means less yardage per skein. Second, the pattern I picked out takes EXTRA yarn then a normal sweater. It is a longer, fuller length, there are tucks and pleats, the sleeves are full and it has cute pockets. Those are all features that use up yarn. So now that you have heard the full story,

What does one do?!?

 

1. Tear the whole thing out and bury it in the bottom of your yarn stash until you can come up with another brilliant project to make with it.

 

2. Comb the internet and all remotely local yarn stores for a few more skeins in your dye lot.

 

3. Incorporate a new color of yarn in your sweater, design your own sweater!

 

4. Unravel something. Make it short sleeved, three quarters sleeves. Take a bit of length off the bottom. Decrease a bit somewhere.

 

I know some of these options sounds a bit crazy and you might be thinking yes, she is an eternal optimist, but I have actually used all three of these options on projects gone awry.

Once you think about them, they are not as crazy as they seem. For the first option, of course you are not just going to chuck your whole project in the trash. Yarn is way to expensive for that! And letting all the emotion and worry die away before you think about it again helps. On the second option, it is not as hard to find matching yarn as it once was. The internet is a huge place and now with Ravelry you can even see if another knitter has a few skeins in her stash she is willing to part with. The third might take more brain work then anything. Maybe you could use a contrasting edging or different colored sleeves or knit a few stripes into the bottom of the body and sleeves. Option four is pretty self explanatory. And if you are just a wee bit shy, this is better then hunting down another skein to end up using 3 yards from it.

 

I am sure by now you have figured out I found more yarn. It took a bit of hunting and there was a scary moment when I found out it was a discontinued color.

It is not very visible in the picture, but another thing I had not realized until my hunt, there is no dye lot. This yarn is kettle dyed (which means each skein can vary in hue). Naturally, I did not notice this until half the sweater was knitted up. But I am not letting it worry me, even though you can tell where I started a new skein and one sleeve is lighter then the rest, I am embracing the whole look! The best way to avoid this look (so they say), is to knit one or two rounds with one skein and the next one or two with another skein. This method drives me nuts. Once I am settled in watching a movie, who remembers to change yarn after every row?!

Aside from the slight set back of lack of yarn, my sweater is coming along fine. I am working on the icord bind off around all the edges and then the pockets and it will be finished!