Startitis, yarn adventures, and one zucchini.

I honestly started this entire story as an Instagram post (because I’m usually too busy to fire up a laptop to share my adventures) but after re-writing my captions on a handful of pictures I realized I really couldn’t sum up. So let me ‘esplain…

I’ve had a sweater project in the works now for a couple of years. Each year, as the season cools off, I think that I should probably get cracking on finishing it. It would be nice to actually wear it when the weather is colder…but it’s been a slog. I have a million excuses as to why it’s not done yet but it really comes down to hours in a day, the yarn size I’m using (dental floss…according to my friend, Dee) and my mental acuity being completely used up by the time I get to sit down of an evening. There’s a billion stitches on this thing and a tired brain does not count well - and I’m so sick of ripping out because of errors caused by counting.

The last known photograph of the endless sweater.

Social media marketing, no doubt privy to my endless sweater project angst, repeatedly marketed a very fast beginner level cardigan. The catch is that I would need to learn how to crochet.

Nothing like learning a new skill with a bang, right? Energized, and slightly off my rocker, I went and bought a set of crochet hooks. Clearly, I’ve gone to the dark side.

Now in my defense, I bought the pattern and read it through. It’s worked in the round and is almost entirely double crochet. There’s some increases and a few techniques I need to figure out, but despite this sounding like a trip down insanity lane, I don’t think I’m completely out of my league here. Besides, I have dial-a-happy-hooker options to get me squared around should I completely muck this up. I know crochet goes fast and I once I get going on this thing, it should be nicely mindless…and maybe I’ll even get it completed in enough time to wear it this winter.

The next challenge has been sourcing the yarn. (Why does startitis have to be so complicated??) My somewhat broad shoulders (and, well…broad everything else) is going to require 2200 yards of size 5 bulky weight. Yarn ain’t cheap….and I’m not willing to do anything I want to eventually wear with cheap yarn. This creates a quandary.

I realize, with a moment of wry humor, that a fiber household can be ingredient-only as much as a homesteader’s kitchen (referencing a meme I see frequently). I am surrounded by pounds of really nice wool…in fleece form.

I hadn’t really factored in spinning 2200 yards into my completion time and the initial startitis enthusiasm has now started to lose some steam. The eternal sweater of dental floss is starting to make sense in both wallet and time and I’m starting to give myself the stern talking-to that means I need to suck it up and press onward.

However, I’m no quitter then I want to avoid something. Remember that.

In a last ditch attempt to come up with enough yardage, I hit up Facebook Marketplace and found a partial old yarn shop inventory/estate sale listing that some suspected larger quantities of yarn (as seen from the photos). I hit up my bestie and we made an afternoon of it with a road trip to the next town over. It was a stash dive to end all stash dives - some equipment, lots of sewing notions, knick-knacks, quilting materials, fabric, antique glass, old record albums - you name it. Alas, despite having some very nice yarns, there wasn’t enough of any one kind to get what I needed.

However, you know fiber people - there’s no such thing as walking away empty handed. Project on the table or not, we are the children of magpies and dragons. Shiny things must be hoarded. My haul is as follows:

BFL and a glitz of gold shimmer nylon - lovely hand. Probably durable as heck sock yarn, but this is definitely in danger of a future cowl project. Worthy of stashing until I figure it out.

These two skeins were sitting side by side on the table. They wanted to come home with me. Together.

Once I got them home, I realized I had two other skeins I scored at Brown Sheep a few weeks ago that might also want to be friends. I’m going to have to think on this a bit - the two brown sheep skeins are a slightly larger gauge, but I’m loving how the colors all play together.

Darning eggs - I didn’t own any of these previously and I have a fondness for well-loved tools - someone’s spirit is infused into these. This was a no-brainer purchase.

A shawl pin that I think will double nicely as a hair stick (I honestly think that’s a chicken feather now that I look at it more closely) and a yarn gauge that I think I can fit an orifice hook into and keep on my wheel.

The elusive ChiaoGoo interchangable circular needle set. This is a shortie set. Someday I will have the regular set that I’ve been lusting after for years, but this is a nice “Gimmie!” in the meantime. If you know anything about good quality needles, these were an absolute steal.

A free zucchini. Because it’s that time of year. (A random child handed it to me and the seller insisted I keep it.)

Despite striking out on the yarn I needed, I certainly got a few goodies out of the trip and time spent with the kind of friend that never drains your social battery (because no filters needed, ever) was well worth a Sunday afternoon. A girls lunch and some discussions over future shenanigans was icing on the cake - and speaking of cake….there was a dessert called a Caramel Walnut Butter cake that I should be ashamed to admit I ate half of, but dear god that was delicious. Calories don’t count on a Sunday, right?

On the way home, I went over my fleece and roving stash inventory in my head and realized I might have the perfect fiber for the project.

Random Jacob from somewhere. I’m not entirely sure where though. (The stash has mysteries.)

I have a whole 3 lb bag of washed Jacob. While it’s not my favorite wool, this stuff is pretty nice and I think after a trip through the drum carder, it will result in some nice variegated grays that would probably translate pretty well to the circular construction of the cardigan. I really didn’t know what I was going to do with the wool and had considered just selling it (it’s been in the stash a while), but this is how these things go…and why we keep a stash in the first place. The planets were in alignment and I have a potential solution to my problem.

Thanks for coming along on the adventure - I’m sure plenty of you are commiserating on the process because we’ve all been there. (I’m a repeat offender.) May your yarn adventures result in awesome scores, and your stash dives always provide options.

Until next time, be well.