Hourglass

i recently checked last minute knitted gifts out of the library and absolutely had to have the hourglass sweater. the sweater is made with noro's cash iroha yarn. people rave about noro yarn but i've never knit with it. i find the colors very muddy and dark and kinda ugs; however, cash iroha comes in solid colors. and is very soft. and pretty. and expensive.

off i toddled to my LYS to squeeze some skeins and decide on a color for my hourglass. the sweater in the book is knit in a fabulous orange. i look great in orange. the "orange" at my LYS was not nearly as nice as the one in the book (it is called "curry" apparently.) instead i chose the perfect red for me.

of course, the LYS didn't have enough of the perfect red to make the sweater. i turned again to the trusted internet. and found 10 skeins on ebay for $77 less than what i'd pay at the LYS. woot! and it arrived today! isn't it pretty? i can't wait to cast on.

i need 11 skeins for the sweater and i've read that some people have used almost an entire extra skein. option 1) i'll pop in the LYS to see if i can match the dye lot (not likely). option 2) use the non-matching skein(s) to knit the turned hems -- body and sleeves -- and inside the neck. option 2.5) one smarty pants out there used a contrasting color for her hems but i'm not sure i want to do that with this perfect red. maybe blue? option 3) i can also do alternating rows in the body to hide the mixed dye lots.