The Long (and LONGER) of it

I love my Geode yarn. I love the colorway...Rainbow Agate. I love them both like it's nobody's business. Yes, I'm a yarn dork with this yarn!

A few months back, when I first saw this yarn and the pattern booklet, I fell in love with the cover sweater. Well, not with the sweater...but with the color changes in the yarn. I knew I HAD to make something with it. Last October, when I was preparing to go to Stefanie Japel's workshop in DC, I bought a couple balls of yarns I loved...so I could play with them but not be completely commited if they didn't "work out". One ball of Geode was part of my purchase. But I didn't use it back then. I didn't even play with it. I just gently squeezed it every now and then, falling deeper and deeper in love.

Eventually I purchased 13 additional balls and the Geode & Jasper booklet. The patterns gave me some great ideas but none of them were exactly right for what I wanted to do. So I got my sketch pad out, read up on pattern elements in my Sweater Design book (one of the best Christmas presents...ever!) and CO some stitches a few days before New Years Eve. Granted, I hadn't finished Therapi for Nana yet, but I couldn't stop myself from knitting with Geode once and for all! So that I didn't get completely consumed by this new project while we were away (Vermont) I only brought 4 balls with me...and quickly knit through them! I quietly went back to Therapi (love the design...but, again, not so much in the Lion Brand yarn...but you know that story already) on the ride home to New Jersey. I kept my promise to finish Therapi before working on anything else - afterall, it was a gift.

And as soon as Therapi was finished...wha cha...back to Geode. The body took 6 balls and each of the arms has taken approx 2 balls each. I tried the body on last night (for the first time) and decided I wanted to make it a bit longer. I also tried the sleeves on - again they need to be longer. That's the story of my knitting - longer, longer, longer.

I finished the sleeves (again) this morning. I will probably knit another inch to the body tonight - but maybe an inch and a half just to be sure. The problem is that I now have 4 balls left. I will probably use most of 1 for the extra length of the body...but then I run into the problem of wondering if 3 will be enough for the yoke and collar? Ah yes, the wonders of designing something and running out of yarn 90% of the way through! The comforting thing is that the extra balls of yarn (if necessary) don't have to be EXACTLY the same dyelot - that's one of the wonderful things about Geode!

I'll be taking photos of my progress this evening before joining the parts together - and am SUPER excited to know I'll be able to wear the sweater before too much longer - whoo hoo!

What's everyone else knitting? Do you have a dorky yarn story like mine? Come on, I know you do!