Bathroom Done, Now Have Time to Knit

This weekend I began the Alien Illusion Scarf from S&B. I've been meaning to do it for as long as I've had the book, but just never got around to it. It isn't really a HARD pattern, but it requires you to count and think and pay attention, which is challenging me thus far. Each alien head is successively easier, which is a good thing. It will be a Christmas present for one of Mr. Knitty's friends.

I want to knit something for myself though. I want something light and fun and fresh for spring. Something that is pretty but good for work too. Something out of nice yarn.

And then I realized that I know SO little about really nice yarn. Name off a cheap yarn from Michael's and I can tell you all about it; how much yardage, whether it fuzzes, what the fiber content is, etc. For most of the time I have been knitting I have simply not had the money to buy nice yarn; maybe 1 ball here and there but not $60 for one project. Or even $40 for one project!

I was looking through the Patternworks catalogue and I see so many pretty things but I don't know if they drape nice or if they grow funny or are annoying to knit with. My nice-yarn knowledge is limited almost exclusively to Cascade 220 and sock yarn.

So I don't know quite what to do. I don't want to make an expensive mistake. I've paid $30 for yarn and found it unsatisfactory and THAT sucked, I certainly don't want to spend $60 for yarn and find that unsatisfactory, too.

If anyone is reading this and has a suggestion for a nice lightweight summer yarn that won't grow, pill, fuzz, or hang funny, do tell ;-)

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A [somewhat related] rant. For the past 6 years I have happily knit with Lion Brand yarn. My schedule makes it difficult to get to yarn shops very often, and Michael's is nice and convenient to my house. The yarn is pretty inexpensive and most of it is washable. There *was* a range of weights and textures. I know that a lot of knitters don't like Lion yarn, and that's okay. I respect that. But it was good for me, so I was happy with it.

Now I am becoming a bit disenchanted with it. I get a nice shiny Lion Brand catalogue 4 times a year in the mail. And it seems, though the knitting world is growing by leaps and bounds, Lion has decided to abandon almost all of their nice, lightweight yarns (by this I mean anything smaller than worsted weight) in favor of more *Quick 'n' Easy* chunky novelty yarns in tiny little put-ups. Each issue I see another nice yarn that I liked; Cotton Ease, Kool Wool (wasn't one of my favorites, but it was a fairly serious yarn), and now Wool Ease sportweight. Which was my husband's very favorite yarn for socks. And in come more big, fat, loopy, chunky, goofy thick yarns.

I *like* thick yarns and I agree they have their place. But it bothers the heck out of me to see so few resources being devoted to more serious, challenging patterns and materials, when there are LOADS of resources being devoted to 'quick 'n' easy' patterns.

It seems we in the knitting world are really selling ourselves short. In my vintage magazines and pattern books, mittens or socks are considered a good beginner project. Oddly enough, the patterns are not peppered with repeated assurances that they are 'Quick 'n' Easy'. Why is it we are so afraid to attempt any pattern that is not a 4 inch wide garter stitch rectangle in Super Ultra Huge yarn??