Yarn Worthy?

I've been sick for the last few days, so I've been posting photos on Facebook, but I haven't been posting here.  I know, shame on me.

This is scarf #2, knitted in Wool Ease Thick and Quick yarn (color: denim twist), using the basic knit stitch.  Cast on 12, knit as many rows as you want for your perfect length, then bind off.  Easy, huh?

But it looks beautiful!  I don't think this really comes through in the photo, but the dark blue part looks almost ribbon-like in the finished product.

This scarf got me thinking about yarn.  I used to think that yarn was yarn, and the only real difference in yarn knowledge was between normal people like me and those folks who spin their own yarn (you know, the hippie folks who live in communes in northern California...the ones whose children run around naked with flowers in their hair.  Of course, anyone running around naked in the far north of California is just crazy because it's cold, which is why women knit and spin their own yarn......but I digress....) was that those people made their own yarn and I bought mine.

Yeah, I was wrong (shocking, huh?). The choices of yarn are mind boggling. Just when I think I have it figured out, I discover more.The most exciting discovery I've made so far is that your yarn choice probably plays the most important part in how your product will come out.  You can knit exactly the same the thing using different types of yarn and it won't look at all like you knitted the same thing.  For example, I have used the simple knit stitch for my first 4 scarves and they look completely different, not like they were all made from with the same simple stitch.

But there's something else I learned.  The really cool yarns are expensive.  Bummer.  I knew there had to be a catch to it. I absolutely love Quick and Cozy yarn for scarves.  It's gorgeous and very, very soft. I can't wait to make a throw blanket with it, too.

And it costs almost $9.00 per skein.  Ouch!  And it takes 2 - 2.5 skeins to make a scarf.  Double ouch!

But it's so beautiful!

So, now I'm thinking about how "yarn-worthy" my friends and relatives are. Some are definitely worthy of the more expensive yarns.  Others, not so much. You know what I mean.

It reminds me of that episode of Seinfeld when Elaine is describing her struggle about deciding if a man is "sponge worthy." Do you remember it? The contraceptive sponge has just gone off the market and women were stuck with the sponges they had in their own private inventories.  Once they were gone, they were gone, so they had to be used judiciously.

There is no shortage of fancy yarn, but its cost makes it scarce and precious in my world. Now the knitting Christmas gifts project has become much more complicated.

So much for simplifying my life.