Progress, and a diversion

I've managed to knit almost 15 inches on the baby blanket, and I do really like the look of it. Unfortunately, late last night (or early this morning, since it was long after midnight), I ran into a problem. A missing stitch. Not one I can easily just add back in, but one I can't find where it went missing. So I have to rip back until I have all the stitches. All 126 of them. And I just couldn't face it.

While I was out buying the yarn for this baby blanket, I ran across a Michael's brand yarn called Loops & Threads. They had a really bulky warm cream yarn that I bought a skein of to try out. It's acrylic, which I don't knit often, but this yarn feels incredibly soft, and being machine washable and dryable does appeal to me. So, last night while I was feeling very frustrated with the blanket, I tried out this yarn.

And this afternoon I have 18 inches of a moss-stitch cardigan front on my needles. No pattern, just something in my head I'm working out as I go. (Does anyone else do that?) I love the nubby look of the moss stitch, and this yarn really accents that nubbiness. Of course, now I'll have to go back to Michael's and get more yarn, praying that they 1) have the same dyelot and 2)that they have enough yarn for the whole cardigan.

Like I really need to buy more yarn. But then, I didn't buy any for nearly a year or so, so maybe it's okay. I just seem to be making up for lost time rather rapidly. I've also been to Elann a couple (3?) times in the last week or so, and bought some lovely yarns.  I got 13 skins of a Knit One Crochet Too USDK  (that's the pattern I'm making, too)yarn in a gorgeous shade of wine. I'll be using that to make one of the free patterns I found on their site. And I went back a day or two later to get Elann's Bamboo Fusion for a Maddy Laine pattern. They are having a full bag sale on the Fusion, just $18.15 for a bag of 10 50g skeins! I also picked up some of their Pegasus, as well, for a cute little cropped cardi I want to make. And a day later, when I only meant to look through their free patterns (honestly!), they were offering a sample (6 skeins) of their mid-weight house yarns for only $15, so I got one of those, too, in lovely shades of purple.

I don't actually feel guilty for buying yarn. It lasts forever, and if I don't knit it today, there's always tomorrow. Or next year, or whenever. It's just that it's August. August and September are my "no unnecessary buying" months. As a teacher, I don't get paid between July 1st and October 1st, so these are lean months.  This is so not the month to get bitten by the yarn acquisition bug! So, I'm promising myself that once I get enough of the bulky cream yarn to finish the cardigan, I'm not buying anymore yarn until November. (October's check is always spent before it actually gets here, so...)  Moral support welcome!