Compromise never felt so good. Day 47.

Not getting to bed until fairly late last night I slept in until 8 today. Shocker, I know! I then started on a few little things, though my main goal was to get some patterns drafted today. So, since that was my goal, we can assume—correctly—that this didn't happen.

I decided to get my gauge swatch a little further along for my blue McQueen Sweater Dress.




I also started to work on knitting lace, which I have never done before.




The amazing Malabrigo I found the other day is just too stunning a color not to use. The blue is bright. Really bright. I know that this is also not part of Project Hallway, but I just keep finding these amazing textures that I can't keep my mitts off of. The sweater that I want to make with this lace yarn requires more than I bought, so I looked up a place to get more. Turns out one of the few places that have (had) it is in SF., ImagiKnit. So, thinking on my tippy toes, I called a girl-friend, asked her if she wanted to have lunch and starting driving to the city.

After having a lovely lunch, I realized that I just don't get to see this good friend nearly enough, and I started feeling a little blue. So what better than to help my mood than more lovely blue yarn. I bought the only two hanks that the store had and was utterly overwhelmed by their immense selection of yarn—best selection of yarn yet. Drool.

Sadly, with my mood still not improved, I hit up another discount fabric place in San Francisco, and low-and-behold, what did I find? My houndstooth! It's not wool, it is polyester, but it feels soft, the black and white is clean, graphic, and large, and the best part it was $9. Wait, it gets better, turns out it was also 30% off!

I know it is not as nice as the fabric that McQueen used, but I simply can't afford the wool/alpaca blend at Britex. I think that this is part of the challenge of the project, creatively problem solving the materials dilemma. This project isn't supposed to be easy, it is intended to get me thinking outside of my normal ways. So, the fabric may not be "ideal," but to me it is. I had the reaction, the moment that I saw it, that THIS IS THE FABRIC, which is the desired reaction to making any project. As diligently explained by Michael Kors on Project Runway this season, you have to let the fabric speak to you, and understand how you can work with it, and not have it work against you. I can tell that this will drape nicely, and work well for the project. Maybe sometime, when I can afford it again I can go back to Britex and re-do this one with the wool, but I don't know if I will stand to learn enough by doing it a second time to make the effort worth the investment. Again, with the 80/20 principal. Will the outcome really outweigh the effort by enough to make it a valuable use of time and resources? This is a question that is often asked in our kitchen when looking at making something the way that Thomas Keller would, versus the way that will be 80% as good as the Thomas Keller version while taking 20% of the time. So, While I may have compromised the wool, I feel really good about the fabric that I chose.

The woman at the cutting counter said that it had just come in today, and I was the first one to get it. I bough 6 yards for about 40 bucks, and finally my blue mood was lifted, unlike the San Francisco Fog which kept me cool for my drive home on this unusually hot October day.