Sigh....

I want to make Carlotta from Rowan #36. I have priced out the yarn, and it looks like it's going to cost me around $160.00. Now, that's a bit much for a sweater like that, in my opinion. I love Rowan Yarns, and I love this pattern, but I think I'm going to need to find some ways to cut corners.

We're basically looking at this:

3 Balls Kidsilk Haze (1 each of 3 colors) at approx $12.80 each $38.40

16 balls of Yorkshire Tweed 4 ply (12 of main color; 1 each of 4 others) @$5.95 each

$95.20


3 balls 4 ply soft (1 each of 3 colors) @ $8.35 each $25.05


Grand Total (not including shipping, or the beads or ribbon) $158.65



Now, I'm thinking that a total of 22 balls of yarn for a sweater is a lot, so obviously, a lot of those colors won't use an entire ball. Leading me to believe that I'll likely have a lot of the colors on the intarsia piece left over, and could get a scarf or such out of that price too.

And, it's not like I can't avoid shipping by getting some of the yarns locally. And I have a gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket. But I also question why I need to be using Kidsilk Haze for intarsia--is the mohair really going to add a lot to that pattern? Or could I substitute something a lot cheaper? I think I could.

Of course, if I really wanted to do the work, I could substitute the entire color chart. The yorkshire tweed isn't that expensive, and I don't think that $70 for the bulk of the sweater's body is bad at all.

Substitution ideas for 4 ply soft and kidsilk haze and flower colors in any of those yarns? I'm open for ideas.

I'm also open for discounted Rowan suppliers. I've checked froogle, ebay, Jimmy Beans Wool and yarnmarket.com so far, and those prices up there reflect the best I've found so far.