Finished the Hats

I did it! Knit up six hats in the last four weeks for Warm for Winter. I completely ran out of the brown for the third A Very Warm Hat, and ended up nearly using all the gold. I have just about cleaned out my stash of leftover Cascade 220 between Pipp's Purses Felted Doctor's Bag and these six hats.

I know, I know there are only five hats in the photo. Missing is the Chunky Cabled Beanie by Stitch Cafe that I whipped out the other night. Of course, I found it on Ravelry after doing some searching for cable AND hat. Got to love Casey's Search Engine skills. In no time, I found this fast, easy pattern. In going with use-up-the-stash-leftovers objective that was this project, I dug out a skein of Lion Brand Chunky Wool-Ease that I had leftover from some old Christmas knitting. It worked perfectly and I have enough left to make one more, which I will do this week during my carpool-drag-the-kids-all-over-from-4-to-6 afternoons. And that will put me one over my goal, and use up the rest of that skein. Two great notions.

Now allow me to wax poetic over my love of Lion Brand Chunky Wool-Ease. I had forgotten how much I enjoy knitting it.

Sure there are lots of great yarn out there, expensive yarn, but there are also some really great, relatively inexpensive yarns that do a yeoman's job. The Chunky version of Wool-Ease isn't easy to find, as most of the places that carry Lion Brand tend to overstock, IMHO, the Thick and Quick, which I think is like knitting with nylon rope, but the Chunky is yummy soft and makes great (aka very quick and inexpensive) Christmas presents. I usually end up ordering it online from Jo-Ann's, which I did this week (mulberry) and it was on sale, making it a bargain. I love the cable pattern from the hat, and thought it might make a fun, zip up the front cardigan. Just going to play around with EZ and do my own thing. Sort of nervous about making it up as I go, but then again, I'm not knitting with silk and cashmere here.

What is your favorite sort of bargain yarn?