Spot-Sampler yarn choice!

So, yesterday Spotlight put up the first block for the Spot-Sampler rug!






It's a traditional granny square! It's a good first block, and as they point out, it's a good square to make sure your others match it's size.

But before we get going, we need to sort out what yarn to use.

I did a research trip to Spotlight yesterday (need to get yarn, duh, but I also needed to decide whether I could be stupid enough to try and make an outfit for a Black Tie wedding I'm going to in 2 weeks. Apparently I am :D) and compared yarns. The 'Moda Vera' Pure Wool is a good choice. It's only $3/ball & Spotlight have a 20% off yarns special, so the $75 it was worth you could pick up for $60, which is pretty good. I decided to go for something else, since I needed to buy material for a tea-length skirt as well, so had a look around. I found this:





This is the 'Moda Vera' Marvel range, which is 100% acrylic. It's VERY soft in this 5ply version that I bought. It also comes in an 8ply & 12ply, and in at least 8 different colours. I'd almost say between 10-12 colours, but I didn't actually count!






Now, it's a 5ply, which you can see. What's the difference?






The green yarn is an 8ply & the blue is the Marvel 5ply. Both as worked with a 4mm hook. Can you see the difference?






Just the ply makes a difference in the size, even using the same hook.






The top left square is worked with a 4mm hook, the bottom right with a 5mm hook, and the right square with a 6mm hook. (For the record here, the 6mm is just about the closest to correct sizing for this project, if that's what I was aiming for.)






BIG size difference bewteen the 5mm & 6mm hook, isn't there. It's more than likely proportional, but it looks a lot different.

The pattern calls for 3 different hooks, which at first glance (the list of equipment & supplies we needed towork the project) looked like it was just a personal decision on what size you wanted to use. But apparently some of the blocks are going to be worked in a different hook, which will be interesting.

So, what have I ended up deciding on? Well, I bought 5 balls of the Marvel in a really nice light denim (looks more aqua in the photos), which at $3.50/ball was only $17.50 all up, with 20% went down to $14, which worked into my budget. Since it's a 5ply, I had to go down in my hook size. Using a 6mm as the smallest out of the three wasn't really an option, since it's already a pretty loose weave. I don't actually HAVE a 5.5mm hook *gasp!!* so I've gone down to a 4mm, a 4,5mm and a 5mm hook for my choices.

We'll see how it works tomorrow!