Mushy Malabrigo (and a partial project)

Awhile back I had started the Jenny Cloche, only to realize I was using the wrong yarn about half way through.  If you're wondering how that's possible, please allow me to explain.

I had been admiring the pattern for quite some time, so for Christmas (2010), my friend Sam bought me the pattern and the recommended yarn for it.  I finally started the project this last winter (2011), and as I was knitting the front band portion, I noticed I was going through the yarn really quickly.  I checked the yardage on the pattern to the yardage on the yarn band and realized I was two skeins short.  You would think this would have triggered some alarm bells, but it didn't.  Instead I found some more of the yarn and bought it, and plugged away on my project.

I got to the point in the pattern where you seam the band together and then pick up stitches from the edge and was having problems figuring out why the pattern was asking me to pick up 70 stitches, and I only had 45 slipped stitches on my edge.  Usually this kind of thing works out more closely.  I talked it over with some of my knit night pals, and told them how I didn't know what was wrong, I had the exact yarn that the pattern asked for!  One of them, who was reading the pattern, asked if I still had my yarn band.  I did, and she read it and then pointed out something that should have been PAINFULLY OBVIOUS:  the pattern had asked for Nashua Creative Focus Chunky (which is a bulky weight yarn), and I had Nashua Creative Focus Bulky (which is a SUPER bulky yarn).  D'oh!

Since the hat had been knitting up so densely with the super bulky weight, I decided to frog it and start over with the other recommended yarn in the pattern:  Malabrigo worsted, held double.

My friend Rachel, who works at JBW, helped me pick out the most perfect color, and I swatched it up.  I haven't used Malabrigo before, but had heard tales of its awesomeness.  However, I was not prepared to fall head over heels in love with a yarn.

It's like butter.  So soft, smooth, and easy to knit with.  And the color!  I love it.

So you would think that I would have made a little more progress on the newest version of my cloche hat.  But alas, it is not so (insert sad trumpet noise here).  I really hope I get on the ball soon, because now I have blog posts to consider!  

I've become a bit obsessed with Malabrigo and have decided I want to find a skein with which to knit my first shawl, 198 Yards of Heaven (several of my buddies already have and I love it!).  However, Malabrigo is proving to be a hard to find yarn--its sold out everywhere I look (JBW, WEBS, Loopy Ewe...)  It may be a sign from the universe that I should quit trying to buy yarn for yet another project I won't start for awhile, and instead focus on the Malabrigo and project I have at hand.

Easier said than done.