Tahki Yarns Cotton Classic

A while ago, Loop was having a sale and I ordered some Tahki Yarns Cotton Classic because it was not that expensive.  I've had it sitting here for ages, intending to make a kid's sweater for Christian at some point.  I finally decided to use it for the Playground Shirt I'm working on.  I love it!  I really like cotton or cotton blend yarns (Knit Picks CotLin and Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima are both great for lightweight sweaters), and I can now add this to the list of awesome yarns.  I wasn't sure I'd have enough because I want to add a hood to the sweater, so I actually ended up ordering some more, but once that arrives I should be good.  The stitch definition with this yarn is just fantastic though, and it has this almost shimmery quality also.  It's really great.  The blue yarn (Ultra Pima) that is currently holding the arm stitches is going to be the contrast color for around the neck and arm holes.  And maybe around the bottom.  It's a really vibrant bright blue and I think it's just going to jump out against the gray (which actually has a sort of bluish undertone to it). 

I also realized that the Anadiomena's Adventures Ravelry group happens to be doing a Playground Shirt knit-along this month, so I joined that.  I've never done a KAL before, and I'm doing two this month!  The final clue came out for my mystery sock, so I'm putting the sweater on hold for a couple days until I finish the sock.  Hopefully the additional yarn will have arrived by then.

While we're talking about yarn, I just want to say that I hate how expensive yarn is in general.  I find myself using Knit Picks almost exclusively (along with occasional Cascade Yarns) because it's good quality and fairly inexpensive.  I was thinking recently that I would like to branch out and try some "fancier" yarns, but I just cannot afford it.  I have absolutely no desire to spend like $80 just to make a sweater or pay $30 for a skein to make a single pair of socks.  I just don't have that kind of money, and honestly even if I did, I can't see spending that much anyway.  So I think I'm going to be mostly confined to Knit Picks and be a cheap knitter forever, haha.  I don't know, maybe someday I will be rich and have an outlandishly high yarn budget.