justification for knitting with acrylic

There's a lot of chatter online (blogs, Ravelry... OK, I only ever read Ravelry these days) about using acrylic when there are so many other nice fibres available. And it's true, acrylic is kinda crappy and nice wool and alpaca and silk feel soooo lovely.

For the past few days, I've really wanted to start crocheting a sweater. I have a strong urge to crochet! I looked through my stash and didn't want to use any of it. (not surprising ha ha) BUT, my first instinct was to buy some cheap acrylic yarn from the discount store. I fought the urge, and as I was walking to the LYS, I examined my reasons for turning to the dreaded A-yarn....

There is less pressure to produce a "good" product if I make it with acrylic.

And by "good" I mean: wearable, in a colour that I will like for a long time, something that fits well, looks nice, doesn't go out of style, etc.

If I spend money on good yarn, and take the time to knit/crochet a sweater, I had better love it and wear it a lot! But, if I buy cheap yarn, it's OK if the project doesn't work out, and the yarn will survive frogging and re-knitting. Or I can donate it. It doesn't matter because it didn't cost very much.

It was a real eye-opener to me to realize this. I feel OK about using crappy yarn to make a crappy sweater?? That's not the kind of knitter/crocheter I want to be. There is nice yarn that is not expensive that will result in a nice garment. And I can rip it out and make hats, scarves and arm warmers if I don't like the garment. It's OK. :)

And so, I went to the LYS and bought some reasonably priced Moda Dea superwash wool, in a lovely moss green, and started my crochet sweater....