Last night after reading the first issue of Twist Collective, I nearly went on a pattern buying spree. There were simply too many fabulous patterns. I bought the gnarled oakwoods shawl I recognized from the swatch for from Anne at Knitspot.

Beyond that, I went into pattern overload system shock. It was simply too much love and I went into a semi-paralyzed state as I realized that if I bought every pattern I wanted to make right now, I’d have no money for yummy yarn and nothing appropriate in my stash to making anything I wanted beyond the shawls. Plus, I’d have one sweater, Pam Allen’s Come Together, which I’d have to grade up to fit a 52 inch bust by adding eight inches, if one takes the minimum negative ease fitting suggestion) which is a daunting proposition. Is it total obsession that I’m still considering doing that?

There was only one solution: buy nothing else and sleep on it.

I slept on it. I like Twist Collective better than Interweave Knits, Vogue Knitting, and Knitty.com combined, and I was already at “obsessed” with those. Twist Collective just hit my squeeing fangirl button, and I’m a science fiction and comic book junkie. The obsessiveness of those fandoms define “fanboy” and “fangirl.”

Cleite still begged me to buy it, too. It whined at me like a puppy in a petshop window. What’s one more shawl, right? With the amount of laceweight in my stash, I can justify one more shawl. It’s less dangerous than, say, two more cats. (hmm. Note to self: Must get new pictures of Bunny and Fezzie. They’re starting to go into that adorable “legs don’t fit the body” stage.)

The other pattern was so insidious I dreamed of it.

Rather, I dreamed I was going for a trek across country. It was a brisk fall day, and there were zombies in the woods. I noticed, in one of those moments that happen only in dreams (beyond the being chased by zombies part), that I was wearing my trusty Linden and I was surprised by this.

Partly, I found it surprising because I had expected it to by a girly tailored Daniel which I’ve dubbed the “no smoking jacket,” because of Kate’s “no smoking in that sweater” rule. That sweater rocks and it will eventually be knit, probably for the oldest Ninling if he likes it. It’s hard to tell what teens are going to like.

Partly, though, I found it surprising because Linden was such a surprising sweater to me. I love looking at Véronik Avery’s designs. They’re classic and archetictural and understated. Her eye for color speaks to me. She sometimes makes me cry because she makes such beautiful things, which I fall in love with only to find that they’re no where near my size and thus out of my skill range because of the amount of work I’d have to do to try to size them up, or because the sweater is in it’s perfect color, which is not a flattering color for me, or they’re simply things that other, elegant people wear, not “people like me.” (Read: frumpy, often covered in dirt from the garden, and suffering from some overall image issues.)

Simply put, I can’t picture myself in them. Yes, that’s an issue with my vision. Linden is the first thing of her’s I’ve seen that I thought “That’s so cute, and I would look good in it.”

I was shocked when I noticed it was a Véronik Avery design. Véronik Avery and I can picture myself in it? Either my self image is getting better, or that design is so wonderfully classic and accessible that it’s impossible to look bad in it. Possibly both.

(Yes, Maybe I should have noticed the model, but I was fixated on the sweater at the time. Give a poor yarn obsessed Toad a break. If you haven’t looked at Linden yet, click through and look at it. It’s awesome, even in other yarns, as is proven by Clara Parkes’ “Swatch It” article.)

Anyway, any pattern you actually dream about, and in your dream you think of it as “trusty” as you’re running away from zombies is a must buy pattern in my book. So I bought it, even though I don’t have any stash yarn to make it. (Bad Toad. . . )

I’m thinking about making it out of Cascade Ecological Wool because the natural earthy colors would really sing on a sweater like this. Also because I can make the sweater for about $75 American in my size, which is always a challenge. I’m debating between colors 8049 (warm charcoal?) and 8063(natural mauve?), oh and possibly 8018 (silver grey) or 8087 (dark brown). if I went to Eco Plus, I could possibly make it the denim-y 3479, but I think that the heathered natural colors are better suited to the project overall.

I’m open to suggestions.