Which Came First...

No, not the chicken or the egg. We all know the answer to that one!

I'm talking about the yarn and the pattern/project. Which comes first for you? Or, does it vary?

My madness goes something like this:

I almost always pick the yarn. Or, should I say, the yarn picks me.

Typically, I walk around in the LYS just browsing all the yarn candy. It should come as no surprise that when I was very young, my mother would have to constantly remind me not to touch things when we were in a store as I LOVE to reach out and "pet" the yarn (if I may coin a phrase from Claire). Once a color or fiber jumps out at me, I take it home (usually one skein initially) and look at, touch it some more, maybe swatch it, until I come across a pattern that just screams for this particular yarn and THEN I have to go back to the LYS and HOPE there is more!

Sometimes, I find a yarn that I like so much, I'll actually buy three skeins and then go home, drag out all my magazines, books and search online patterns until I find something in which to use the yarn!! Then I have to go back to the LYS and buy two more skiens. Or five.

Only occasionally will I find a pattern first. I don't like this sequence, because then it becomes somewhat of a chore to find a yarn (you just simply can't use the yarn specified in the pattern, you know) and I'm afraid of making the wrong yarn choice; as if I can't frog it!!!!

So, in my world (and it's ok because they know me here), the yarn comes first.