I'm almost done with the "flower motifs" for the Joan of Arc stole. And I noticed, I've almost used up HALF of the yarn on these blessed flowers. I realize that the "cluster stitch" is yarn-intensive, but now I'm worried about having enough.

There's been some discussion, hither and yon, (including on Knitter's Review) about errata in patterns, sloppy editing, Is It A Vast Patriarchal Conspiracy?

I don't know. Generally, errata don't bother me greatly - either I find the corrections before I start the project, or in some cases, I figure out what's wrong and fix it myself.

However, the one erratum that bothers me mightily is when the wrong amount of yarn is listed for a pattern. I'm not so griped by yarn overages, I can always use the extra somewhere else, or give it away, or perhaps return it for a refund. But yarn underages, that's a problem. Especially since I'm a stasher, and the sort of person who might hold on to a yarn for a couple years before beginning a project. And I'm still enough of a perfectionist to hate the "make do" method of choosing a yarn of similar color or texture and using it to piece out.

And I suspect this pattern scrimped on the amount of yarn needed. It's a gut feeling - if those goofy flowers, which are about twelve inches across, take two and a half balls of yarn, and I'm wanting to knit the rest of the stole - to the width of three of those flowers, mind you - for fifty-two inches, it just doesn't seem to work. At least not out of the out of the remaining three and a half balls.

So, sigh. I'm going to try calling/e-mailing Handworks Gallery, where I originally bought the yarn from, in the probably-vain hope that they have a ball or two of the same dye lot (Artful Yarns' "Legend", color 1431, lot 5659) for me to purchase as insurance. If not, I don't know. I hate mixing dyelots, I hate going through that "do two rows of one and two rows of the next" and weave in ten million ends when the project is done.

I suppose my other option is to put out a Knitlist plea and see what, if any, response I get. (I find often when I post some kind of burning question on the 'List, I'll get lots of responses, but not to the question - the responses are all to some odd little comment I make in the post, or a comment on what I say I'm making at the moment. It's sort of a letdown to open your mailbox, find five or six emails you think will answer your problem, and none of them apply.)