a knitting-help-type question

Check me out, knitters --

I'm thinking of making either Rambling Rows or Ombre Alpaca for my parents' 40th anniversary, which is in (augh) three and a half months, so I've kind of got to get on that.

Rambling Rows calls for five colors and 16st/4in (on size 8). Ombre Alpaca calls for six colors (but it can be any number of colors, really, and you'll get 2n-1 stripes) and 18st/4in with two strands held together (on size 11). Bottom line: I need to decide which one I'm doing before I order the yarn, because doubled up vs. not will make something of a difference, y/n?

And: Cascade Superwash. Anyone familiar with the stuff? It is good? It is affordable? They do have a wide range of colors, which is appealing to me right now. And mainly: what the hell weight is it? They advertise 5st/in on size 7, and that's where it gets to be too much math for me. I think, based on the above, it is closer to a regular medium weight -- 5st/in on 7's (and 5.5st/in on 6's) is probably about 4.5st/in on 8's, right?, which is juuust a hair more (stitches, so fewer inches) than RR calls for. In short: RR calls for medium weight, OA calls for light sport weight or DK, these are not interchangeable, and Cascade Superwash appears to be more along medium lines than lighter. 220yds/100gr, and for reference DiC Classy is 250, and their skeins are always quite long. BUT Cascade's various DK weights are 125yds/50gr, which is only 30 yards difference over 100gr, so wtf? Are they really closer to interchangeable than I thought?

HELP IS APPRECIATED. neotoma, wordplay, etc., I'm looking at you.

knitting help update fun

We've agreed on Rambling Rows in Cascade 220 (not superwash), and are zeroing in on colors. So now it just remains to ask this:

The pattern, as I said, calls for 4st/in on size 8 or 9 needles. The yarn as well suggests that this is the gauge it will knit up to (4.5st/in on #8, it says, and 5st/in on #7, so I'm going to extrapolate and say 4st/in on #9). It also calls for about 520 yards of one color, 780 yards each of three more, and 1040 yards of a fourth. Cascade 220 comes in 220-yard balls, obv. So that's three balls of the first color for 660 yards, four each of the next three for 880 yards apiece, and five yards of the last one for 1100 yards. This should yield a blanket 5'x6', or so I am told.

SO, given that I knit fairly tightly and may therefore find it prudent to go down a needle size and add a few stitches to every. single. row to get back the size I think I'm likely to lose, DO YOU THINK the extra 140/100/60 yards will be enough, or should I order an extra skein (probably just of the last color) to be safe?

this town gets to your head after a while

The Post has a link to where they've thrown a topic open for discussion: "What should the president do with his first pick?" And I swear my first thought was, He should get a pass rusher or a big guy for the O line.