(mo)hairy problem

[Nynx]

Hi all, I'm new here!

I'm a pretty new knitter and I've just started to break away from scarves. My problem comes from buying Rebecca magazines which have really lovely patterns and use expensive yarn.

There is a mohair bubble dress I'd love to make , but even the cheapest mohair yarns...in short, are not cheap enough for me. If I could go buy TWO of what I wanted to make for the price of making one, that's a no go.
Here is a little picture of the dress


If pictures are a no-no, here is a link to the page where the picture is, the second dress from the left.
http://www.rebecca-online.de/cont_en...5/seite_07.php

Are there any halo-y substitutes like Paton's Divine but worsted weight instead of bulky? I might talk to my teacher and see if I could swing bulky and adjust the pattern. Think that's a more viable option than finding cheap mohair like yarn? Should I give up and buy goats or sell my soul to the devil for yarn?

[Nynx]

Do any of these look like worsted weight to you? They are sort of vague which does not help the beginning knitter very much.

http://www.herrschners.com/products/...__id-1931.html

http://www.yarn-paradise.com/categor...ir-angora-wool

They are both good prices, I just can't tell if they are the right weight!

[cftwo]

When substituting yarns, I suggest you find one that is the same weight. By changing the guage, you end up doing some crazy math to get the dress to turn out the right size. (I like math, but I'm not willing to do that myself.)

Yarndex.com is a great resource in times like this. Patons Divine is a bulky weight fuzzy yarn. To get the same look and warmth (and not have to do crazy math with a different guage), look for another bulky weight fuzzy yarn. Yarndex found 154 options, but only displays 50 at a time when you do an advanced search (the only thing I dislike about Yarndex). I also searched on yarns with the same guage as the Divine (12/inch) and found 213 matches (and could look at all of them!). Knit Picks Wool of the Andes and Quarry yarns are the right size. Red Heart's Cupid line is the right size. Lamb's Pride Bulky (that's a wool/mohair blend). Lion Brand's Suede, Mystery, and Monlight Mohair yarns are the right size. All of these should be reasonably priced yarns.

But, knitting a dress is going to be expensive just about any way you look at it. Sometimes you can find a good price on yarns on Ebay, so keep looking for what works best for you.