Not too long ago I was browsing eBay, like you do.
And I ran across a lot of Cascade Venezia. It was 6 skeins in a dark green colorway called, "Shamrock." It was only about $5 per ball, which I considered to be a good deal and so into the cart it went. I had no plans for this yarn. And it wasn't until I was doing some math later on that I realized that actually 6 skeins might not be enough for a sweater for myself. I ended up casting on for my 12 year old niece instead.
The pattern is the
Cefalu Jumper by Evgeniya Dupliy. I chose it because of its relaxed fit and seam-free design. The way this one works out is you start at knitting in the round from the bottom, work up to the armholes and then split the garment. Work back and forth to create the front and back pieces and neck shaping. Then pick up and knit the sleeves down toward the cuff.
So at this point in the sweater I have 1 full skein left, plus a mini-skein's worth left over from the prior ball. And one complete sleeve left to knit. I believe that the first sleeve took me an entire skein plus about the same size mini-skein. I may or may not have used that same skein to knit the collar. Hopefully I did because that would give me some wiggle room. I have shortened the sleeves by about 2" due to lack of yarn.
There are two reasons I'm low on yarn. 1) The sweater measures larger around than I thought (it was on a circular needle and it looked like it would definitely not fit me, but it absolutely does.) and 2) I lengthened the body by an inch or two because I don't like cropped tops.
I actually very much do not want to give this sweater to my niece. I like it very very much.
I told that to my daughter and she said, "well, you can just knit yourself one in a different color."
I mean.
It's true.