Bamboo on Bamboo

I started the New Project Sunday. I promised myself I didn't need to knit another sweater. I promised myself I would never knit with variegated yarn again. But it wasn't in writing, so it didn't count, you think? New Projects are always filled with possibilities and contentment. This one involved yarn from the stash, and a mad scramble to find a suitable pattern when I realized the one I bought with the yarn would look truly AWFUL on me, since I am no longer (or maybe even ever) willowy like the model. But I did find a pattern, and assembled all the stuff and hauled it to my Mom's house for the duration.

So this is bamboo yarn. Never heard of such a thing? Neither had I, but I loved the colors, liked the texture, and the price, half-off since the store was closing, was also right. And I got another chance to use the new bamboo needles I got for Christmas. I made the swatch, the gauge was right, and this is the easiest pattern to memorize I have probably ever worked. I plowed onto the hem of the back section. But while using the new needles was a dream with the linen-mohair blend yarn of the last project, with the bamboo yarn, the bamboo needles feel like plastic rubbing on plastic when the yarn rubs against the needle. Huh. Not unpleasant, exactly. Just nothing is ever as wonderful as wool, is it?

Oh, about the variagated yarn. The pullover I made decades ago has a very pronounced repeat, and it is quite noticible when I changed yarn balls that the repeat is disrupted. I cannot tell yet if this has also a pronounced repeat. I don't know how to keep that from happening. I did, however, manage to find the match between two balls of yarn, so I am thinking to tie the yarn together so that I stay on the repeat. Anyone have a good suggestion, please advise.