I'm getting antsy - I have some alpaca yarn on order, and it hasn't arrived yet. Planning to try a new shawl pattern from a book my daughter gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago. (Don't know the name of it - and it's at home and I'm not.) It'll be my first project in several years that did not use a washable, synthetic, no-dye-lot yarn.
For those projects that are special, I like superwashed wool...you can stick it in the washer and dryer. I have gotten spoiled. I do buy some yarn just like you said for certain projects, especially when I'm designing something big, or want it to be super washable, but I surely like working in high quality natural fibers. I used to think people who said that were yarn snobs...but I learned they feel different in the hand....