Hoping to Jinx It

It's been a very long, cold, miserable winter here. We had another storm today, and it was a slog to get anywhere (thankfully, Rainbow's preschool remained open so we could get to work). The long-term forecast is looking somewhat promising, but for now we're stuck with snow and ice. Blech.

Usually the way to get the weather to change immediately is to cast on for a project that will be completely useless, so I'm doing my part. I've been working on a Molly hat for Malabrigo March in some very deep stash Malabrigo Worsted for most of the week -- and when I say deep stash, I mean that I've had this yarn for as long as I've been married. The colorway is Azul Bolito, and it may very well be the most perfect blue (even though it looks kind of purple here).

It was a bit of kismet that this was one of the chosen KAL patterns for Malabrigo March, because I've had the pattern printed out and in a folder in my work bag for probably several years now. On top of that, my Koolhaas, which I've been wearing daily, is starting to not be useful anymore. I washed it several weeks ago because it was looking grubby, and it lost a lot of color in the wash. It also doesn't stay on my head as well as it used to, and it's very pilly. So clearly I need a new hat.

A hat is such a small thing that it didn't seem like enough to move the weather, so last night I swatched for a sweater. Several years ago I won a sweater quantity of yarn from my LYS as part of its bingo game, and it's been sitting in my stash ever since. I've been fighting an urge to cast on a new sweater for quite some time, so last night I decided it was finally time to give in. This isn't just any old yarn, though -- it's Cascade Alpaca Lana D'Oro, a 50% wool/50% alpaca. Yup, it's going to be a super warm sweater. The pattern is the State Fair Cardigan from Interweave Knits winter 2014.

My first swatch was on a US 7/4.5 mm needle, but I'm just a tad off on gauge (I'm getting 19 stitches over 4 inches rather than the required 18), so I'll be swatching again with a US 8 tonight. The one good thing I will say about this weather is that the heat is on full blast in the house, so I can put a wet swatch on the radiator before I go to sleep and it will be dry in the morning! With any luck, I will get gauge on the second attempt and will be ready to cast on tomorrow.