To Frog, apparently, is the answer

After much consternation, the Better Sweater is being FROGGED. . . . . ALL. . . THE ... WAY. I decided if I was going to frog 75% anyway, I may as well start again, easier than trying to be careful and get my stitches all back on the needle. And, it's pretty quick knit, on sz 15s, so. . .

Here is the sweater, in it's non-fitting, half-sewn state (looks strangely lanky in this picture, but it isn't really):

Here it is as a big pile of Plymouth Baby Grand Alpaca:

I did not have the motivation to cast on again, so the yarn sits. . . for now.

My lack of motivation for casting on came because of a *hidden* project. I absolutely, positively forgot I ever wanted to make this tank. I LOVED the pink/coral/burgundy colors in the ball when I went looking for Cascade fixation to make some socks. I didn't want to make socks out of it (needed a solid color for those, so I went with a baby blue), so I decided the tank would be a good project to use the yarn. There it was, hidden under the Better Sweater, on scrap yarn. Then I remembered I somehow shifted several stitches from the round join (yes, i know better, should have used a stitch marker). I couldn't find my mistake, so I put it away and apparently erased it from my memory. So, in the spirit of Frogging and Independence, I ripped it out and re-cast on. I was very excited. I forgot how much I loved the yarn color and how the shirt was knitting up, which is why I had to restart it right away. Here is my progress:

Given this discovery, I decided to go on a bit of a stash exploration. I pulled all my leftover wool to do a mis-mosh felted bag, and maybe a can cozy or two, if I can find a pattern. Then, I noticed an interesting group of purple. The big ball is Plymouth Encore & Berocco Chinchilla together. I think at one point this was going to be a rolled-brim hat. I have no recollection of why it didn't make it, or why I rolled the two yarns together. The angora is leftover from a scarf I made for Jake's mom a couple Christmas' ago.

I have an image in my head of a poncho out of this . . . Encore/Chinchilla on the shoulders, finished with an angora/lacy border. I need to stew on this for a while and figure out just how to go about it, but seems like a good idea. And, since I have put myself on a spending freeze for the month of July, any new project starts have to come from the stash!

Finally, I am getting bored with my halter design. It's just not all that interesting! Maybe I only feel like that because the cable isn't really popping out yet, as I'm not thru one full repeat of it. But I mostly think it is a big, grey, reverse stockinette BLOB! I'm almost to the waist, which is close to 5 inches: