used to be much harder

Recently, the project that has been the most compelling is also the project that has been the most frustrating. I'm designing the pattern and it's still in the swatching stage. Unfortunately, for the life of me, I can't figure out how to translate what's in my mind into yarn. Below, you can see the backside of one of many attempts to do so.
I didn't want to recreate the wheel, so I've trolled Ravelry and scoured pattern books to find a stitch that works, but no luck yet. I took a break from being absurdly frustrated to work on an absurdly simple one.
Suddenly, I have a new most compelling knit.

way too many wips*

For some reason, I just can't focus on any one project right now. My most notable wips:

A very generous Raveler came through with replacement golightly yarn, so all is not lost!

Also in bright blue, I'm finally knitting a baby sweater that I've long wanted to try: the Kai Sweater from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms. I'm only a few rows in, but the stockinette back should be perfect for working on during knitting lessons tomorrow. I'm using some Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton, which is my favorite yarn for baby knits. I had other plans for this yarn when I bought it in the fall at Purl, but am repurposing it for this sweater.I'm working on a hat that caused a man on the 1 train to ask me if I was knitting in leather. No, sir, that's just some Plucky MCN Worsted that EW scored for me:
I'm designing the hat to match some wristwarmers that I designed; two projects that have taught me why ssk is far inferior to k2tog.** (Seriously, does anyone have suggestions for a better left-leaning decrease that can be worked in between two yarn overs?) The set is for an upcoming birthday, and, even though I'm pretty sure the recipient doesn't read this blog, I'll wait to post pics of the wristwarmers until after they're gifted.

And then I've got some swatches for another few projects: a baby sweater in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport that CH helped me pick out at the new Loopy and a secret project:The Lorna's is superwash, so, showing that I can learn from experience, I'm going to toss it in the wash before measuring gauge.

I did manage to finally finish a baby sweater that has been long hanging over my head, and that taught me to never, ever claim that I could knit a baby sweater in a week. The worst part: I think the buttons are the cutest part of the whole thing:They are from Needleworks, Inc. The sweater is the Geordie Stripe Yoke Jacket from Natural Knits for Baby and Mom. (That book is getting a lot of use lately; all three baby sweaters in this post are from it.) I used Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed Cotton, which I loved knitting with. However, it didn't really hold the ends in, so I'm a little concerned about how it will hold up. I changed the stripe pattern to include two contrasting colors and to extend throughout the sweater. Deets here.

*RJ, in case you come across a real spy who knits, "wip" means "work-in-progress."
** "ssk" = "slip, slip, knit"; "k2tog" = "knit 2 together."

Swatching (opinions requested!)

Two things: a request for opinions and a little preview of a project that I'll finish in a thousand million (or, billion, as we say in the US)* years or so.

First, which swatch should a cowl-like object look more like? The one on top is single stranded in my lovely Addi Turbos, and the other is double stranded one size up. I'm a little unsure, because while I think I generally like the look of the second, I worry it will be too heavy for a cowl and will end up being an unattractive ring instead of a prettily flowing bit of fabric. I'm thinking about this Veronique pattern.

I should also mention that the second is much closer to the recommended gauge, but it looks thicker than the pictures...and it's certainly the kind of project where it'd be easy to add on some extra repeats. Thoughts?

The second is just a picture of my sweater swatch and a glimpse of progress so far. I'm up to the lace on the first piece! Except, I just noticed that my lace pattern thus far seems to differ from my swatch. Interesting.....

*I recently learned that one billion is not a constant. In the US, it means: 1,000,000,000. But in other countries, that's only one thousand million. One billion is 1,000,000,000,000. Can you even deal?