Cold Enough For Mohair

I am a southerner by transplant. I grew up in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Places where wool sweaters are not just nice to have, they are necessary. When I moved from the shores of Lake Superior to middle Tennessee I refused to give up or alter my passion for sweaters. Big heavy wool sweaters. I love them and I always have. Sweaters are comforting, warm, beautiful. So much beauty coupled with function. Wool sweaters are the perfect garment...but not necessarily in Tennessee.

About 10 years ago, when I started knitting again, I decided to take a class on how to knit a sweater. I had knit a few sweaters in college, but I had little time for those pesky details--gauge, yarn type, drape, fit. It was time to learn how to knit a sweater well. So I signed up for the class. I poured through the knitting booklets at the yarn shop, selected a lovely cabled pullover and then picked out the yarn. Smokey gray mohair. The class was wonderful but I didn't finish the sweater by the end of the class. It took about a year and a panicked call to the yarn manufacturer in the UK before I completed it. But I did finish it. It's gorgeous! Soft, textured, well finished. Mohair.

I'm wearing the sweater, and I'm warm, and I'm happy. It's been two years since it's been COLD ENOUGH for me to wear this stinkin' sweater. I've worn the sweater maybe 5 times. Not only is a mohair sweater like a personal oven, this sweater is heavily cabled, which makes it even thicker. Cripes! What was I thinking? My head must have been up my butt still in Michigan when I picked out the yarn.

I was looking through knitting patterns today. There's this lovely Dale of Norway fair isle cardigan...in blue and green?...maybe an alpaca blend? I really don't need to be looking at sweater patterns when it's 6 degrees outside.