Off the back burner

About 2 years ago I got a pattern for an accessory set (hat, scarf, mittens) by Reynolds. While visiting my family in NJ for Christmas, I went to my mom's LYS and bought yarn for the pattern. It called for Reynolds Alpaca Regal, but the LYS didn't have that. Being a fairly new knitter at the time, I asked one of the workers what yarn I could substitute. I let her talk me into getting another alpaca yarn: Plymouth Indiecita Alpaca. I loved the colors and the softness of the yarn.
I soon found out while starting the scarf that I might have made a mistake as the gauge of this yarn was way off of what the pattern called for and the pattern for this is intricate. Knitting the scarf wasn't too bad, though it took me months to finish it. Then I couldn't face starting the hat until last Spring. I worked on it until June, when it finally got too hot. Now that I finished the sweater, I decided it was time to finish the hat so I took it off the back burner. Figuring out the decreases for the hat in the pattern is turning out to be a bitch. Sigh. I will finish it though!