Lost in Cowl Land

I don't know how everyone else is doing with the Great Cowl KAL, mostly because I'm hiding from the Ravelry group in shame, but the latest pattern has become a slog for me.  I spend hours and hours on it and I'm still struggling.

If you're knitting the pattern you can probably tell from the photo that I have started the short-rows early.  This is a great pattern to use up all of a ball of yarn because she has you cast on a giant number of stitches and then knit in the round until you are a certain percentage through your yardage.  And since I am knitting this out of the only skein of Kitchen Sink Dyeworks I will ever own I would really like to use it all.  But I just can't.  I know it will result in a beautiful item, but I can not stand to knit a single round more of stockinette on this cowl.  If I did not have a deadline I could work on something else at the same time to break up the monotony, but I will let nothing stop me from finishing this cowl.

At the same time I think the item in my mind has become a little different from the original pattern.  It snowed two days ago and now it is back in the 70s reminding me that yes I do live in the south and it would be really nice to knit something I could wear more than a few days out of the year.  So I'm starting to envision something thinner and drapier.  The yarn is a merino bamboo blend so I think it will work as a more spring-y item.

Then again it could be that I just really want to play with my new toys.  It was Chris' and my anniversary yesterday so he bought me the one gift I'd been hinting at for months -- Knit Picks Interchangeables.  I'll do a more comprehensive review once I get to play with them more.  I'm so excited!

But first, cowl.

Hey look! It's Wednesday!