The Awkward Tale of the High Pines Cowl

High Pines Cowl Ravelry Project Link
Pattern: High Pines Cowl by Jared Flood
Yarn: Brooklyn Tweed Arbor in Carob
Coat:Handmade

Guys, I knit a thing that I don't really like and that thing is my very first cowl. There are two feelings you can read in my face in these photos. The first is allergies and the second is how I'm feeling about this cowl. I didn't like knitting it and I don't love wearing it either. Or at least, I can't figure out how to wear it so it doesn't look like an odd floppy piece of fabric hanging awkwardly around my neck.

I think things when awry early on, when the day before I left on a work trip abroad I realized I didn't have a travel project. I remembered liking this cowl when it came out and thought, now will be a great time to try such a small, portable project, that will also take at least a week to make! On the plane I worked on the rib which was just fine, every other row was twisted knits, not a big deal...then came the main stitch pattern.

I could not for the life of me get into any sort of rhythm with this pattern. Every row of the main part of the pattern was 2 stitches off from the previous row so every time I felt like I was starting to remember what was happening I'd made a mistake. I was also working long hours in another time zone so really a patterned cowl was probably the worst thing I could pick. While I was slugging away on this I kept thinking, well at least I'll get a super awesome cowl at the end!

Then came the end, and what is even going on here?! It's somehow floppy, but also rigid. It wants to hang away from my neck in all the wrong ways, and then when it does touch my neck it hits that part that activates the part of me that instinctively says GET AWAY FROM ME YOU'RE CHOKING ME!!! There are many very cute photos of this cowl on Ravelry, so I'm not sure where I went wrong.

I got gauge. I blocked to the measurements. I even used the recommended yarn. Does it look more natural when I awkwardly try to pat it down with my hand? Yeah, I didn't think so. I guess not everything can be a solid gold winner, and this whole thing is really pretty funny so I'm not sad about it all. I know a lot of you out there are cowl people so tell me, am I just not used to this and it's actually normal for a cowl to feel awkward? Am I wearing it wrong? Do I need a different sort of jacket? Help a scarf girl out!