Let's get some pictures in here, huh?

I mentioned discovering cowls. On Ravelry it seems that cowls are a well known and much beloved alternative to the masochism of scarves, but I've found that outside the world of knitters, no one seems to have heard of these crazy things. For my non-knitter friends out there, a cowl is a sort of tube that you pull over your head and let sit around your neck, so that effectually, it's a scarf that you don't have to tie or fiddle with, and, far more importantly, you don't have knit for millions of inches before you're done.

I am so happy to be a knitter instead of an ordinary person. Ordinary non-knitters, or people without knitter friends don't seem to have cowls. They don't seem to have heard of them, poor fellows . . .

Anyway, now that I know about them I need never fear the neck garment again. I have a secret weapon!

By the way, here's my first cowl -

Sorry about all the shadow. You stick your head into one of the short ends and pull it down until you get your head out of the other side, so that the whole thing bunches about your neck. Much warmer, but much less bulky (and way more fun to make) than a scarf!

Now I'm completely addicted and have already got another on the needles!