I picked up the Herringbone Cowl again. Close scrutiny of it revealed several things that displeased me. (Scissors are included as a pointer, also as something with hard edges for my camera to focus on.)
First, there was this. Believe me, it is much more obvious in real life.
Then there was this little mess:
But mostly there was this:
The first half dozen rows (bottom) look fine, which tells me that the pattern instructions contain the secret to making a seamless transition from K2tog in one round to K2togtbl in the next and vice versa. Apparently after that first half dozen rows I decided that I knew what I had to do and no longer looked at the directions.
Bad Kat.
If I were making this for myself I might let it go, since I generally subscribe to the galloping horse theory of knitting. But it is for Alex, and I just cannot give such a substandard piece of knitting to a loved one.
Frog pond, here I come*!
* But I am only going to frog back to the good part. I may have perfectionist tendencies but I ain't stupid.