Okay, I did it. I completed my goal of finishing my first colorwork project, and my Pawsitive Vibes cowl is blocked and ready to wear. Here it is before and during blocking.
I definitely see the paw prints when I step back from it. I wish I’d actually done the ribbing as ribbing rather than stockinette so it wouldn’t roll so much, but not enough to redo it! Here it is post-blocking:
As you can see, lots of rolling which shows more of the inside than I’d like. The stitches evened out some, but not completely — there are still some very loose stitches and floats.
I’m very much meh on this cowl. I don’t think I’ll frog it, though I may change my mind if I never wear it. And at this point I have no plans, desire or inclination to do colorwork again. I might just stick with complicated lace shawls for my challenging knitting. But at least I did it!
bonnyknits 
Paws look great. Yeah, I’d probably rip back and garter the edges. I’ve been having to do that on several of my recent projects as even ribbing flairs and looks funky to me.
Yeah, if I was happier with the colorwork overall, I’d be tempted – at this point I don’t want to put more time into this project!
That is beautiful cowl. It’d be a shame to unravel it after the work you put into it. I hope you don’t mind my suggesting, but perhaps if you put a few rounds of crochet around the edges, it may help them not roll. Just thinking out loud here. I’ve done that with some of my projects that roll. Have a lovely weekend. 🙂
Thanks, I appreciate the idea! If I was happier with the cowl, I’d be temped – not sure I want to put more time into it though!
I definitely see the paws!! It looks great – everything really did block right out 🙂
Weeelll you’re being a little too kind – not everything blocked out, but a lot did! 🙂
It looks great! And even with the ribbing it might have rolled. That’s what happened to my Broom Riding Cowl.
Thanks, Alissa!
It’s a shame you don’t like colorwork, because you did a really good job. My cemetery drive cowl rolls too. Blarg.
It looks great! Though sometimes the point of trying a new style of knitting is to see whether or not we like it… and if you find that you don’t like it, at least you’ve tried it! If you want to wear it without the edge rolling, maybe just folding the ribbing over and whip-stitching a hem would do the trick. It would certainly be easier than re-doing the edges.
Well done for sticking with it to the end, it looks great! And now you know that colourwork isn’t for you so that’s even more progress.
Yes! That’s what I took from the whole thing — and now I’ve frogged the cowl so I can use the yarn in something that pleases me more! 🙂