Modification Gone Wrong

Inspired by this amazing post I decided to try to duplicate the project and knit a cowl for a friend.

The more you knit, the more you learn. And apparently one lesson I need to learn repeatedly is to PLAN AHEAD.  *sigh*

Already skirt length and only 2/3rds done :( 

 Of course I totally eschewed the original pattern and eschewed looking at Raquel's notes (damn you hubris!) and now have knit myself into a rocky, hard placed corner.

Not sure if the original knitter ran into the same problem, but this sucker is HUGE. There is NO way it is going to morph into a beautiful cowl! I put in too many elephants, too many pattern repeats, too much of something...and now I can't in good conscious finish the project as I haphazardly planned. Perhaps I am being a bit of a perfectionist, but honestly I see no point in creating crappy knit works. This is where the "cross" comes in....(along with being cross-eyed from so many frogged rows and pattern repeats).

Mesmerizing, though, ain't it?

I suppose the lesson is...I am not a "seat of my pants" kind of knitter. I love, honor, and respect a good pattern. SIGH. Now to try and figure out what what to do with this non-cowl...

Ideas, anyone?