I'm on a Roll......

Now that I've finally gotten over my inability to start something new........ I'm totally heading in the opposite direction. Which may or may not be a good thing.
Definitely interesting.... that's for sure!
I've decided to knit a neck warmer for my Dad, aka Parental Unit #1. He likes to walk outside every day and in Detroit the weather gets a bit nippy! We are trying to go super simple this year for Christmas and make things rather than buying stuff. Hopefully it will mean more and with my Dad... yeah... it will!
Besides.... this pattern is really simple and doesn't take a whole lot of time to knit up. Unless...... you change something and then you may end up kicking yourself......
Using #8, 16 inch circular needle (Addi Turbo OF COURSE!) cast on 116 stitches with worsted weight yarn. I'm using Cascade 220 in black. ~I have no idea what his favorite color is so black it is!
It's either me (my eyes) or just because the yarn is black, but I find myself needing more light to see what I'm doing. Grrrrr. I totally thought that aging thing would pass me by..........
Anyway.... cast on #116 stitches (or in my case I forgot to count and ended up with 120) and knit 2, purl 2, all the way around and around and around and around! You need about 9 inches total for a nice neck warmer ~which ends up to be almost the entire skein of yarn. (220 yds)
It's a totally mindless, endless pattern, but I can take it anywhere with me and work on it! I've worked on it while waiting in the pharmacy, while waiting in the car and actually while standing in line waiting to pick up the kid! *I can't walk & chew gum but I can knit and stand!*
As I was saying.... it's mindless......... it's kind of boring.......
so... why not pump it up a notch? Um........ yeah........
I've added a pattern. An Intarsia, color work thing that is driving me absolutely ape!
I don't like how my ends look inside, I feel like it's not working right, I want it to be over! Mostly so I can look at it and say....... "Hey! That's not so bad!" Ha... bet that won't happen!

So I started with this. A big ol' print out of something PU #1 (Parental Unit #1) enjoys.......

Transferred it to graph paper. Totally ignoring that it may be (maybe?) too big....

Figured out where the middle of my neck warmer was going to be and started knitting. Following the graph/chart I add an orange stitch where the graph says too......keeping in the k2, p2 pattern. This is what I've got so far. Plus a whole lot of aggravation.
I admit it. I'm a pattern follower and a direction follower. I don't often go off the path.......but I did okay!? I did.
I'm not sure it's really going to look like the initial design ~but that's OK, it's a copyrighted design and I could probably get into trouble if it was exactly like the original. Good reasoning huh? Ha.
I am just over halfway done with adding the design. I have 3 more rows before I start decreasing to make the top part of it. Grrrrrrr.
Now I'm wondering just whose idea it was to add color work to MY knitting anyway...........