cowl and sweaters

Last week I got EVERY SINGLE THING on my to do list done. That has not happened since I started keeping a weekly to do list 7 weeks ago. And it means that the secret Christmas jammies are done!! This week's list looks long, but I'm hoping I can knock it out too.

One thing that was not on my list this week, but needed to get done (and I should have written it on there) was to create a "ugly" Christmas "sweater" for both girls to wear to a Christmas party. After failing to find anything at Salvation army and refusing to spend $ (although I did buy puff paint for $10 so maybe I should rethink this next time) we decided to decorate some old sweatshirts that their grandma gave us for the occasion. What was really funny was in discussing the designs, it became clear neither girl understood what "ugly Christmas sweater" meant. So they both were dubious as my suggestions, and one of them kept begging to add black widow spiders. It went like this:
me: how about a big santa hat?
her: with a black widow spider on it?
me: um or maybe a Christmas tree?
her: decorated with black widow spiders?

In the end, no black widows, and not terribly ugly either:

On to the knitting!:
I think I might have finished the cowl I was letting myself work on only for this week. I say think because I'm not sure I'm happy with it.

First, I'm not sure it is wide enough. I still have enough of both yarns to make a second one, but that seems a little odd to have two. Even odder to give the identical one away. And I'm not sure it is actually long enough either--this is it wrapped around me--just one wrap. (pre morning run, and so pre-shower/makeup sorry)

So, I didn't tuck in the ends, in case I decide to rip it out and start over.
Pattern:Bloom Striped cowl
needles: US size 8
yarn: Misti alpaca baby me boo Autumn Aster and Malabrigo silky merino