Got It!

 

Before I put that project away in time out yesterday, I decided to give it one more chance.  I changed cables on my needles (I switched to some with no memory), sorted my stitch markers by color (this probably had no effect whatsoever, but it looked pretty), and switched to a long tail cast on using two skeins (so I wouldn't have to guesstimate the length of tail needed for 300+ stitches).  I tucked Max in for a nap and found a quiet place in the house.

It worked!  I got the cast on finished and started knitting without twisting the stitches!  Honestly, the not twisting the stitches is the hardest part of this project. 

Oh, I haven't told you what this is?  It's the Pleasant Trip Cowl and I can see how this would be great vacation knitting (once you cast on and join without twisting your stitches).  The stitch pattern is quickly memorized and easy to work.  The yarn I'm using is Madelinetosh Pashmina in Scarlet.  I had used this yarn for another project a couple of years ago, but I wasn't wearing it.  I'm trying to just have things in my closet that I wear, so I frogged the previous project and now it will be a cowl.  (Of course, being reclaimed yarn, it has kinks left from the previous project, so the stitches won't lie perfectly until I finish knitting it and block them.)