Finished I finished the cowl at 60 inches which looks good and feels comfortable wrapped around two times as well as three times depending which look I want. Since I started with the provisional cast on I finished with a three needle bind off. I am VERY pleased with the project. The yarn feels nice and soft and I like the variations in color. Luckily the yarn did not break again after the first two times so I think this was just a bad skein.
When I started this project
I got muddled up a few times following the written instruction to this pattern and had to undo a couple of rows. What helped me most was to write out the pattern as a chart. You can see that in order to get a lace repeat for 6 stitches I rewrote the third row starting the repeats with k1; moving the repeat instructions one over. The first two and last two stitches of every row are done in garter stitch and the first stitch of the 19 for the lacy middle is k on RS, purl on the WS. So, you are left with three lace repeats (3 x 6= 18 stitches) in this pattern; I framed one in blue on the chart. Don’t mind about the thicker border between the first and second stitches of row 3; that’s the original beginning of the lace repeat from the written version. In general I have an easier time following the charted instructions on lace patterns.
One other change I made is that I used the provisional cast on thinking that it will be easier to join the ends when finishing the cowl instead of making a seam.
I am not so happy with the yarn. I only knitted a few inches so far and the yarn broke in two places. I hope the rest of the skein is better and I hope this is not common for the yarn :(