Hidden Cowl

There are yarns, that are fairly easy to imagine into a hat, a sweater, a cardigan. And other yarns, that don't speak to me. I sample, knit, frog and try and try and the end result in never satisfying. Until I find the stitch and the pattern that allows the yarn to be its best. I've had such experiences before and I'm in the middle of my battle with Merino Bulky now. I love the yarn, though it's polywool, it's very soft and thick and very, very easy to knit on 6 mm needle. But I'm struggling to find the cowl I know it has in it.
Last week I posted about a huge 300 g cowl I made in Fisherman's rib and which turned too heavy and ugly. I frogged it and made another cowl, this time narrower and a combination of ordinary 1x1 rib and Fisherman's rib, only 200 g. I was at the point of grafting the two ends, but before cutting the yarn I basted it and asked Gaby to try it on. Theoretically it was what I had planned - 20 cm in width, 130 cm in length. In practice - I didn't like the look of it at all. So I decided that the problem was the looping around the neck twice - the yarn is thick (100 g is 100 m), Fisherman's rib is a voluminous stitch - so it was lot's of volume, but not much warmth.

I forgot to take pictures of the cowl before I started knitting from it again for my third try, so it looks a bit unfinished in these photos.

And this is my third try - the Stockholm scarf, single loop. I've knitted the third ball of Merino Bulky and started the second from the second Fisherman's rib cowl. They say the third time is the charm, so may be that's it ?

The weather had a change of heart and after an almost springlike week it snowed heavily all day today. I'd better finish this cowl while the winter is still here.