I chose Adama by Hilary Smith-Callis. It is a shawl-cowl hybrid, knit flat at first then later in the round. It fits nicely around your neck and shoulders without needing to be pinned or tied. It's a bit funny looking when not in use.
Ignore my epic side-eye in this photo. I really like it. Cash Iroha, despite being horribly prone to breaking and pilling, is a favorite yarn of mine. And this color is lovely. The pattern was very quick and easy to knit up. Once you knit the one lace panel it's easily memorized.
Next I grabbed a few skeins of Woolfolk Får that I bought several years ago at another stash sale. The yarn is a chainette of incredibly soft merino wool. Again, without much dithering, I dove into a pattern, the Grayhaven Cowl, free on Ravelry. It's very basic. I didn't end up using as much yarn as I thought I would need so I still have a whole skein leftover.
The yarn is heaven.
While I was at my November retreat I found a mostly-knit scarf in the "free" basket. I took it back to my room and ripped it out. The yarn was Schoppel-wolle Gradient in the In der wiese colorway. I love this yarn and love the colors. I challenged myself to knit a cowl with it in time for show and tell on the final night of the retreat.
I chose Trust Me by Louise Zass-Bangham. I've knit several of her patterns and have really enjoyed them. Trust me is a circular cowl, knit flat, with no seams. Cool trick, right? I could try to explain it to you but maybe you should just knit one yourself. The one drawback of the cowl is that it needs to be as tall as half the circumference. So it's kind of tall for a snug-fitting cowl.
So there you have it, I've moved on from hats, for the moment, and am obsessed with cowls.