Alaskan fireweed cowl

My family and I just returned from a 2.5 week vacation in Homer, Alaska visiting my in-laws.  I always lament that I can't sew while on vacation, so while traveling I tend to gravitate to small knitting projects.  I'm not much of a knitter--truthfully, it is a craft of last resort for me--but I can't be without a project of some kind for that long!

This project was a small cowl, made with lovely hand-dyed yarn purchased 2 years ago in Homer.  The colorway is called "Fireweed", which represents a gorgeous flowering plant all over the fields and hills in Alaska.  Here's a (rather unrepresentative) close up of the plant.  In real life, when completely carpeting a field, it's stunning.  By the time I got out into the fields to take photos, the fireweed was almost completely bloomed out (waaaay early, thanks to a warm summer).  

The pattern is lacework (Estonian Leaf Cowl--it's free!) and while I'm not the best knitter, the pattern was doable and the mistakes are not too obvious because the yarn is nicely variegated.  

My cast-on stitches are okay, but I made some mistakes binding off, so that edge rolls all over the place when I wear it.  Anyone have a good bind-off that is stretchy, but doesn't roll?  It's a bummer.

Anyhow, this was intended to be a 'practice run' for some extra-special yarn, but I don't love the shape of the cowl--it kind of slumps down when I wear it--so I'm back to square one.  However, I'm pleased I finally used this lovely yarn (and created something while on vacation!).  Actually, I purchased another hank of yarn and managed to knit a really simple open-work infinity scarf the night before our flight home, but I've not yet taken any photos to show it off :)