changed my plan

I'm to the neck part of my Wandering Aran Fields cape and I've decided I don't have another one of these in me (at least not now). The cable chart part seemed to go along pretty quickly. But when I got to the 9 inches of k2P2 for the neck I slowed down as it got a little tedious and dull. I'm about 6 inches along and have set it aside to do the Shetland Triangle shawl from the same Wrap Style book. The cape's collar is taking a lot longer than I thought. I'm hoping to get the Shetland Triangle done for a Christmas present instead of another cape. It's more realistic than trying to do another cape.
Here is my progress so far on the Shetland Triangle. It's not much to look at yet. I'm on my fourth repeat of the body chart and the rows are getting long. I'm about to switch to circular needles. I've been using my straight needles for as long as I can with it because I'm not crazy about my circulars. I usually spend more time wrestling with the stiff cable than knitting. I'm hoping Santa brings me a set of the new KnitPick optons needles for Christmas.