Braided today, blocking tomorrow

Awhile back, still in the throes of the fingerless glove frenzy, I had a hankering for braided cables. I was planning to try the Symmetrical Braided Gauntlets but held off because I was starting to learn that many of these patterns were not written for my skeletal hands. And while I'm willing to give away a pair or two, I intended to knit most of those suckers for my cold hands.

However, I was able to satisfy my desire to knit braided cables with a hat, and last night I finished a Braided Cable Hat:



The pattern requires a multiple of 11 stitches, 9 for the braid and 2 for the purls in between each braid, so I cast on 99 stitches. If I knit this pattern again, I'd probably insert an extra purl stitch in between each braid. It's very thick and snug, but it's also tight and doesn't have a whole heck of a lotta give. I mean, it fits me:



But unlike the gauntlets, I wasn't knitting this for myself. I planned on giving it to someone else and I'm concerned that it might not fit the recipient. (Remember, I do have an awfully small pointy head!) Now I'm wondering if I should try stretching it out a bit. I figure it's worth a shot - I just need to find something in this house to block it on that's the right shape and bigger than my head!

There's still a ton of hat patterns I want to try - some that I might actually wear if they look decent on me, others just because I'm curious about the cable or stitch pattern. I'm thinking about maybe a beret next? There's only about a jillion possible patterns to chose from. But life wouldn't be normal if I didn't have a hat on the needles so while I figure out which one I grabbed some leftover Lion Homespun from my stash and started this chemo cap:



Why? Go visit The Watson Highlands and find out!