My First Cabled Hat

Since I just learned how to do cables (thanks Jen!) and had tried them out on a doggie sweater, I thought I was ready to try a full hat of them for myself J I completely made this up with no pattern, and think it turned out quite well!

BODY:
I cast on 90 sts using size 8 round needles, and worked in a k2p2 ribbing for 1.5 inches. I then placed a marker and began my cables. I worked in a k6p3 for 5 rows, and the on the 6^th row, crossed my cables. When I began the “k6”, I used a cable needle to pull the first 3 knit stitches to the front, knit the next three, and then knit the first 3 stitches I pulled out off of the cable needle. I did the same for each “k6” in this row. I repeated this pattern (of working 5 rows in k6p3 and then crossing my cables on the 6^th row) until I had 5 inches past the ribbing.

DECREASING:
I then began to decrease. I’ll admit, I did this kind of “willy-nilly” since I wasn’t working from an actual pattern, so here is what I did:
1^st row: p2tog in each “purl” section of the pattern
2^nd row: knit/purl in pattern
3^rd row: p2tog in each “purl” section of the pattern
4^th row: knit/purl in pattern
5^th row: k2tog at the beginning of each “knit” section
6^th row: knit/purl in pattern
7^th row: k2tog at the end of each “knit” section
8^th row: knit/purl in pattern
9^th row: k2tog at the beginning of each “knit” section
10^th row: knit/purl in pattern
11^th row: k2tog at the end of each “knit” section
12^th row: knit/purl in pattern
13^th row: k2tog at each “knit” section
14^th row: knit/purl in pattern

Now, I had 20 stitches left. I cut a long tail, took a tapestry needle, and ran the yarn through all my remaining stitches, and cinched the top. I then made a large pom-pom for the top of the hat and attached it.