Coronet an FO

In the nick of time; Coronet emerges as the final Finished Object of 2007. Leftover Lamb's Pride in two shades of purple; size 8 needles. I'm quite pleased with it...although it looks a bit muffinlike off the needles, it's warm and flattering enough on the head. A very nicely written pattern (thank you, Alexandra Virgiel), simple but very interesting construction. Although one of my knitting truths is that I'm fonder of cabling as a look than as a technique, there's just enough here to give me a feeling of accomplishment without losing my patience. Notes for next time:

• I finally figured out the unzip technique for the crochet chain provisional cast on (instructions here, although my lightbulb went on thanks to Vicki Square's Knitter's Companion, p.82). This method used to be hit or miss, sometimes leaving me with strangled yarn, but the trick seems to be to make some extra chains at the end to give yourself a running start and unzip from that end (not the beginning) which you have denoted with a loop of the provisional yarn kept in place by the tail of the working yarn (when picking up the bumps in the chain, leave a long enough tail to do the Kitchener). Unzip, inserting the needle into each stitch and releasing as you go.
• Kitchener here is done with right sides facing out, wrong sides facing each other. It leaves a ridge on the inside of the band but is barely discernable from the outside. My Kitchener mantra after set up: front knit take it off; front purl leave it on. back purl take it off; back knit leave it on. Do not watch television while performing this action.
• Remember that the pick up from the band is done with the wrong side facing out. I used two colors for this hat. Picked up with the original band color, placed marker and joined, purled one round, knit one more round, then joined new color and continued on to the top of the hat. Changed to two circulars at 24 stitches.