A Waste of Life...?

So today I had a very relaxing schedule. I didn't have to come in for my first final so I got to wake up at 9, get to school in time for my jewelry final which took all of half an hour, and then sit in the classroom eating brownies. Not bad. But, when I got home at noon, I realized I had SEVEN hours to kill before the jewelry auction tonight. So, naturally, I decided to work on the hat I'm making for Jaclyn.

And so for the past few hours I've been knitting. And my hands are killing me. But, out of it, I made up my own pattern for the hat. So, here it is. The hat's far from finished, but when I'm done I'll put up pictures.

Cable-knit Beret (I'm using a big cheap skein of dark purple acrylic worsted-weight yarn)

Cast on 80 stitches onto US 7ish circular needles, 16 or 24 inch circumference. 

K2 P2 row one, and continue with the ribbing up till the end of row 6.

K, K 1 front and back of each stitch, for row 7 to increase to 120 stitches total

Rows 8-11: P12, K8, etc.

Row 12: P12, Cable K8, etc.

Row 13: P5, K2, P5, K8, etc. (You're adding two knit stitches in the middle of the purl section)

Row 14: P4, K4, P4, K8

Row 15: P3, K6, P3, K8

Row 16: P2, K8, P2, K8 (So every other "stripe" of knit stitch, you'll have a cable section)

Row 13 on: continue with the pattern, adding a cable in the cable section after every ten rows. Continue until the hat is between 6 and 8 inches from cast on. Really you can stop whenever.

Decrease (try to do this right after a cable, transfer onto regular needles): P 2 tog, K 2 tog 4 times, P 2 tog, K 8, etc.

Row 2 of decrease: K 2 tog 3 times, K8

Row 3 of Decrease: K 2 tog the entire row

Carefully slip the loops off the needles and cut a 4-inch tail of yarn. Thread the yarn through all the loops and pull tight. Flip inside out, tie the yarn, and weave in the end.

... hopefully it'll turn out well.