The hat was landmark because I was trying WAY too many new things at once.  Here are the new elements that went into the hat:

(1) Knitting in the round (circular needles)
(2) Ribbing
(3) Knitting with double-pointed needles

Miraculously, the hat turned out fine and camouflages the few major mistakes I made.  I'm attempting another one soon, this time in a cool white cashmere yarn (squeal!).  I'll be figuring out how to adjust the pattern for smaller yarn and needles.  
 

Supplies

* Worsted Weight Wool, 1 skein

* 24" size 8 circular needles (actually, if I had it to do over I might use 16" because I think the
 24s stretched the hat a little) 

* 1 set size 8 double pointed needles

* stitch markers

Pattern

Cast 81 stitches on to circular needles. Throw a stitch marker on the needles at the beginning of the round to mark your place.  Join, then K2 and P1 for many rounds until you have about 5-6 inches of fabric.  T he pattern I started with called for 10 inches and a flip-over kind of thing, but it just looked too dorky.  

As you can probably see, I made a couple of mistakes which threw my ribbing off twice.  Once, early on, I put down the knitting and picked it up and started knitting it on the wrong side, which reversed the rib.  Another time I dropped a stitch and didn't realize it for a while, so the ribbing moved over one stitch. 

The rest is pretty much directly from that pattern.  

Now, switch to the double-pointed needles by knitting an equal number of stitches onto each new needle.  I used four needles - three to hold the knitting and one to knit with (they rotate - you'll see when you try it).  You'll have a triangle with 27 stitches on each needle.

Here's what the pattern said:

Round 1: * K 2 tog, P 1* repeating between *'s around. (54 sts)

Next 4 rounds: * K 1, P 1 * repeating between *'s around

Second decrease: * K 2 tog, K 1, P 1 * repeating between *'s around, to last 4 sts, then K 2 tog, P 2 tog.

Next 3 rounds: * K 2, P 1 * repeating between *'s around. ( 39 sts)

Third decrease: * K 2 tog, P 1 * repeating around. ( 26 sts)

Next 2 rounds: * K 1, P 1 * repeating around.

Fourth Decrease: * K 2 tog. * repeating around. Then repeat this last round, ending K 1.

At some point I ended up with an uneven number of stitches on each needle, so I occasionally had to shift a stitch from one needle to the next to accomplish the directions.  I don't know if that's what you're supposed to do, but it worked just fine.  You can see a photo of how the top decreasing turned out at right (coming soon!).

When you finish the above, cut the yarn, thread sewing needle with yarn end, pull through remaining stitches. Pull to close top, and weave in yarn ends.

The ribbing - you can see where I accidentally reversed it!






A profile of the hat