Second knit hat

If anyone checked out the link of the hat I had intended to make when I posted my previous hat, you would have seen that the patterns calls for two colors.

After making my first hat, I was stuck with a whole skein of a second color that I had not used at all (except for the failed fair-isle attempt...).  What better use of a skein of thick yarn with gold thread (!) than to make a second hat!  I searched around a bit for a different pattern, but ended up deciding to make a second identical hat.  At least that was the plan...

After wearing my first hat a few times, I realized that although it fits nicely width-wise, it was bit too deep and decided to make the second hat a few rows shorter.  Somehow though, I miscounted the rows while working and the new hat is actually a bit longer!  Of course I discovered that when I was almost done and I seriously debated unravelling the whole thing.  Keep in my I am pretty much a beginner knitter and one thing I have been unable to do so far is to partially unravel knitting.  Once the needles come off, that's it and I have to unravel the whole thing.  I have yet to figure out how to pick up stitches.  I can pick up an occasional stitch or two, but not *all* of them!

Looking at the hat for a while I had at one point decided to take it apart, but I couldn't find the loose end at the top.  If you look at the photo closely, you will see a large loop at the top - that was from my misguided attempt to pull out the loose end and to unravel the hat.

Since I was unsuccessful unravelling the hat, I decided to wear it out on a short errand to determine if it was really too big.  Final verdict is that yes, it is a bit big, but I can deal with it.  For now.  Just to be on the safe side, I have not yet finished the ends.

And shown below are both hats side by side.   It's obvious that the ivory one is slightly larger than the brown one.  Hard to tell from the photo, but they both sparkle nicely:)