OOPS!

Finished the fourth (and I think, final) component of a hostess present on Friday afternoon, and was overjoyed to cast on for this baby hat. It was the idea of this hat that led to the extremely ill-considered and -executed denim hat, but now I had the pattern right in front of me, so what could go wrong? For starters: ran out of yarn before the end of the long-tail cast on. No problem, just a few stitches of cable cast on and no one need be the wiser. I'm ashamed to admit I do this sometimes, but 154 stitches is a lot. So I started on the garter stitch brim, still enjoying myself, and at row 3 came the first decreases. K9, K2tog around. Fun! I love decreasing! But when I got to the marker, I had four stitches leftover. Not a problem, I thought, I'll fudge this, too, with a couple of extra k2togs. Two more garter rounds, on fewer stitches, then another decrease row. As I'm purling around, I reconsider my pro-top down stance. Maybe I was wrong; fewer stitches after every decrease, ending with an elegant six stitches? Bottom-up hats are the bomb. But all of a sudden I get near the end of the second decrease row and I am short several stitches. Shocking! Well, I snapped this photo then had Coco help me rip it out, and I must say that none of this would have happened if I'd started with a nice small number of stitches.
Since then I have cast on again (cable all the way this time), and counting carefully, am about to finish the second decrease row (again). Good thing, too, since my other no-look knitting project is now in the yes, look stage.