Honeycomb Cable Hat - Greenland

I got the brilliant idea this year to knit a number of people gifts.  I managed to finish 6 projects in the month of December and write out the patterns for most of them.  One of my favorites was this lovely cabled hat knit in Greenland.  Greenland is one of my favorite yarns - it has this amazing springy twists and has fabulous stitch definition.  Sadly, I seem to never get a chance to knit it.

The finished hat shown is for an average adult - finished (unstretched) measurement is 7" wide and 8" long from the cast on edge.  I cast on 88 stitches.  It can easily be adapted to be smaller (cast on 80 stitches) or larger (cast on 96 stitches).

Materials:

• (1), 1, (2) ball Greenland (100% Superwash Merino Wool - 137 yds/100 g) - shown in color 3549
• US 7 - 16" circular needles
• US 9 - 16" circular needles
• Cable needle (or spare DPN)
• Stitch Marker

Abbrevations

• K - Knit
• P - Purl
• cn - cable needle
• Sl - slip
• 4-st RC - Sl 2 sts to cn and hold to back, K2, K2 from cn. 
• 4-st LC - Sl 2 sts to cn and hold to front, K2, K2 from cn
• K2Tog - Knit 2 together

Using US 7 - 16" circular needle.  Cast on (80),88, (96) stitches.  Join in the round, be careful not to twist.  Place marker.

K2, P2 for 2"

Change to US 9 - 16" Circular Needle

Row 1 - *4-st RC, 4-st LC; rep from * 

Row 2 (and all even rows) - K

Row 3 - K

Row 5 - *4-st LC, 4-st RC; rep from * 

Row 7 - K

Rep rows 1–8. 

Continue until reach 6.5 - 7" in length from Cast on edge (for smaller hat - 6", for larger hat - 7 - 7.5").  Begin decreases.

Row 1 -  *4-st RC, 4-st LC; rep from *
Row 2 - k6, k2tog
Row 3 - k2tog, k5
Row 4 - k4, k2tog
Row 5 - k2tog, k3
Row 6 - k2, k2tog
Row 7 - k2tog, k1
Row 8 - k2tog

Cut yarn, pull through remaining stitches.  Weave in ends.