Braided Cap - Mixing childhood and adulthood

My real life took over for a while and I had to put knitting on the back burner since early April. In the last two months I've probably only knitted 20 hours. That's in comparison to my 3-5 hours a night on a typical night just before I had to set-up and run experiments so I can graduate.

Just before all the chaos with experiments started I ran into an old friend of mine who was going to start working up in the Sierra Nevadas soon. I love giving gifts that are useful. And I'd been looking for an excuse to once-again try to incorporate my childhood love of braiding into a cap. So old-friend gave me that excuse. I'd tried a couple of other times, but I just kept getting the cables wrong. Finally I was able to get it to look the way I meant it.

It took old-friend a while to realize how much work I put into the hat - even though I told him repeatedly that this was my all-time favorite hat I'd ever made and if he didn't want it I'd keep it...and if he lost it I'd kill him. Actually, it took another knitter to point out to him that it was awesome (not to pat myself on the back too much...I really do love that hat). So thanks to all you hand-knitters out there that help non-knitters realize how much work goes into seemingly simple projects.

But for now, experiments are over and I can get back to my Chroma Lights shawl in the evenings. Too bad the regular TV season is over. Guess I'll have to find something else to entertain me as I knit. Suggestions are welcome.