I only knit the brim to two inches instead of two and a half. I followed the rest of the pattern as written. I think I’m going to find a faux fur pompom to put on this hat instead of making one out of yarn and I’m going to crochet the ties for the split brim instead of doing I-cord. I had a little trouble with the instructions when it came time to start working in the round because the pattern didn’t state that the two slipped stitches at the beginning of round one are not actually counted until the end of the round and count as part of the last four. Once I figured that out it was easy sailing and my hat turned out really cute.

I ended up using a yarn pom pom in the end for time sake. I didn’t have time to wait for the faux fur ones to ship and the ones I wanted were currently out of stock anyway.