I had more than half a skein left over from the shawl collar sweater, so I started a top down hat, in case I ran out of yarn. When I didn’t run out I decided to add the ear flaps with I cord. The pattern is newborn size and I wanted it larger, 6/9 mos. I increased an additional time to end up with 72 stitches rather than 64 stitches. I worked the hat until it was 4 in rather than 3 1/2 in. I made the ear flaps 14 stitches wide rather than 12 and increased an extra time until I got down to 6 stitches.