So the hat looked more or less like this a little while ago.

Then came a quick little fit of knitting, and all of a sudden it looked like this.

It’s still due for a bit of a block, just to even things out and fluff it up a bit, but I’m rather taken with it.

I wanted the top to do something very specific (sort of gathered, not slouchy at all, but with just a bit of extra volume up there), and it totally did what I had in mind.  The trick seemed to be doing all the decreases amazingly quickly, and it  totally worked out.