If it's worth doing once, it's worth doing twice....

I find myself saying that over and over at work, seldom do I do repeats at home (measure twice, cut once), but this pattern has me truly intrigued. I'm fascinated by it. I keep doing it and doing it and expecting it to take less time. I'd like to be able to knit this in two evenings. My guess is it will take a week of evenings. But since it takes an hour just to knit 4 row and the thing has 60 rows plus the ribbing, I may be just a tad optimistic.

I've been knitting way too much in an attempt to master this hat.

I've been possessed by a pattern called the Blue Tumpal Beret. The designer has a site where you can download it for free and there is also a link from Ravelry where a million knitters and fiber addicts hang out.

How can I tell I've been knitting too much. My finger that holds the yarn has a crack in it, the end of my thumb has a crack in it.

This is all very painful. I just super glued it together. I guess if they can send me home from surgery glued together (eh, one stitch or two, not worth the bother to thread the needle apparently, just put a little glue on it--you know those places where they make holes and stick things in you when they do surgery) it must be perfectly okay to glue small cracks in your skin together. At least it no longer hurts

Should you decide you want to tackle this pattern you are hereby forewarned. There are 2 errors on the chart, one error in the written instructions, and one bizarrely written sentence that is way simpler to state it has. I will gladly share but do not care at this date and time to post what took me hours of trials and tribulation and research to enable me to knit this pattern.