I was so pleased with the green beanie that I bought some more merino/silk blend yarn and a smaller round needle and started on this one. The cables look complicated but really they are easy, you only have to do them every third row and just alternate between front cables and back ones.
So the cable pattern is just:
1st row: p2, k12, p2
2nd row: p2, k12, p2
3rd row: p2, "cable 6 front (k3 and 3)"- which means slip the next 3 stitches onto a cable needle (or safety pin or skewer or whatever is handy) and hold at front of work, k3 from the left hand needle, then knit the 3 stitches from the cable needle. Easy! Then cable 6 front (k3 and 3) again, then p2.
4th row: p2, k12, p2
5th row: p2, k12, p2
6th row: p2, k12, p2
7th row: p2, k3, "cable 6 back (k3 and 3)" - which means slip the next 3 stitches onto a cable needle and hold at back of work, k3 from left hand needle, then knit the 3 stitches from the cable needle. Then k3, p2.
8th row: p2, k12, p2.
That's it! Then you just go back to the first row and do it all again.
I did 5 sets of cables, with purled stitches in between, and decreased stitches in the purled sections to make it gradually taper in. Then I decreased each 3 stitch cable down to 2 stitches, and I think I'll knit a few more rows like this before bringing it right in at the top. Which I am not looking forward to because it's so fiddly but how hard can it be?
