i'm moving quickly on the zlott! hat (at least on swatching it - this isn't the real hat itself) - for now. i accomplished the shading while sitting at rosie's yarn cellar this morning, and was even able to ask some strangers if they "saw" the zlott!... they did, and we think this is working, and is about the right size. (there's about six and a half inches of zlott! here, and i'll be making one edit, in removing one green stitch and making it orange, where the z and l meet.)
the hat will be knit "side-to-side" rather than from the bottom to the top, so the shaping will be done at the start of knit rows and ends of purl rows, to decrease for the top. this is because i charted the zlott! sideways - it gave me a better way to work with the angles, gave me more stitches per letter to work with, and therefore more definition, and it means that the fabric will pull the design together more than apart, when the hat is worn.
so what's next? for me, nothing, until my friend deems this adequate, and then gives me the measurement of the circumference of his big stupid head, and then also the measurement from the top of one ear (or wherever he wants the hat to sit at its lowest point), up OVER the TOP of his head, and around to the same spot on the corresponding side. (as in, the way the headband of deely-bobbers would go over the head.) (john, please go get someone reliable to help you with this. maybe trish.) (or, go to rosie's yarn cellar and get somebody there to do it.)
this is such a joyless task. the recipient's gratitude will be short lived if detectable at all, and he will soon resume his campaign of untrammeled malevolence upon me. but i'm still going to win - if i get a picture of him wearing this hat. he's made a long, slow, painful life of it so far, letting me win, and i don't see the tables being turned any time soon.