I am about to felt something

I have knitted - deliberately.
It's a "Balmoral bonnet" - one of those beret like hats with a chequered band. They were popular in Victorian times and probably worn on an everyday basis by some men. Now their use tends to be more restricted butt  they are often worn with other highland dress. 
I made one to see if I could work out how they could be knitted - and then felted. 
They are not shaped quite the same way as a beret. They don't have a ribbed border in order to fit snugly to the head. That was a problem for a start. How many stitches would I need? It needed to be a multiple of four for the chequered band. 
I made it with a knitted facing. If I make another I might just make it with a grosgrain ribbon facing instead. It won't be as thick. It will be more comfortable to wear.  If I did make one with a knitted facing I would start with a provisional cast on. (For the non-knitters among you that means putting the stitches on the needle in such a way that you can undo something and then pick the stitches up and work in the opposite direction. ) That would solve the problem with the band. 
If you are making a beret you dramatically increase the number of stitches  after the band.  With the Balmoral I felt the shaping was different. I increased gradually. I have also increased at not just eight different points on every second row but I have increased in a spiral in the hope that this will make it more rounded. When it looked wide enough and deep enough (allowing for the felting) I decreased again for the crown. 
Now I need to tidy away some ends and...the moment of truth will arrive. It may work. It may be a disaster. If it works I have no idea who will wear it. The Senior Cat detests wearing any sort of hat apart from his ancient cotton gardening hat - and even that bothers him. If it doesn't work I will have wasted some good wool and a week's worth of knitting.  We will see.
I am reminded however of the Senior Cat doing some washing in the absence of my mother. He put everything in the washing machine at the same time. That included something red belonging to the Black Cat and his own fairly good blue woollen pullover. The pullover came out with a purplish tinge and it no longer fitted him. It was worn by me and then my brother and then Middle Cat. It wasn't wasted  but it was not what my mother had intended. 
It is for that reason that each year at university I undertook the task of explaining how to wash a woollen garment. Impecunious students actually listened to that lecture.