Who knew I could strand?

So yesterday I was on a mission. My coworker and his wife are having their first baby - SOON - and while they don't know the gender, I would like to make a little something for the new little one and of course, I want to make it now! I had a great idea - why not try out some colorwork on a little hat. To make if gender neutral, I thought that off-white would be the perfect background color for some light blue and navy snowflakes. I had the blues in Baby Cashmerino in my stash, so my quest was to find some off-white. Since I just moved to a new city, I haven't become familiar with the LYS's, and unfortunately am still not. I googled before leaving the house and found one nearby (only 6 miles away). But, after searching stripmall after stripmall and making several illegal U-turns, I found a locked door and a place that little resembled a yarn shop. So, as you can see below, I did away with the off-white and stranded along with my navy and light blue. I did run into a second issue... I know nothing about baby sizes, and in the end, this prototype will now enter MY hat collection! Not that there's anything wrong with that! I did start on hat #2 - new, improved and baby-sized.

Yarn: DB Baby Cashmerino colours #202 and #207 (less than one skein of each)

Needles: US #3 circulars

Pattern: My own - CO 112 sts, K4P4 ribbing - 9 rows, knit with pattern until hat is 5 inches, then work decreases over the next 2 inches, making the hat 7 inches in length and 17 inches around (unstretched) - perfect for my head! For the baby hat, I CO 96 sts and I'm thinking that will translate into a much more baby-sized hat of ~14 inches around.

I really liked the stranding, although I did it by dropping the yarn each time to pick up the new color with my right hand. I would like to take the time to learn to use both hands, but I was in too much of a rush to finish this one, especially when I realized that a second hat would soon have to be on the needles.