Work in Progress - Cabled Hat

I started on my best friend's hat and scarf set late Friday evening, and managed to transfer the pattern to 3x5" index cards (because I'm a nerd and they're portable) and still had time to cast on and get a few inches into the hat:

I figured that wasn't bad for a couple hours' work. Note the omnipresent mad knittist scribbles on the 3x5 cards. Nerdiness aside, I find that transferring the pattern to the cards helps me understand the pattern and look up any instructions I don't understand so it's easier to translate when I'm actually knitting it. That's especially helpful when the pattern includes an instruction that seems odd or out of place. I have several types of index cards: graph cards for plotting the charts and regular lined cards for mad knittist notes. I also have blank ones, but I usually use those to roll up and put in the center of wound yarns.

Update: I was late in posting this, so here's my progress as of Sunday night:

I'm one pattern repeat (4 rows) away from starting the decrease for the crown. The cable pattern is really quite easy once the foundation row is done, so the scarf should go pretty quick too.