Fair Isle practice

The practice hat is finished and ready for gifting:


Fairly easy Fair Isle

When I got to the pattern on the top, I should have consulted a book for instructions on combining Fair Isle with decreases - the alternating colors all but disappeared into the k2tog on the next row. But I am not mature enough to rip it out.

Speaking of k2tog, I think I prefer the look of ssk for a basic hat, like in this pic. Does anyone else have an opinion?

This reminds me, about a year ago, when knitting my first hat, I messed up my counting on the decrease section and got an amazingly cool, intricate snowflake pattern on the top of the hat. I have never been able to duplicate it. Has anyone else ever done this? Are there any patterns available for doing this intentionally? It was my favorite decrease ever!