Faraway, so close

I am reverting into the newbie knitter of a year ago. Until last night it had been awhile since I made mistakes I couldn't fix myself. Now I have a two day streak.

I want to finish this hat so much. I'm four decrease rounds from being done, but I made another critical error for which I'm in need of being bailed out. I understand the difference between right side and wrong side on circular needles. I've had to catch myself from knitting the wrong way a couple times, but I've been on the ball and saved myself unnecessary grief...or so I thought. One of those instances was the round on which I've stopped a few stitches from the end.

Per the instructions I knit the first four stitches and knit the next two together. Garter stitch was showing up on the right side of the stockinette. Relieved that I noticed my mistake, I undid the stitches. The un-k2tog stitches looked like they might need to swap places on the needle. I pulled one over the other and then went on my merry way knitting in the right direction. These two stitches didn't look right when I got around to them, so I had them switch positions and continued to follow the pattern.

All was not well, though. It looked like there was a bigger gap than normal below those troublesome stitches. I undid them and examined the spot. It still appeared that there was a noticeable hole where one shouldn't be. I unknit again and intentionally dropped the first stitch where the problem was visible. My thinking was that somehow I'd inadvertently got a stitch turned around or in the wrong location. This technique would rectify the matter, or so I hoped.

Nope.

At this point I decided that the problem must be with the k2tog stitches preceding the ones I'd been attempting to repair. I undid the k2tog, a scary endeavor every time in my experience, and came to some harebrained conclusion that I ought to drop one or both of these and pick them back up. I think you can tell that this scheme didn't work either.

Exasperated, I vowed not to inflict any more damage and set the project aside. I'll drop by where I bought the yarn and plead for assistance--OK, I won't make that much of a show--so I can finish what is an otherwise good-looking project, if I may say so myself.

I was told at knit night that I should be using a longer cable for magic loop, if magic loop is even necessary. (I think it is.) I can see how a 32" cable would make the knitting easier, but when I cast on and knit the first few rounds, I didn't even have magic loop in mind. It just sort of happened until I made the active choice to look up the technique and put it to use. I've learned that I shouldn't keep pushing the stitches on the right needle down onto the cable while I'm knitting. It just makes knitting the remaining stitches more difficult. Once that discovery occurred, magic loop has presented few problems, not counting the self-inflicted ones.

Come hell or high water, you'll be seeing this hat as an FO on Friday. If it weren't for my side trip to the land of stupid knitting mistakes, it would be done right now.