Quick Cabled Cap

I just got Elsebeth Lavold's Viking Patterns for Knitting book and was immediately dying to try something from it. Her explanations of the technical aspects of how to do her methods of cabling were fantastically easy to understand so I wanted to jump right in. So I made this:
It is:

The pattern: Ragna Cap
The yarn: Katia Montana 2 skeins in color 82857 (that I had in my stash FOREVER)
The tools: size seven addi turbo circs and a stitch holder
Montana has no ply or twist to it so I was having a hard time getting even the blunt tips of the addi's not to split the yarn when I tried to do my usual method of cabling with no cable needle. Since there was a lot going on anyway with the Celtic braid motif I finally gave in and used a stitch holder in place of a cable needle. Why a stitch holder? Because it was handy. It's also very thin so easy to get under and pick the yarn up with. So I guess technically I still cabled without a cable needle. (Please - humor me - I need to hold on to my illusions!)
This was so quick to make - just a few hours from start to finish. I think a few people might be getting one for Christmas. Also - I'm so proud of myself that I used - gasp! - stash yarn. I hope you can see the cables well enough in this photo - they are very sharp in real life, even with the heathery yarn.