Crocheted two-color spiral hat

I traveled to Pennsylvania for the holidays. Unfortunately, quilting stuffs are not very portable while traveling, so I packed some yarn and crochet hooks in my carry on bag to keep me occupied during the cross-country trip.

I have previously made a couple hats using this Divine pattern found here: http://www.rheatheylia.com/?page=patterns&id=10. I made a black one for my husband, and he loves it. I made two others, one brown and one orange. I really like the pattern and the resulting hats, but I always wanted to try two colors to make the spiral stand out. Thank goodness for long flights, right? 

I am a Penn State alum, and my sister and her family still live in the town of State College where Penn State is located. So I figured my first go at the dual-color spiral hat I was planning to make for my sister should be blue and white. Based on the pattern, I figured I should start the first two rounds with the spiral color, then pick up the main color on round three with the double crochet (dc) in the space between the front post double crochet (fpdc). It was a little tricky keeping the yarns from tangling, but if you're careful, this can turn out to be a really neat looking hat. 

I didn't snap any pictures before I gave it to my sister, but I asked her to take a few pics and send them to me... 

A view from the top: 

And another view from the side:

One of the keys of keeping the color changes so neat was to switch colors on the last yarn over (yo) of the last stitch before changing colors. In other words, if I was working with blue, and I was on my last stitch before switching to the white fpdc, I would work the last blue dc stitch all the way to the final yo, but instead use white to pull through and finish the stitch. I did this to prevent blue loops from infiltrating the white spiral. 

For a quick walk through: Say youre finishing up the group of dc in the space between two fpdc. So for the last blue stitch, that would be: yo, insert hook in space, yo, pull hook through: three loops on hook. Yo, pull through two loops: two loops left on hook. At this point, switch to white, yo, and pull through the last two blue loops. Now do the fpdc in the same fashion, switching back to blue on that last yo. 

As far as what to do with the off color while crocheting with the on color, I just let the yarn carry along the back of the stitches, making sure not to pull it tight when picking it up again. I haven't tried fair isle knitting, but I have a feeling it would be a similar process. 

My sister loves the hat, and says it's so nice and cozy warm... probably from all the extra yarn. And a good thing with the crazy winter they've had back east. Winters like these make me really appreciate all the warm sunshine here in San Diego! 

Let me know if you try this dual color pattern; I'd love to see some pictures!