Howdy & a Hat

Mary from Tactless Wonder here, hi. I joined a little bit ago but haven't had the time to say a peep. Peep.

I did not cast this little guy on until after I joined, promise, and I just finished him a couple days ago, but picture taking is hard in winter with my "fisherprice" camera. Happily the sun finally came out long enough for me to document:

Green on Green Cascade 220 in colors 9435 & 9413
Needles: 7 & 8 Circs
Pattern: Weeeelll, kinda the "needle-felted hat" from knit hats! But you can tell I striped it and didn't do the felting, or the i-cord....I'm trying to make a brother of a previously made hat...but failed. It's just too big, so um, when you see a similar picture in a couple weeks, maybe that'll be the "success story." Here, I'll post a pic of both hats so you can see what I wanted to make:
You can kinda see the size difference there, yes?

And now a question: You've mentioned before that Pantas count, well, I was on section one of my panta (and I'm not in the Panta KAL) when I joined. Can I count that here or does it not qualify since I was already cast on before I joined?

Happy hatting!