There's Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn bind off.  I can't think of any specific links to it off of the top of my head, but if you google it it'll come up all over the place.

What kind of spindle are you using?  You want to be able to spin faster because the fibers are shorter.  I've spun cotton on a wheel, but not a spindle, yet.  While I'm sure I've read about spindle spinning cotton somewhere, I can't remember where, but for some reason I think I'd want a lighter weight spindle to spin it with.

What did you use for the glue?  Can you just wash it?

I think I'm going to have to give the rainbow socks a try.  The afghan is gorgeous, but I'm not sure I have the patience, or the time, right now.

Take the sleeves off and shorten them, and then put them back on.  The rest of the sweater looks perfectly big and cozy to me.

Have you tried 'whacking' it?  Once you've set the twist, while its still damp, beating it against a hard surface.  Its been discussed on a few blogs, including Rose By Any... and a few others.

Maybe I'm asking an obvious question here, but have you taken any classes?  Knitting is not always an intuitive thing for some people.  And socks are definitely not an intuitive thing for a LOT of people.  It took me at least 8 tries to knit my first pair of socks.

She should have said knit the purls and purl the knits.

No - you knit the knits/purl the purls as they look on the needle as you're ready to work them now, NOT what you did on the previous row. Knit the knits and purl the purls is right.

(On stockinette, if you knit one row, then turn the knitting around like you do for this scarf, you have to purl the purls that you see to stay in stockinette)

While I fundamentally agree with you, it is sometimes easier to explain to someone who isnt reading a chart clearly as knit the purls and purl the knits.  Meaning that if you knit it on the RS then you  purl it on the WS, which is the exact same thing you were saying, only said differently.

I don't think it was written too clearly.  In looking at the picture the lace looks to be a stockinette lace, so in this case, you'll always work from right to left, but she didn't say the even rows too clearly.  I'll give it a try. On the even rows if the stitch that you made on the first row was a knit then you need to purl, if it was a purl, then you need to knit.  This will create stockinette lace.  Otherwise you'll have a garter lace pattern.  She should have said knit the purls and purl the knits.

Milliners have a special form that they use to stretch/block hats, that also uses steam.  If you know any hat shops they can do that for you.  I've heard of people stuffing the hat over a balloon or a ball to shape it.  Or you could put it on your head to shape it and then stuff it with newspaper or tissue paper to dry.