The second time around, I knit a striped hat like the pattern calls for and added the details afterward using duplicate stitch (or overknitting) and a little bit of crochet. This turned out rather nicely. I modified Carissa's pattern, however, when I noticed that the top of R2's head is actually somewhat different from the version in her hat. I also changed some of the details and instead of using the projecting bits, I just made colored circles on the hat where they would be.
(Yarn: Cascade Cash Vero in 030, Cascade 220 in 9457, scraps of black and dark grey. Hat models: Vichu, R2D2)