I think it’s a pattern someone else posted about recently. There’s only 6 sts to start, it’s kind of like an I cord, then you CO sts to start the top of the hat. And I think it is intarsia.
An invisible CO is another name for provisional CO, which is a temporary one so that you can either pick up the sts later or graft them together, so I imagine that’s what you’re going to do later on. Sometimes it helps to read through the entire pattern so you have a rough idea of where it’s going, then start it and knit step by step.