Full disclosure

Don't you just hate those blogs where people talk about how perfect their lives are? And everything they make turns out just *so*.

My blog was never going to be one of those. I know I share lots of things I've made that I'm really pleased with, but in the interest of full disclosure may I present:

This is the first hat I've ever crocheted. And it may well be the last. 200+ people on Ravelry have made it and I am apparently the first to turn it into this:

I can't even bear to post the full photo. I don't want my face associated with this. It balances on the top of my head like a varigated fungus, lumpy and misshapen and totally the wrong size.

In the original post it looks adorable. Even allowing for a few variations, I am not sure how I got this result. The worst thing is that each stitch is a puff stitch, which requires seven loops around the hook which you then pull the yarn through. So it's a fair few hours of work here. The only saving grace is that I haven't fastened off, so I am just about to pull the end and undo the whole damn thing...