The Cursed Project

In early December I planned to make my cousin's daughter Charlotte something cute for her first birthday. I had 2 months so it should have been easy, but it turned out to be really challenging.

My first attempt was from a pattern called "A Hat in a Day." Well, it didn't turn out like the picture and I messed up the top. Just not cute enough, plus too big. Here's Penelope wearing the first hat.

Then I got some blue and brown yarn. Charlotte has the bluest eyes ever so I thought it would look great on her. I found a different pattern. I made it in one night, stitched up the top and set it on our table to take to the post office. The next morning Penelope picked it up, put it on her head and the whole top unraveled 5 rows. I have no idea how it happened. I must have done a very poor job on the finishing! So all that was left was this mess...and Charlotte's birthday was a week away...
On her birthday I finished the hat for the 2nd time, stitched up the top correctly this time, and added a button of bling. Cute, huh? I should have sent it right then and been happy...
...but no...I realized I had a lot more yarn left so I decided to try thumbless mittens. I've found the thumbs on mittens completely useless for Penelope. Maybe next year she'll get it, but I think I've actually gotten a thumb in the thumb hole maybe 3 times all winter. I found many patterns for thumbless mittens so it seems other moms have the same issues. The mitten was a disaster!

I don't know where I went wrong. Chris said "is that an Ipod case or something?" It actually does look like the pictures from the pattern. Now that I've made it and saw it in real life I've decided it is just a bad pattern. I' want to change the pattern to round the top instead of that weird square top. So Charlotte didn't get the mittens, and her hat was a month late, but she looks darn cute in it!