Can this hat be saved?

You all know I have a rather spurious history with making hats. In fact, my hat-making efforts seem to be quite snake-bitten. There was the Rowan Summer Tweed hat that ended up three sizes too big, like something Mushmouth would've worn in "Fat Albert." More recently, there was the very expensive Jade Sapphire Handspun Cashmere hat for the policeman who helped me on Christmas Eve...the hat which I attempted to fix by, ahem, felting.

And now, here we are again. Once again, my hat project began with a noble purpose. A friend on one of my tennis teams is a chiropractor, and he recently treated my knee (which I had slightly sprained right before a big match), at no charge. He and his wife are expecting their first child, and I thought I would make a little hat as a "thank you."

Please, somebody stop me...

To add to the challenge, I had the "cute" idea to make a hat that looks like a tennis ball. I went on ravelry looking for a pattern, and didn't see a single one.

This was omen number two.

I jumped right in, found the perfect shade of All Seasons Cotton, and had the basic hat whipped up in an hour or two.

This would have been another good place to stop.

Then, I started adding the tennis ball "stitching" in duplicate stitch. The stitching on a tennis ball is ever so much more complicated than I ever realized. It came out a bit wonky, but passable, I think:

Next, the real fun began: Trying to make it look more like a tennis ball by adding the word "penn." I tried duplicate stitch - it was a hot mess - too ugly to even take pictures of. Then I tried a backstitch. No go. I considered other words - love, prince, wilson. No luck. Finally, a brainstorm! Applied i-cord! This seemed like a brilliant solution. But now, as I sit here looking at it, I wonder if this is truly worthy to give as a gift:


I tried asking the DH for his opinion, but he was otherwise occupied:

I tried asking my kids:

So, dear readers, I need your honest opinion. Is it worthy to give? Or should it go to the frog pond?

- Shelley
shop online at loopsknitting.com

P.S. For those of you who read our recent Loops Scoop e-newsletter, here's a pic of my family talking on Skype with Ruth, my step-sis who is stationed in Iraq (if you click on the picture to make it bigger, you can see us up in the corner here in Tulsa):