Lidsville, Completed.

I finally have a picture of Lidsville, so I might as well explain the last few snags in its making.

I arrived at my ancestral home to discover that in my hurry, I had left the plastic canvas brim behind. Swearing ensued. My mother helped me improvise with a piece of cardboard. Then came yet more problems with figuring out exactly where I was supposed to sew stuff together. I asked my mom for advice; she said she had no clue. (It seems for a lot of us stitchery skipped a generation, huh?) I finally got the hat slapped together about two minutes before giving it to my father. He put it on... and immediately wanted me to make the back longer.

He may be getting a Chia Pet next year.

I added a few rows to the back and some decreases to make the hat tighter. Then, in what I would call a true stroke of irony, I found plastic canvas in my late grandmother's stash and had to figure out how to swap out the cardboard for it. Finally I handed it to my father, who put it on and said "that's good." I replied "it better be. I'm out of yarn."

I would say I'm... content with the final product, and might even try making myself one someday. However, I had an issue with the pattern, and based on the comments I've seen on Ravelry and some of the Google search strings this blog has gotten, I suspect some of you had the same problem: The crochet instructions are just fine, but there is very little direction on how to do the sewing. I'm a crocheter, not a seamstress, and I didn't really know what to do with directions like "sew the brim to the hat." Where, exactly? I realize that I sound like a dolt, but, well, when it comes to sewing I am a dolt.

I'm not saying this is a bad pattern, because I don't think it is. I think it's a good pattern. But with clearer sewing instructions, it could have been a great pattern.