the perfect doesn't ring twice

I thought I'd found my perfect hat when I finished the Monmouth Cap for my bro-in-law. To recap (sorry) here's the FO shot and a bad snapshot of it in action.

I decided it'd be my perfect hat too, and this is what happened. Do you love how I phrased that as if I wasn't responsible for the outcome?
. Good thing I'm wearing my nerdiest glasses, or it'd fall over my face in all its lumpy organically textured glory.

What went wrong? Much. My sort of remedy was a consultation with Kay, my felting coach, who got me through to an acceptable version. But its so not perfect.


Monmouth Cap, the Not-So-Great Version

pattern: Monmouth Cap by Sarah Bradberry. Its a great design, don't hold this one against her.
yarns: the blue is Madil Pierrot and the green, knit held double, is Frog Tree, both merino wools.
needles: size 9us dpn
notes: Where to begin? Ok for starters, the blue yarn is wonderful but a bad choice. Its a thick & thin yarn, all wrong for this pattern. I started out knitting it held double, which was way too thick. I then started over single weight, its supposed to be bulky weight according to the yarn band.
Besides looking too lumpy, it completely threw the gauge off. And, because of the thin sections and the gauge change(I guess) the yardage didn't go as far as it should have so I needed to use a lot of a second yarn .
I happen to love this second yarn - the Frog Tree is so soft, so well-dyed to an interesting saturated shade and made by a non-profit women's cooperative - I mean, why haven't you stopped reading and ordered some now - but this design looks dorky in stripes.

So, to review, wrong yarn, bad design choice and wrong gauge. Small head. Stubborn woman. The lightly felted version is still too wide but the length is better. Its warm, and I'll wear it. But I'm already planning another hat for myself.