Astronomy Hat

So, now we have an answer to "can this project be salvaged?"

Sort of.

Astronomy hat on intended astronomer

While I was able to fix the crown, and it now more closely resembles a hat, it had other problems with the design which were not apparent at first. Most notably, it was too big, and was sort of hanging on the head. Ideally this kind of design would be tight to keep the wind out.

The pattern came out quite pretty though. I particularly like how the variegated grays mimic a sky full of stars in photo negative.

Astronomical negative side

And the moon certainly looks moon-like, though a bit too close to the horizon now that I have a full-size crown.

Moon side

And I like how the sunrise colors came out on the earflaps.

Meteor side

The shape reminds me of a military helmet though, instead of a winter hat.

In any case, I decided to see if I could make it a bit smaller by felting it. The good news: it got smaller. The bad news: it turns out the gray yarn is super wash wool, and does not felt (always check!) which makes it a bit baggy on the inside of the hat, like I had used a larger needle. Also, it didn't shrink enough and became pretty stiff.

You can see how big it is on him, and this is after felting it.

So, in conclusion, it is a useable hat at least. But kind of an ugly one.