Well, not a mess, actually. Some pretty good but goofy fish.
These are two fish of my manufacture and one of Elder Daughter’s. Elder Daughter made the gold face, ultra stripy hat for herself (and in the process learned a lot about darning in ends). I made the slightly less stripe one for her younger sibling (dark orange mouth and fins). We worked on them while we were visiting our Buffalo family, and in the process my niece and nephew were likewise fish-smitten. Being a soft touch, I agreed to make two more.
The half finished green/gold/white fish is for nephew Justin, he of the blanket pattern, now a middle school kid. I’ll be starting younger niece Veronica’s fish hat later today. She’s requested softer blues, greens and pastels. I’ll do my best out of my stash; but be they pastel, screaming oranges and golds, or in-your-face green, these hats are a supremely silly must-haves. At least in this family. Kudos to Thelma Egberts and her muse Jonas, Master of Fish!
String-Or-Nothing 
Hey, next time you are in Buffalo let me know. Perhaps we can get together.