Knitting FAIL

I spent approximately 6-8 hours on a knitting project that turned out to be a complete bust.  My boyfriend kindly and gently reminded me that I am still a beginner and learning and that it wasn't a complete waste because I learned from it.  I am better now than I was before I started the project.  This is the result of my attempt:

Here is what I learned during the process of making this failure of a ladybug (yes, that's what it was supposed to be) hat:

1. When you come up with a pattern, don't do it on a square grid.  Knitting isn't square.  Each stitch is taller than it is wide, so your design will be skewed.  Also, there are free programs that will help you with creating the appropriate size grid and even converting images to patterns.
2. I like the little border I did (knit a row, purl a row).
3. I first tried to do the entire hat in that pattern, but the logo looked horrible.  A logo just won't work with the alternating raised purl stitches.
4. The knit a row - purl a row pattern has a much different gauge than knitting every row.  The hat was way bigger than expected.
5. Even though I tried to leave the string in the back really loose when carrying the black and red yarn, it came out terrible.  It was still all tight, and all the extra yarn made it kinda puffy.  Trying to do a logo like that is a bad idea (or maybe I just haven't learned to do it properly yet).