I finally finished Princess Zelda last night.  Actually, I had finished her a few weeks ago, figured out what I did wrong, re-wrote my pattern, and completed my second attempt last night.

She's still not perfect, but she's a far cry from attempt #1:

Not only was I making it the wrong size to begin with, I was trying to include way too many details.  The more I do this the more I learn, and I'm finding that too many details really don't translate very well into crochet.  Simpler is better.  She's a little creepy looking yet, I think I'm going to put some points of light in her eyes and probably make a mouth (my son is insisting that she has a mouth, even though I'm pretty sure the Zelda I was basing this on didn't have one pictured).  Just for comparison,

See?  No mouth.

I am just a bit sad - there's no way this is going to be done in time for my husband's 30th birthday in a few weeks.  Or even by his birthday party a month later.  I have 4 panels done now, and I don't even know how many more to go.  2 of the panels I have left I still haven't written out the patterns for, and the ones that I have written I'm going to have to re-do, based on what I discovered while crocheting Zelda here.  Plus, I'm trying really, really hard not to rip out a few of the panels that I DID complete, because I see another way to do them.   But, my husband knows me pretty well by now - the first blanket I ever made for him still needs half of its fringe applied.  He's waiting, very patiently, hoping that I will have it done by the time he's 40.  I think I can do that.