Hat #1

Sunday the 10th we celebrated Dear Son #1's birthday. He suggested some time ago that he would like to have a toque and scarf for his birthday present, as he recently bought a new winter jacket. I promised to make that for him and started looking for some good wool yarn, in a light grey and a variegated blue.

I looked at several yarn sites on the net, but just didn't find what I was looking for.

Finally found some as we were shopping in Strathmore, although I had to settle for acrylic, not wool. I started knitting on Sunday evening. I had, in fact, found two kinds of variegated blue. This one is a Bernat Satin, the same yarn I'm using in the pink waistcoat for the youngest granddaughter. And even though I didn't care for the "hand" of that yarn, this variegated blue (with teal and purple) seemed very attractive. But as it shows knitted up, it seems much too much teal and not enough blue. So I'm calling this Hat #1, meaning that I will make a few more versions to finally hit on a combination of colours that seems right.

The pattern is from "45 Fine & Fanciful Hats to Knit" by Anna Zilboorg. This is a great book, with quite unusual hats. I've made several as gifts already. This is the first "toque" pattern that I've used. It certainly knits up quickly, and looks great when finished.

We are finally enjoying a break from the deep cold we had for December. Our daytime highs are in the single digits, but what a relief that is! M and I are able to go for our daily walks, which we missed so much.

And another cheery note for us is the blooming of the first of Jim's Amaryllis bulbs. Rather than stick with the traditional deep red, he chose a bloom called "Apple Blossom." The colour in the snap shows a deeper peach or orange because it was taken in the late afternoon. The blooms are more of a delicate to hearty pink. They are gorgeous!