This morning’s sunrise was one of those spectacular sunrises that gets you out of bed and downstairs to take a photograph. Mother Nature sure got her paint set out this morning. It was absolutely gorgeous. I was warm and cozy in bed but when I rolled over and saw the colors in the sky, I had to get a photo. Yowza! And it was almost warm enough outside to sit on the porch – but then the breeze blew up and sent us indoors again.

I ran some errands after coffee and got the rest of my Christmas shopping done, returned some stuff at Target and came home to wrap. My gifts for work, and the last packages to be shipped are ready for delivery on Monday. I wrote two weeks of my newsletter for work and finally sat down in the late afternoon for a little bit of knitting.

I’ve promised a beret for Christmas for my son’s fiancee or my future daughter-in-law. She asked for a spring-weight cap to keep her warm on the golf course in a beige and white. A few weeks ago I went through the entire store (I work at a yarn shop, remember?) pulling shades of beige and white yarn off the shelves. She liked two different ones and those are the ones I bought – I’ll try both and see which one fits better and I’ll happily alter either one to make sure they’ll work for her.

Yesterday I cast on the One Day Beret by Kirsten Kapur. This hat is designed to be worked in any weight of yarn because it’s knitted from the top down so it can be adjusted as it goes. The only thing I don’t know is how big her head is. I’m going to work on the assumption that she has a head that’s smaller than my huge noggin and I’ve googled the average head circumference of a woman and it comes out at an average of 22 inches. I’m crossing my fingers. It’s easy enough to re-do the ribbing if the size is off. I’m getting used to knitting and re-knitting … more coming soon.

I’ve reached the place in the pattern where the hat is ready to begin decreasing. I suppose it might be a one day beret if you start early in the morning with worsted weight yarn and one color. I’m knitting two rounds of two colors so that it’s striped. A little jazzier than a solid color, right? Anyway, at the end of knitting yesterday, this was what I had …

I’ve checked with KJW and she likes the stripes. Yay! The pattern is a free one so I don’t thinkI’m giving anything away when I say that it wants you to knit until the circumference is about 8 1/2 inches across and then knit 3 1/2 to 4 inches without increasing. Yesterday I got to part way to 3 1/2 inches and today I’ve finished that. Now it’s time to decrease until it’s the right size (22 inches). So it’s time for some math. My gauge is 22 stitches in 4 inches. 22 divided by 4 equalls 5 1/2 stitches to one inch. If I want a 22 inch hat minus 2 inches or 20 inches so my answer is …

20 x 5.5 = 110 stitches

So, I have to decrease until I have 110 stitches. The truth will be when KJW tries on the hat on Christmas morning. I’ll let you know how it goes!

My second attempt will be a one-color hat in Malabrigo Arroyo. For this beret, I’ll be knitting BisBis Beret by Sari Nordlund. It’s another top-down beret pattern and it’s written for a fingering weight yarn held double with a lace weight mohair. I think that’s going to feel too wintery so I’m going for a simpler plain sport weight. I still have a week! More on this one to come soon.

I’ve also frogged back the collar and chest of my granddaughter’s Christmas sweater so that I could make it a little bit longer because it was too difficult to get her little arms/hands into the sleeves. I frogged back until I reached where I had attached the “garland” which was a round or two from where the brick pattern ended. I decreased every third round until I had 80 stitches (I think. I have to go back and count the collar stitches.) It looks much better to me and, once again, I will have my answer when I get to New York for Christmas and try it on the baby. I hope I have time to make her a little Santa hat, too. My idea was to have her little face look like she’s Santa with her head sticking up out of the chimney. Ha! Ha! I’m not quite there but I think it’ll do.

I’m not going to post a picture of the final final until it’s on the baby and we see if it fits. After Christmas I’ll post pictures of all of the knitted items (and hopefully on their recipient!)

My Nancy Vest is getting there veeeeeery slowly. I’ve picked it up a couple of times when I didn’t want to think about my knitting. It is growing so slowly that I am a little bit concerned that I have enough yarn. That would be such a bummer. I have my Three Seasons Cardigan to pick up again after Christmas, my pink embroidered mittens, a couple of pairs of socks and there may be more.

But I digress. I’ve got to get moving on the striped beret.

Gone knititng.