The Jaunty Strawberry and the Moody Aubergine

Lucia's school has a yearly fund-raising auction whereby the proceeds help to keep tuition down. Some people are able to offer the loan of their vacation homes or yachts to raise money for the auction, but many of us aren't in that boat (literally). In addition to a gift certificate for a child's birthday party, I tend to donate textile items.

This year, I am making one child's garment in the style of Lilly's signature dress from Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse (cape, crown, and red cowboy boots not included), and two cozy wool hats for grownups. Surely, somewhere out there are adults who have admired the Ann Norling fruit and vegetable hats on babies, but gnashed their teeth and said, "It's not fair that babies who don't even appreciate these things (and in fact yank hats off of their heads at every given chance) get to wear strawberries and pumpkins on their heads!" For those adults, I offer one strawberry hat for the silent auction:



The hat is quite toasty, and not scratchy at all. I had made one for myself last year, but Lucia claimed it. I'm sure that if I had specifically knitted the hat for her, she would have refused to wear it.

I'm currently working on an eggplant hat. Here is its description:

Sleek, dignified and mysterious: this is the ambience of the majestic eggplant. Display your inner aubergine upon your head while keeping your ears warm. This hat is made of 100% Peruvian merino wool (hand-wash in cold water, lie flat on towel to dry). One size fits you. Hand-knit with love and humor.

To date, I've made Bede three eggplant hats. The first one I inadvertently tossed into the washing machine. The second one Bede claimed he lost, so I knit him a third one, only to find the second one hiding away in his chest of drawers. Bede admitted he'd found the hat and then hid it because he was chagrined I'd made another. When Bede saw me start the new eggplant hat, he said, "Oh, is that for me?"

I scoffed.

For those of you interested in obtaining the pattern for this hat, you can find it here at the Naked Sheep.