Some color for Friday

Progress on Frida trudges along. I took a break to knit a super adorable baby hat since I'm debating how much painting of Frida's background I'll need to do. I decided to definitely paint some background color on the background (which will be all birds and flowers and vines) so now what I need to decide is whether or not to paint on the skirt. The skirt will be black with a few stripes of color.

I think maybe I'll skip painting that though. I like the idea of leaving the background of her face and shawl and skirt white in contrast to a richly and lushly colored background. I almost regret completely filling most of her shirt but I really wanted those thin horizontal stripes to mimic traditional central American weaving. I need to re-check out some embroidery books so I can get instructions for all the pretty stitches and such for the skirt.

While I was deciding my next steps I took a break to do some knitting. I used this pattern from Knitty to make an absolutely adorable baby hat. I have nine going on ten nieces and nephews. My oldest brother has six children, my next brother has two (the second just born about a week ago), and my sister has one son and is due with a daughter at the end of April. My sister's boy is the only one I really know and who knows me. He is the sweetest toddler I've ever met and they're all moving down here to my city in a month or so (very exciting!). Only two out of the current nine kids are girls (both belonging to my oldest brother who lives in Missouri and who I may never see again, sadly) so it will be nice to have a niece that I get to see more.

I also have knitting orders from a friend which include a number of hats for her grandchildren so I've got bright kids colors and fun patterns on the brain.