Alpaca love

I'm going to join everyone already raving about handknit Holidays. It is a great book, like all of Melanie Falick's books. My Mom fell in love with the Vintage Beaded Gloves and I lucked out and got a great deal on a bunch of odd-balls of Alpaca. The only 2 that matched were the perfect blue to match Mom's winter coat.
So began the softest gloves around:

They are yummy. I brought them to a women's day my Mom and I went to on Saturday and had our friends try them on too. So soft. I think I want to marry an alpaca farmer now. A little caution to others who make them though. I had to restart these after discovering that the sizing is different than I'm used to. After my 1st attempt came out way too big, I switched to the small size and that fits great.
I wanted to make something for my boys with some of the other alpaca skeins. M loved the Candy Cane Hat in handknit Holidays, but wanted it in the colors of a candy cane. A boy with a white and red hat? Hmmm, is that not an open invitation for dirt? We instead decided upon the very Christmassy colors of red & green:

As I was making it, I worried a bit about the rolled brim not looking boyish enough. But once finished, I think it looks great and it doesn't roll as much when it's on him.
I'm not quite sure about the 1st decreasing row. I wish the pictures in the book showed this more clearly, but I do not think it was meant to come out the way mine did. M wanted to wear his hat though, so I had no time to refigure it myself. But again, once on his head it doesn't look as bad:

And what did M think?

He loves it. He has no idea what an alpaca is, but loves that it's so soft. And with both colors being worked, I think that it will help add extra warmth to the hat. (don't you love that smile showing off his 2 missing front teeth?)
And by the way, I had to make the woman's size to fit him. Do my kids have bigger heads than most kids? So with this pattern too, I found the sizes odd. But still, a great, great book.