Warm winter crochet hat

I made this hat from James C Brett's Marble chunky. I am not sure how many grams it took as the wool comes in 200 gram balls. I don't think I have half a ball left. I have linked the pattern to the blog title so click on it if you want to see which pattern I used.

I have done very little crochet (or knit) over the last 2 days. Yesterday afternoon I had a visit from a friend who I haven't seen for ages. He moved with his family from Manchester to Liverpool but had to be in Manchester on business yesterday so popped in to see me for a few hours. I can't believe his baby is now 6yrs old and going to school. It seems like a couple of years since she was born.

My son came in the evening and spent a few hours looking through his old school photos and scanning the ones that I hadn't managed to scan on Monday.

He has always hated the fact that people say he looks exactly like me. I appease him by saying I look like my father therefore he looks like his grandad. I suppose we do look similar even now despite the fact that he lost his hair quite young. So if you take away my hair and the beard (his) then perhaps we still do look alike.

My neighbour Julie had another operation yesterday at Christies to remove the chemo resistant lump that had welded itself to her pancreas, liver and kidney but I won't know the outcome for a couple of weeks as she is going to her mother's house to recuperate.

I heard today that my neighbour a few doors down died in hospital on Sunday. He was only the same age as me but got dementia along with other medical problems a couple of years ago. It's sad that he has never had the chance to enjoy his retirement. He loved my dog Buster and he was one of the only people (animal) whose name he could remember. Buster continued to look out for him every day when he got taken into hospital. He would walk up to his front window and look in to see if Peter was there.

Buster will not be coming home to live me with again. My son said last night that they want to keep him. I can't really say anything as he was their dog for 5 yrs and they gave him to me reluctantly when he had a few behavioural issues with the grand babies. Now he has calmed down and their young dog loves him to bits so they think it's a shame to part them now they are so used to being together all day. I am looking after him for a couple of days in November as they can't put him into kennels as he gets distressed. I am going to miss not having Buster back but I don't think I will get another dog even though they are good company. I will see how I feel about getting another animal. I have always had cats so maybe I will get a kitten or a rescue cat one day.

Today I nipped up to Bury and got the greenish autumn shaded wool from the wool shop and got the plain green to go with it and the shaded green along with the paler shaded wool from the market stall. With the wool that I bought wrongly for Sarah last week I am well ahead with my stash for shawls.