Hannah's beanie

Friends of ours had a baby girl on Monday - Hannah. We are off to see her tonight so I knitted her this little beanie modeled by Rowan's Easter duck. I am doing well using up left over baby wool - both Shepard 3ply and I have the tiniest amount of the pink left. The pattern is similar to this, except for grafting the stitches together at the crown I have continued knitting them (8 stitches) to make a stalk eight rows long. I have also placed her monogram and birthdate in fair isle around the middle, starting 8 cm from the cast on edge. Its ~HMK ~ 24-07-06. I used a letter sampler from a cross-stitch book as a guide, the are all 10 rows high. Unfortunately the letters are a little hard to make out as the white yarn has a bit of a shimmer and any light really clouds the letters. I have also just about eliminated the ladders between the needles which makes the whole thing look much better. If the new parents like it, I will knit another beanie for another friend (not very close, but I was going to send her something later) in a similar style. I am really enjoying fair isle knitting. I should have started it years ago!