Brightening my day

It has been a month of cold and gray weather here, interspersed with a week of warmer gray weather, and now back to cold and gray. Of course, knitting bunches is a good remedy for winter days. So is garden-planning, which I am starting to do obsessively. I'm also enjoying the blooms of the amaryllis and paperwhites I planted a while back.

For Christmas, Laura made me a silk scarf that she dyed with indigo and cochineal. She did topstitching by had around the edge and left the knots exposed a'la Alabama Stitch. I wear it everyday.

It's cozy but light and a great contrast to all the other wool knitwear I am always sporting. What is brightening your January?