I got some unbeleivable shades of purple while dyeing yarn with kool-aid this weekend. You would never even guess they are from something that is meant to be a beverage.

Are they not crazy lovely? I am not even a purple person, yet am nonetheless enamored with the colors and variations in these skeins (especially the darker purple). They are for a Christmas gift, but I am tempted to keep them. Its recycled wool from a sweater (the creamy yellow one in this post), and there's about a sock's worth in each skein.

Kool-aid recipes: (keep in mind I started with cream-colored, not white, wool)

Light Purple: 4 packets Flavoraid grape, plus a shake of Berry Blue.

Dark Purple: Something like 14 packets of Flavoraid grape, plus one packet of blue. I kept the water near boiling, and the yarn absorbed all the dye this time.

The Specs:

Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Firestorm

Pattern: Jaywalker socks, by Grumperina

Size: the smallest size offered in the pattern. I knit the cuff to 6" because I was concerned about yardage, but based on the leftovers, I probably could have gone to 6.5".

Needles: Size 1 DPNs

These socks are great. The yarn is quite soft, and has wonderful deep colors. They fit great, and I even sent them through the wash (dryer too!) without incident. Thanks for a rockin pattern, Grumperina! I'd totally knit these socks again, maybe toe-up next time.

Last year, for Christmas, I knit all sorts of things for gifts. Hats, gloves, scarves, a pillow, even a miniature sweater. There's a photograph of the fam decked out in knit accessories on the wall of my desk. It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed it. Giving knit items felt more genuine than purchasing gifts.

This year, however, the fam is doing a secret santa type exchange, which means I have only one person to knit for! Freedom from Christmas knitting!

But, I kinda miss it. I am lost, with no sense of purpose amoung the frenzy of Christmas preparation. Luckily, there's a whole other side to the fam with no secret santa type agenda.

This will be a hat for my half-sister (...who is hopefully not reading!) I made her a hat last year, but it was lost by mid-February. No big deal, that means I get to knit her another one. She loves purple, so I dyed this yarn with her in mind.

Its Kim's Hat from , the earflap variation. I am using the yarn doubled.. one strand each dark and light in the garter-stitch brim, then switched over to all dark purple for the rest of hat. The earflaps will be light purple.

If there's enough yarn, maybe she'll get mittens too.

So I have this yarn, and I am pretty sure I want to knit it into some sort of scarf for my stepmother for christmas, but I am not sure what. Can anyone think of a good openwork-type scarf pattern that would work for very thick yarn? Its Crown Mountain Farms TNT, 140 yards, and size 17 needles would be appropriate.

Boots shown for scale. Its a rather large skein.

I impulse-purchased it yesterday. It came with a pattern to make a way cool hat with very long earflaps that are worn as a scarf. (looks cooler than it sounds.) Halfway home from the LYS, I decided such a hat would be better in a solid color, maybe white.

What sort of scarf could it become? I tried the so-called scarf,and its beautiful, but very dense, and no way would there be enough yarn.

Maybe the Yarn Harlot's scarf, but there still might not be enough yarn. To deal with such a yarn shortage, I am considering pulling in a pinch striper... ggh soft kid.

(Yes, that's my Rebecca wrap cardi. No, don't try to talk me out of undoing it. It makes me look like a linebacker. I've never worn it. and its a great coordinating color..)

Thanks for all your scarf suggestions! I decided that thick/thin varigated yarn has enough going on without adding a stitch pattern to the mix. There is too much creativity already in that skein.. its overkill to try to do more. So I ended up doing a lengthwise garter scarf a la The Yarn Harlot.

The cast-on and cast-off rows are worked with the ggh soft kid. Yes, soft kid is a serious pain to unknit. It requires constant supervision. I only unknitted the ties of my Rebecca wrap so far. Someday I'll undo the rest.

In other knitwear news, I am becoming an expert in earflap hats. The purple one is for my half-sister, Ashley, and the red one is for my friend (and previous hand sock recipient) Karen.

The red is one of my new favorite yarns, Alpaca with a Twist Landscapes. It took 2 skeins for an 84 stitch hat on size 6 needles. Thanks Jared for the hat inspiration. I want to knit all sorts of hats after reading this post.

Less than a week until christmas, and the secret santa plans are in limbo.. do I have time to knit up unplanned gifts for the fam?? and meet work deadlines?? stay tuned...

Mom, if you are reading, now is the time to stop. Also, if you a member of my family who I will see tomorrow, no clicking below!!