We are born alone, we live alone, we dye alone.

Actually, I did not dye alone, I dyed with my friend. I had never dyed yarn before, so my friend taught me how to dye using the painting technique (I think???? It involved using plastic bottles to saturate sections of the yarn). I did not intend to make Christmas-themed yarn, but the raspberry and teal colors ended up looking very festive. I wasn't too pleased with it because I am cranky and don't like Christmas. I'm kidding; I just think Christmas colored craft supplies are farcical. I decided to knit socks, since this yarn is wool sock yarn, but then I decided that I did like the yarn after all, so I unraveled it and started knitting a hat. I liked the yarn enough that I wanted it to be visible instead of hidden on feet.

I used the Sockhead Slouch Hat by Kelly McClure, available on Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sockhead-slouch-hat This hat was very easy to make, but a bit boring as it is mostly stockinette stitch on small needles. My aunt bought me a circular needle so I could work much faster. It probably took me several hours to knit this over a couple of weeks and some TV and movies.

I didn't make the hat as long as the pattern specified, though it is much longer than necessary. I decided to gather the crown for visual interest. There are four vertical gathers made by sewing a running stitch through the crown.

I like the hat even more when my mother wears it--the styrofoam mannequin head just doesn't do it justice! I am very happy that Mom's Christmas present turned out nice after all since I wasn't very pleased about my first attempt at dyeing. Special thanks to Jamie for teaching me how to dye!