Rachel and I wander around a lot, and as part of that, we search out local yarn shops, or what knitters like to call LYS’s.  During Rachel’s last trip here, we visited The Knitting Pot in Elmhurst, Illinois.  Rachel fell in love with some lovely overdye purple yarn, but there was only one skein of it.  It’s been sitting on my idea board for the last two months while I try and figure out what to make with it.

I like Cascade yarns.  This is a nice, chunky yarn that’s soft and has a nice hand.  This colorway is interesting because it’s so understated, all plums and grey.  It’s a lot darker than it seems in these pictures.

Here’s a shot of the back of the yarn band.  The colorway on the left tells you what the manufacturer’s color it is.  The lot number on the right tells you which batch it was dyed with, so that if you’re using more than one skein, you can make sure all the pieces are the same lot number.

Here’s the tough part:

I don’t know what to make with it.

So, here are my ideas:

1. A stuffed elephant/truffle.  (A truffle is an imaginary creature that Rachel and I invented for our Persis series; it’s a cross between a cocker spaniel and an aardvark.)
2. A lace table runner.
3. This is currently my favorite:  an Amazeball.  Here’s my idea:  make a large ball, stuffed and cushie.  Send it to a friend when they’ve done something amazing.  They get to hang onto it, kind of like a trophy, until they feel like it’s time to pass the award on to the next person.  Ooh!  As I’m typing this, maybe include a pocket, and each person giving the award can write a note to put in the Amazeball to pass it along to the next person.
4. A set of tree ornaments.
5. Use it in a woven piece where I wind on a continuous warp, and use this as one of the weft pieces.

What about you, Dear Reader?  What would you make with it?