Busy, Busy, Busy...

but not with much knitting or spinning; it's been all work, most of the time for this girl. I did finish spinning the singles for my daughter's second One Skein Wonder though.

First time dyeing with natural dye

On Friday night, I decided that I was going to dye some merino top with dye made from onion skins. Now mind you, I've never dyed anything, let alone top, with natural, made from scratch dye. On Saturday, I peeled a pound of yellow onions to get 1 oz. of onion skins. (So that the onions didn't die a slow death in my frig, I made onion soup.) I steeped the onion skins in simmering water for about 40 minutes. I steeped the top in a mordant of cream of tartar and alum for about 45 minutes. I then left both to cool overnight. The next day I strained the onion skins and had a lovely dye stock that was a warm brown. I added what looked like enough waterto the dye potto cover the top. Plunked in the top and set it on the stove to simmer for about 40 minutes. The dye exhausted after simmering for 30 minutes. I let the whole thing cool to room temp, drained and carefully rinsed the top. I got this lovely yellow. I can't wait to spin this up!

Give Away

I've been decluttering and have books and yarn to give away. Details below. If interested, leave a comment. Edited 9/4/06: All yarn and books have been taken!!!

Lamb's Pride Bulky in kiwi (1 skein) and purple (2 skeins). TAKEN.













Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (2 skeins). TAKEN.











Crystal Palace Dragonfly (2 skeins). TAKEN.













Louet Sales Gems Pearl 1 skein each pink and navy. TAKEN.










1 1/2 skeins Knit Picks Andean Silk in Sangria. TAKEN.











2 skeins of Socka in a blue multi; 1 in pastel multi; 1 in a light green. TAKEN.












More Socka--2 skeins in a rusty red; 1 purple; 1 multi. TAKEN.












Lorna's Laces Shepard sock yarn in Mineshaft. I bought this when Lorna still owned the company so this is one of the original LL colorways. TAKEN.









Artfibers Orgami--a nylon paper yarn; Artfibers Sherlock--100% merino; Rowan 4 ply soft.












Tess Designer Yarns micro ribbon--1 1/2 skeins.
TAKEN.










The books are Knit Lit 2 and 3; Knitting Lessons: Tales from the Knitting Path; Stitch 'n Bitch Nation (TAKEN); Wendy Knits (TAKEN); The Harmony Guides Knitting Techniques Volume 1; The Knitting Experience: The Knit Stitch (TAKEN); and, The Knitting Experience: Color (TAKEN).